Turn data into a decision
Build a spreadsheet dashboard that answers a real work or money question and can be handed to someone else.
Summarize clean data with pivots or equivalent tools.
Design a restrained decision dashboard.
Audit formulas and document refresh steps.
Test whether spreadsheet procedures transfer to a usable work product. A fresh-copy walkthrough reveals usability and documentation problems that routine self-review can miss.
120 learn · 80 build · 25 review
Do the work in this order
- 01
Write the decision question and define one row, one field, and one unique key before building.
- 02
Clean and validate a synthetic or de-identified dataset, preserving the raw source separately.
- 03
Create the analysis and a restrained dashboard with labels, dates, units, and control totals.
- 04
Open a fresh copy and follow only the written refresh steps—or ask a trusted person to try—and record every point of confusion.
A fresh-copy walkthrough can refresh the workbook without extra instructions, calculations reconcile to control totals, and the dashboard answers the stated decision question.
Complete the lesson sequence
Pass each lesson check and mark the work complete in the Life Starter player. Return here and the verified progress bar updates automatically.
- 1spreadsheetAnalyze with pivot tablesStart
- 2spreadsheetDesign a decision dashboardStart
- 3spreadsheetAudit and hand offStart
- 4businessChoose a painful problemStart
- 5businessDesign an offer people understandStart
Repeat the refresh test from a fresh copy. If possible, ask a trusted person to try it and record where the written steps are unclear.
Decision-ready spreadsheet
A working workbook with clean data, an analysis, a dashboard, checks, and a read-me.
State the decision your workbook supports, the source and limits of the data, the three most important views, the control checks, and what another person must do to refresh it.
Answers one explicit decision
Calculations are auditable
Visuals use labels and honest scales
A new user can refresh the file