Irrational RobotThem: Could you remake this old timesheet spreadsheet in the newest version of Excel? Some of the row resizing isn't working like it is supposed to.
Me: Sure, no problem. I'll fix a couple of the formulas while I'm in there.
Them: Hey, this is pretty nice! Could you make it so that the user only has to enter their name once, and then it is the same on all of the sheets?
Me (thinks): I guess so, but there's a couple of merged cells involved and it might be a little janky at times.
Them: Looking pretty good! Hey, it's kind of a pain entering the "week start, week end fields in every sheet every time. Could you make the dates work so that you only need to set them once?"
Me: That sounds to me like maybe a "once per quarter manual task, but if you want it to be a little more automated, I guess..."
DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER: Don't do this.
Them: Okay, I guess this is alright, but if someone changes one of these dates on accident, does that mess up the whole thing?
Me: Yeah, that's how that works, but I could maybe protect the spreadsheet and lock all but the first of those date cells...
DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER: You need to stop this RIGHT NOW
Them: Oh, that protected thing is pretty unfriendly, I just am not sure. Oh, while you're in there, could you go ahead and put some instructions on how to use it there in the spreadsheet?
DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER: I F'ING TOLD YOU! And so _I'm_ the bad guy? The devil? You're writing instructional content for a database you didn't design living in a spreadsheet hosted in a web browser that had just become YOUR F'ING RESPONSIBILITY and you're the only one who can maintain it?!?!
ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER: It's time to do some prototyping with different color palettes!
/fin