Recent events have made everyone aware of WMDs. What you probably don't realize is that your business is overrun with them! That's right, your business is overrun with Weapons of Mass Delusion! What? . . .You thought WMD meant something else?
I'm talking about spreadsheet analysis. The spreadsheet has become the most ubiquitous analytic tool in the history of mankind. As a result it defacto sets the context and frames the thinking of nearly every company issue and decision ranging from the mundane to the strategic.
Unfortunately, the spreadsheet paradigm is a hopelessly limited and inadequate tool to describe and gain insight into the world that businesses and individuals exist. In other words the spreadsheet is a bomb. Nevertheless, because of their familiarity with spreadsheet software business managers and analysts nearly always couch their thinking and analysis in the "language" available through a spreadsheet. By limiting themselves to expressing what a spreadsheet can describe business people simply miss the rich opportunities for accomplishment that exist.
