Cleaning messy data in Excel: TRIM, text functions, Remove Duplicates, Flash Fill and data types
A practical order for cleaning messy spreadsheets: fix text, numbers and dates first, then remove duplicates, with the traps Microsoft's own guidance warns about.
Choosing a tech stack for a first product: no-code, WordPress, Shopify or custom code
A plain comparison of no-code, WordPress, Shopify and custom code for a first product, with questions to ask before you commit.
Charts that tell the truth: choosing the right chart and avoiding misleading ones
Pick the right chart for your message and avoid the truncated axes, dual scales and 3D effects that mislead readers, using UK government statistics…
Choosing an AI tool for a small business: questions to ask about data, cost and fit
The questions to ask about data use, security, full cost and fit before you commit to an AI tool, with a two-week trial plan…
Information architecture and navigation: card sorting and tree testing
How to build a website menu around the way customers think, using card sorting to group content and tree testing to check the structure…
Business model canvas: the nine building blocks
The Business Model Canvas puts a business model on one page in nine blocks. Here is what each block means and how to fill…
Building trust in a team: Lencioni’s five dysfunctions and the trust equation
Two popular tools for building team trust, Lencioni's five dysfunctions and Maister's trust equation, what each gets right and how to use them without…
Budgeting and forecasting for a small business: zero-based, incremental and rolling
The difference between a budget and a forecast, when to use zero-based or incremental budgeting, how rolling forecasts work, and how to read variances.
Break-even analysis: fixed costs, contribution margin and the break-even point
How to sort costs into fixed and variable, work out contribution per sale, and find the sales level where a business stops losing money.
Blue Ocean Strategy: value innovation, the strategy canvas and the four actions framework
How to use the strategy canvas, the four actions framework and the ERRC grid to look for value innovation, with an example and the…
