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Coworker told me my Excel sheets were impossible to read, so I changed everything
I used to put every single number in bold red font so nothing got missed. Then my coworker Janet spent 20 minutes trying to find a monthly total in a 50-row sheet. She said 'this looks like a ransom note, not a budget file.' I switched to just bolding totals and using green for positive numbers. My boss hasn't complained once in 3 months. Anyone else have a work habit they had to kill because someone called them out on it?
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leo_black762mo ago
Yeah but bold red for everything isn't quite right either. Green for positive numbers is a solid choice, but red for negatives is way more standard and helps people spot losses fast.
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beth2762mo ago
Question whether it's really that serious. Red for losses is fine but people act like you're breaking some sacred law if you do it different.
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juliarodriguez2mo ago
Hold on, bold red font for every single number? That must have been a real sight to behold. I can almost feel my eyes crossing just thinking about looking at a whole sheet of that. It is a good thing Janet spoke up, because I bet your boss would have said something eventually too.
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shanef342mo ago
Learned that one the hard way myself, switched to just bolding the key totals and it actually made the numbers easier to scan for everyone.
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