Creating, comprehending and explaining spreadsheets: a cognitive interpretation of what discretionary users think of the spreadsheet model

Abstract

Ten discretionary users were asked to recount their experiences with spreadsheets and to explain how one of their own sheets worked. The transcripts of the interviews are summarized to reveal the key strengths and weaknesses of the spreadsheet model. There are significant discrepancies between these findings and the opinions of experts expressed in the HCI literature, which have tended to emphasize the strengths of spreadsheets and to overlook the weaknesses. In general, the strengths are such as allow quick gratification of immediate needs, while the weaknesses are such as make subsequent debugging and interpretation difficult, suggesting a situated view of spreadsheet usage in which present needs outweigh future needs. We conclude with an attempt to characterize three extreme positions in the design space of information systems: the incremental addition system, the explanation system and the transcription system. The spreadsheet partakes of the first two. We discuss how to improve its explanation facilities.