H̶u̶m̶a̶ P̶o̶n̶d̶e̶r̶s̶ Huma Mourns: A Eulogy on Tracking Time in Excel

We’re the Huma crew, and now we stand before this congregation to say goodbye to an old friend. A friend we’ve spent a lot of time scratching our heads over. A friend we’ve never quite trusted. A friend we’re not all that sorry to lose. And a friend we’ve spent many hours trying to figure out. Excel, we’ll never track hours in you again.

But you’ve certainly been a help to many people all over the world who’ve never had a dedicated time-tracking system. Even though you let people log hours in you, you also helped many payroll and finance managers hone their concentration. Because they really had to keep their wits about them when they went through your many spreadsheets to make sure that every single employee received a paycheck that matched their hours worked. And that’s not exactly easy.

"You were a multifaceted system. Maybe a little rigid. Not exactly the 'life of the party.'"

There’s a lot to say about you, Excel—but no one can say you were simple. You were a multifaceted system. Maybe a little rigid. Not exactly the “life of the party.” You were complex, and at times hard to understand.

Despite the lack of a party atmosphere, we have many memories together, Excel. Like all those times I didn’t understand your formulas, and everything just turned into a mess. Or those times I typed the wrong thing and the whole sheet was wiped out.

We’ve lost count of all the times we’ve had 15 different tasks in a single day, and our muddled brains didn’t stand a chance of remembering even two or three of them. Or all those times we had to find the right schedule in a sea of other lists, copies of lists, and test versions of those same lists.

“It’s been frustrating, but at least we’ve spent many hours together and made lots of memories.”

Or those times when we’ve put a lot of work into you, only to realize we hadn’t saved in a long time. That was always when you decided to crash and delete all our work

It’s been frustrating, but at least we’ve shared many hours and memories together. We probably know each other better than most people do now—for better or for worse.

You’ve meant a lot to us and many others around the world. A lot of frustration, confusion, and, not least, a lot of headaches. Now we’re sending you off to the eternal hunting grounds, my friend. May you serve people better where you’re going now than you did here. Yes, we’ve probably spent more time together than we’d have liked, but now it’s all over. Rest in peace, old friend. You’re in a better place now.