When I try to convince friends that data reporting is cool, I try to avoid the word “spreadsheets.” That tends to cause instant glazing of the eyes and an end to interest.
I think what turns people off is the vision of rows and rows of black and white letters and numbers. But believe me when I say spreadsheets can be fun – and, more to the point, useful as all get out.
AirTable is a tool a reader recommended to me, although it’d already been on my radar for a while. It’s designed as spreadsheets for average folk – people who don’t exactly dig into Excel or Access in their free time.
It’s basically spreadsheets with bells and whistles added, but the end result is cute and has some high-powered capabilities. You can add images, check marks, radio buttons, contacts, tags, all sorts of things that data nerds call “data” but non-data nerds don’t want to.
Definitely a user-friendly entryway for Excel hesitants or people wanting to collaborate with team members. You can only build sheets of up to 1,200 rows with the free plan; the $12/mo plan lets you go up to 5,000 rows. (Plus I think if you sign up via the AirTable link above, you might get some free credit. Not sure, so don’t hold me to it.)