I can't thank LinkedIn enough. 

Every month it sends clients my way -- people who found me on LinkedIn and are interested in our services. I have now lost count of the training participants it has sent me and occasionally I get a big consulting project via it.

image: inc.com

So what did I do to put myself in luck's path and get this much favour from LinkedIn?
If you've been reading blog for a while now, you would have come across previous posts I had talked about LinkedIn and how I have used it to get the type of professional/career attention I want. Most of what I will be saying are a repeat of those things and a few new things I began doing recently.

1) A Value focused profile

If you take a look at my LinkedIn profile, it will be hard for you not to be impressed. And it is deliberate. I put up all the good things in my life on my profile and gave them a professional twist. The awards I have gotten, recommendations from ex-colleagues/ex-bosses, my Channels TV interview, my two radio interviews, the jobs I have done, the book I have written and my educational achievements. And I made sure I put them down in my most convincing and reader friendly way. Almost fun to read and written in a conversational style with complete focus on the value I add to every job and project I touch. This has been very helpful in two ways -- I keep getting a lot of connection requests daily and some reach out to me for projects/help.

2) I Post Articles on LinkedIn

So far I have posted 30 blog-like articles on LinkedIn. They are mostly replication of articles I already posted on my blog. But somehow they always take a life of their own on LinkedIn and portray me as a very knowledgeable expert worth reaching out to. Just this past week I have gotten about 5 requests about our this month's Business Data Analysis training from people who stumbled on my LinkedIn posts. And usually, they end up paying without much negotiation or delay, unlike people we reach out to ourselves.

3) I Added All The HR, MDs, CxO and GMs I could find

In short, I added all the categories of people I wanted to get in front off. It's closest and cheapest alternative to paying millions to have a billboard advert of your services put up at the Adeniji Adele end of the Third Mainland bridge. I occasionally get phone calls from people saying they were referred by someone I don't know, and I have a feeling its one of the people I have added on LinkedIn who saw my advert-like profile and was impressed enough to recommend me to someone else.

4) I Spend More Time on LinkedIn Than On Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Whatsapp combined

That means I am constantly fine-tuning my profile, looking out for opportunities, getting to know my contacts and where they work, engaging potential customers and getting myself setup for pleasant surprises. And I am glad it's been well worth it.

Quite a lot has changed since I last shared my most used iPhone apps.

And in case you've noticed that I have posted about Windows Phone apps and iPhone apps  but not made any post lately about Android app. It is because I have stopped using my Android phone and replaced it will a Lumia Windows Phone as I am focusing on developing apps for Windows phone and I need to test my apps on a typical Windows Phone.

The iPhone has been my primary smartphone, I use it for everything I do on phones. On most days, I only make phone calls on the Windows Phone. And it was same usage pattern when I had my Android phone.

So much for the rambling, let's dive into the crux of today's post. It is full of images.

First, below is my homescreen listing all the apps I have installed.

Next are my currently most used iPhone apps with small commentary below.

Chrome Browser (best browser I know for iPhone)

Microsoft Power BI (lets you view your reports on your iPhone)

Google Adsense (to keep track of earnings from Google Ads on my blog)

Notability: Best App for annotating documents

Still Notability: Even allows handwritten notes

Handwriting: Lets me take notes at meetings on my phone using my pen-like stylus

Paper: Lets me record my ideas with handwritten notes and sketches

Mailchimp: Costs me $40/month. It's what ensures you get my blog post in your email inbox every morning

CamScanner+ is a very reliably scans your documents and pictures

Google Analytics: Lets me see the traffic on my blog

Adobe Reader: Best PDF documents reader 

TuneIn Radio: Started using it when my Spotify and Apple Music subscription expired

TuneIn Radio: I now listen more to a French radio station -- Alouette

Dropbox

Pebble: Companion app for my Pebble Smartwatch

Pebble: The interface of the app

LinkedIn

I use LinkedIn way more than Facebook

The bible app that has replaced my bible.

And those are my new most used iPhone apps.

Writing is an essential method of communication for most people, and it’s one that many people struggle with. Writing and communication skills have degraded with more and more people communicating through email and text messaging.

image: xavierleadershipcenter.com

Developing writing skills is still important in the business world as creating proper documents (such as proposals, reports, and agendas), gives you that extra edge in the workplace.

The Business Writing workshop will give participants a refresher on basic writing concepts (such as spelling, grammar, and punctuation), and an overview of the most common business documents. These basic skills will provide participants with that extra benefit in the business world that a lot of people are losing.

This two (2) day workshop is organized by Web ‘n’ Walk Systems in conjunction with Institute of Information Management Africa and will be beneficial for Managers, Supervisors, Team Leaders, Business Owners, Sales Personnel, Administrative Staff, Client Service Executives and anyone involved in business communication.

Workshop Objectives:

• Gain better awareness of standard spelling and grammar issues in business writing.
• Review basic concepts in sentence creation and paragraph construction.
• Know the basic structure of agendas, email messages, memos, business letters, business proposals, and business reports.
• Learn tips and techniques to use when deciding the most appropriate format to use for agendas, email messages, memos, business letters, business proposals, and business reports.
• Know tips and techniques in writing agendas, email messages, memos business letters, business proposals, and business reports.
• Gain an overview of Request for Proposals, Projections, Executive Summaries, and Business Cases.
• Define proofreading and understand techniques in improving proofreading skills.
• Establish peer review and list ways peer review can help improve business writing skills.
• List guidelines for printing and publishing business writing.

Pre-Registration Information
Yes! I would like to attend Business Writing Workshop!

Venue: IIM Africa Complex, 35 Association Avenue, Ilupeju Lagos, Nigeria:
Date: 23 – 24 October 2015

• The workshop is from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Cost: N63,000.00 per person, plus applicable taxes.
• Early registration fees inclusive of taxes (N56,700.00) and ends 9 October 2015.

Register online @ http://webnwalksystems.com/register-for-a-workshop.html

Email: sales@webnwalksystems.com
Facebook Page: facebook.com/webnwalksystems
Web Site: www.webnwalksystems.com

In Excel, there is an amazing tool called Data Table. It lets you sort of simulate a lot of predefined conditions.

For illustration, I'll create an example we can all relate with. It's the revenue projections of a small vibrant company.

There is a formula in the Revenue field that depends on the Product Price and Marketing Cost.

The next thing, we will do is help the management simulate what the Revenue will be for different combinations of Product Price and Marketing Cost.

This is the sort of task Data Table is great at.

All we have to do is link the cell at the junction of the simulated Product Price and simulated Marketing Cost to the calculated Revenue cell. See the screenshot below for what I mean.

Now we are ready to use Data Table.

Select the entire simulation table.

Then go to Data menu, What-If Analysis and Data Table.

In the small dialog box that comes up, set the Row Input Cell to the Marketing Cost value in the analysis table. And set the Column Input Cell to the Product Price in the analysis table.

And you get what the Revenue will be for the different combinations of Product Price and Marketing Cost.

It's now left for the management of Vibrant Nigeria Limited to choose which combination of Product Price and Marketing Cost will get them the best Profit after factoring the Cost of Sales.

You can register for our upcoming intensive Business Data Analysis and Microsoft Excel training here.

image: businessinsider.com

Besides French which I have accepted will take me a lifetime to learn, I have done pretty remarkable in learning every other thing I took interest in.

Between last year June and now, I have learned the following:

1. How to create video training content using my room as a studio and doing the production myself. I recently got another pay check from Udemy for last month earnings from the online training course I produced myself.
2. How to write, edit, design and publish a book on Amazon. This alone saved me about $500 I would have paid someone else to have it done. All I had to pay was $20 (or $10) to a graphics guy in Europe (or Asia, can remember) for a well-designed cover. That book has sold over 550 copies already. 
3. Balanced Scorecard Dashboard. September last year, I took up a volunteer job for a UN partner NGO operating in 16 or so Caribbean countries to develop a Balanced Scorecard dashboard for the management. I had to learn a lot from scratch. Now I am about to clinch a Balanced Scorecard dashboard project for a big multinational company operating in Africa. I plan to charge them well too.
4. To become a bad-ass financial modeller. This is the one I am most proud of. Just yesterday I got my latest financial modelling project for a multinational technology company. And I might likely get another one from one of the biggest company in Nigeria before the month runs out. Also, I am currently training the management of a financial consulting firm on financial modelling and the feedback has been more than awesome.
5. R programming language. In fact, I will be facilitating an intensive business analytics course by month end. And data analysis using R is among the list of what I will be covering.
6. Power BI. By that I mean Power Pivot, Power Query, Power Map and Power View. Microsoft has changed the names of Power Map, Power Query and Power View; but I can't remember the new names. What's most important is that I now use them to get customers' work done and I get paid.
7. Professional PowerPoint presentation design. This is one of my most financially rewarding new skill. I find it a lot easier to get the amount I charge when I send a PowerPoint proposal. And I assume it raises us above the competition. It was hard and expensive to learn. I spent weeks making my first professional PowerPoint slides and had to buy many professional templates online. Now I spend a day to make eye popping and delivery perfect PowerPoint slides.
8. C#. I used to dread the C# programming language because I felt it was very difficult to learn, especially when compared to the Visual Basic I am very familiar with and use to build Excel macros/programs. Now I feel at ease using C# and have begun some web programming projects with C#. I plan to make companion web apps that I will sell alongside my Excel programs to companies. I am already close to making money of this skill too.

So what's my trick for learning fast and well enough to make a living from the knowledge?

The trick is to be unreasonable and fervent. Or how best will you regard buying 100s of books you can't finish reading in two years. And then not stopping there but also buying audiobooks and video training materials. Then ignoring the fact that you have income generating activities to do while reading the books.

I have a book on swimming. Two books on driving. Close to 10 books on writing and grammar. Probably 30 books on French.

I buy a book on anything I want to learn. I make sure I don't download free books or just read freely available materials online. I go on Amazon and read through 100s of reviews to buy the best book available. And I then go on Udemy.com and buy a video training course on it too. By spending my hard earned money on those materials, I increase my chances of reading them and paying attention to the content. And somehow, the little I end up reading lead to results that exceed my expectations.

The only way you can beat your expectations is to aim unreasonably high, and fervently go for your aim. 

It's just like William Clement Stone said, "Aim for the moon, if you miss you'll land among the stars." Just that this time around you know you'll miss. You have an impossible aim. But still you'll achieve the remarkable. I guess that's same as landing among the stars. And that's my trick for learning anything fast and well. I simply set an impossible goal and don't beat myself up when I fail.

Who writes a blog post about himself to talk about his dark side?
That takes us to the first on my list -- I see no part of my life as sacred. On the surface, there is nothing dark about it. Actually, it is what makes it easy for me to be like that that is the dark side. I hardly get attached to anything. And it has made me a terrible friend to many. My simple straightforward nature wins me a lot of friends but that side of me makes it hard for me to retain them. Only very few people really get to me and they do all the work in keeping the friendship alive. And I have heard it more than once and from different friends complaining that I act like I don't need them. I don't ask for help; I don't call; reaching me is like a gamble. The saddest part of it is I don't know why I am like that and I have been unable to change.

image: genius.com

I don't get angry. Those close to me know this. But what will surprise both the people who know me and the people who don't know me is the reason. I don't get angry because I don't know how to be angry. On many occasions I have tried faking it but it never came out right/convincing. Now you would think it's a good thing. But again, behind it is a very dark side. I can show all my emotions in the same facial appearance. I wouldn't say I am unemotional because I feel the emotions and know what the regular person will do to express them. The issue is somehow I can't express them like the regular person. The practical consequence is some people feel I am ice cold, another set think I am too soft, still another set feel I am unreadable. The bottom-line is no one understands me. And not even me. And it can be very difficult working/walking with someone you can't understand.

I am not ambitious. It's very difficult to explain. And if you've been reading my blog you won't want to believe me. But it's the truth. I am naturally hardworking, I think too much and I want a good life. That is why I look ambitious. I am not attached to my work or the fancy things you read me write about on my blog. I am just naturally a workaholic and like to give meaning to what I do. I quit my job because I couldn't find a meaning to it. The moment I find something more meaningful than what I am currently doing, I will quit again. And what makes meaning to me is part mystery. It's not money or fame or even people. So you can't get me with a promise of wealth or fame or the chance to change lives. I always have my own reason for doing what I do and it's always immune to what people advice or want me to do. And it's another terrible side. I don't have a mentor; I have frustrated everyone who has tried to fill that role in my life. I don't have a business partner because I know that someday for some insensible reason I will want to move on. The only thing close to an ambition that I have is to be a prolific writer, writing daily. And I am already achieving that.

Finally, I don't think straight. Or in the conventional way. It sounds nice to say I think different but the practical truth is that it's no fun to be too different from everyone else. Only those afar admire you; you drive nuts those close to you.

The people who make the most impact are not those who had life easy for them. Think of Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, Obafemi Awolowo, Mahatma Gandhi and Steve Jobs. Even in movies, the guy with the mad skills and making things happen is usually the guy who's gone through the worst and faced the most difficulties. 

The best recipe for greatness is tough times and a man willing to go the extra mile. And we all know that living in Nigeria gives you all the tough times you need. The other part lies in your hands -- are you willing to go the extra mile?

What does it mean to go the extra mile? It is simply to follow the path less taken, to see the opportunities others are ignoring and to pursue them rigorously. It is to tell yourself that the challenges around are going to be your stepping stone to a life of impact.

As easy as this sounds, it's easy to get it all wrong. And I see this happening a lot. People who keep confusing talk with action. All the extra mile they go is in their talks. They don't do anything differently or follow a less taken path. They go to events to talk about the opportunities that abound for the enterprising Nigerian youth and share quotable quotes online.

image: marsdd.com

Taking these opportunities start with a plan. Just as the bible says, there is no man who wants to build a house who will not sit, plan and count the cost. You have to sit, cut yourself out from the noise around. Take a serious analytic look at everything. Then make a plan and put the cost estimate, then ask yourself if you are willing to pay the price.

Luckily, we both live in Nigeria, so I will share my analysis as it will be valid for you.

Nigeria is a country of about 180 million people. About 120 million are below the age of 40. Unemployment rate is close to 35%. Meaning out of a population of 80 million people eligible to work, 30 million people have no work. And you know what that translates into? Lots of willing hands. Labour is almost free in Nigeria. Then if you take a good look at our corporate world, the section that should be the source of employment you will notice that almost all employment is by the government, foreign companies and one-man Nigerian businesses. The Nigerian government ensures you don't know more than you knew before joining them (there are a few exceptions). Foreign companies care more about sales in Nigeria than involving our people in the high value segment of their business. That is why Microsoft doesn't have a single programmer in Nigeria. Same with Google. What they run here is just a regional marketing arm. The serious jobs are done outside the country. And finally, one-man Nigerian businesses. The owner oftentimes have more money than brains and tries to make sure that your brain doesn't become more than the money he pays you. You get outdated equipment, processes and technology to work with. He is either never around to give the company a sound strategic leading or is too around (micro-managing) and weighing the company down.

Then if you look at the self-employed, the enterprising youths, they are all into trading, network marketing, motivational speaking, low-value businesses and manual jobs. Very few are trying to do something that builds on the knowledge we have acquired as humankind till this moment. Those into farming are sticking to 19th century methods. Those into manufacturing are using 20th century equipment and processes.

There are a lot of opportunities for the Nigerian youth who will take the less trodden path of creating something truly 21st century. Who will rise above the low expectations around him and aim for a business he can go global with. Who will put to use the body of knowledge we have acquired as humans, and do something technically and globally remarkable.

Disruptive technology is a technology that changes everything. It creates on a global scale, new ways of doing things and wipe out the old ways.

image: theemergingfuture.com

Think of just a few years ago when there were no iPhones and Android phones. For some of us it's almost like a mystery how we survived then. Phones were basically for making phone calls, sending/receiving text messages, playing boring java games and listening to radio. But since the genuinely smartphones came out, everything changed. 

• It wiped out the java game for mobile phones industry. (Remember waptrick?)
• It pretty much wiped out Nokia, Trium, Sagem, Siemens, Alcatel, NEC, Panasonic and Sharp from the phone manufacturing industry.
• It caused a reduction in the global sales of PCs
• It is currently giving telcos (e.g. MTN, Airtel, Glo, Etisalat) lots of worries. People are prefering to Whatsapp, BBM, tweet and email than to make a phone call to pass the same message. 
• Alaba International market is already suffering. People are watching movies on their phones rather than buying DVDs and VCDs.
• Google map on smartphone has changed how we drive to places we don't know.
• Some people even operate their business right from their smartphones

And those are just the changes I could list off the top of my head. It is one of the most recent disruptive technology we have experienced.

The most powerful one is the internet. It changed everything in a big way. It killed everything that tried to stand in its way. NIPOST will never rise again because of the internet, except it changes its business model like DHL did. The biggest companies in the world are in the technology space and are largely internet companies (companies that operate primarily via the internet). The internet also gave us online education (online B.Sc, masters and Ph.D). It gave us virtual workers (people who work from home and even for companies in another continent). It is killing the newspaper industry and making the TV go obsolete. Only the invention of the printing press comes close to the global impact the internet has had on mankind.

Now there is another one already steaming up. The next major disruptive technology. Something big enough to change everything. And it is AI. Artificial Intelligence. Don't be deceived by the technical name it wields or the fact that it has been around for long. Currently, it is getting reborn. 

I am sure you've heard of Siri, Cortana, Google Now, Alexa (Amazon Echo), Google Glass, Virtual Reality and home robots. They are the new ways AI is getting reborn. Soon you will be giving out instruction to your phone to book you a flight, to take down notes, to switch on your TV, to play you your favorite music and to remind you of your appointments. And that is the easy to comprehend beginning. There will be a whole new set of devices and technology that will allow regular (non-techy) people easily automate their daily activities. Driving inclusive. Everything will be smart: smart homes, self driving cars, smart cooker, smart pressing iron, smart table, smart cup, smart garri (a joke).

The greatest change would be in the business world. People won't see the need to have a personal assistant anymore, especially those in middle management or head of a small company. Increasingly low-value job roles like gateman, cleaner, typist, cashier and driver will be taken over by AI powered machines/systems. 

I think the eCommerce business world will be hit big. When people instruct their phones to buy them what they need, the phones will search online for the cheapest provider and all available valid coupons. The eCommerce site that will win always will be the one that is able to convince the phones that it is the cheapest provider. One optimised for robots and not people.

It would be another exciting time for everyone of us. Just like we now enjoy Whatsapping.

I have begun setting up a small IoT lab and I can say it's fairly well kitted already.

I have a set of Arduino ATMega 2560, some shields and many complementary components.

In the image above, I have the following devices:
2 x NRF24L01 Wireless Module
1 x Gateway Shield
1 x Node Shield
1 x ESP8266 WiFi Module
4 x Male-to-Female DuPont Wire
1 x 8-pin Ribbon Cable (10cm)
1 x NOKIA5110 Module
1 x 4x4 Matrix Keypad Module
2 pieces Addicore nRF24L01+ modules
1x SunFounder UNO R3 board
1x Acrylic Breadboard Holder
1x RGB
1x Project Box
40x Pin Header
1x Timer 555
2x Optocoupler 4N35
2x Shift Resister 74HC595N
1x H-Bridge L293D
1x Accelerometer ADXL335
1x Rotary Encoder
5x Push-Button small
8x Resistor 220 Ohm
4x Resistor 1k Ohm
4x Resistor 10k Ohm
1x Resistor 1M Ohm
1x Resistor 5.1M Ohm
1x Switch
1x Trim Pot - 50k
1x LCD Character Display 16x2
1x Dot Matrix Display 8x8
2x 7-Segment Character Display
1x DC Motor
16x LED red
2x LED white
2x LED green
2x LED yellow
2x Transistor NPN
2x Transistor PNP
4x Capacitor Ceramic 100nF
4x Capacitor Ceramic 10nF
4x Diode Rectifier
1x Breadboard
1x USB Cable
65x Male to Male Jumper Wires
20X Female to Male Dupont wires
1x Piezo Buzzer
1x fan

I also have a Raspberry Pi 2 set.

The component list is:
- Raspberry Pi 2 (RPi2) Model B Quad-Core 900 MHz 1 GB RAM
- 32 GB MicroSD Card (Class 10) loaded with Microsoft Windows 10 IoT Core
- 8 GB MicroSD Card (Class 10) - Raspberry Pi Recommended MicroSD Card with NOOBS
- WiFi Adapter / Dongle (RT5370 chipset)
- 2.5A Micro USB Power Supply with Noise Filter (UL Listed) specially designed for the Raspberry Pi 2 (5 feet cable)
- High Quality Raspberry Pi 2 Case
- Premium Quality HDMI Cable with CEC support (6.5 feet cable)
- Heat Sink
- GPIO and Resistor Colors Quick Reference Cards
- GPIO to Breadboard Interface Board
- GPIO Ribbon Cable
- Breadboard
- 32 x Jumper Wires
- RGB LED
- 2 x Red LEDs
- 2 x Green LEDs
- 2 x Yellow LEDs
- 2 x Blue LEDs
- 2 x Push Button Switches
- 10 x 220 Ohm Resistors
- 5 x 10K Ohm Resistors

Below is my lab big screen monitor:

24 inches LG 2015 HDTV/Monitor

In a few days, I will get an extensive collection of sensors that I ordered:
- 1 x Small passive buzzer module KY-006
- 1 x 2-color LED module KY-011
- 1 x Hit sensor module KY-031
- 1 x Vibration switch module KY-002
- 1 x Photo resistor module KY-018
- 1 x Key switch module KY-004
- 1 x Tilt switch module KY-020
- 1 x 3-color full-color LED SMD modules KY-009
- 1 x Infrared emission sensor module KY-005
- 1 x 3-color LED module KY-016
- 1 x Mercury open optical module KY-017
- 1 x Yin Yi 2-color LED module 3MM KY-029
- 1 x Active buzzer module KY-012
- 1 x Temperature sensor module KY-013
- 1 x Automatic flashing colorful LED module KY-034
- 1 x Mini magnetic reed modules KY-021
- 1 x Hall magnetic sensor module KY-003
- 1 x Infrared sensor receiver module KY-022
- 1 x Class Bihor magnetic sensor KY-035
- 1 x Magic light cup module KY-027
- 1 x Rotary encoder module KY-040
- 1 x Optical broken module KY-010
- 1 x Detect the heartbeat module KY-039
- 1 x Reed module KY-025
- 1 x Obstacle avoidance sensor module KY-032
- 1 x Hunt sensor module KY-033
- 1 x Microphone sound sensor module KY-038
- 1 x Laser sensor module KY-008
- 1 x 5V relay module KY-019
- 1 x Temperature sensor module KY-001
- 1 x Temperature sensor module KY-028
- 1 x Linear magnetic Hall sensors KY-024
- 1 x Flame sensor module KY-026
- 1 x Sensitive microphone sensor module KY-037
- 1 x Temperature and humidity sensor module KY-015
- 1 x XY-axis joystick module KY-023
- 1 x Metal touch sensor module KY-036

Happy Independence!

image: oanweb.org

Today Nigeria marks her 55th independence anniversary. And I am glad to say for once in a very long time we are making real progress where it matter most. Even though I don't have much to be very excited about, more importantly I have nothing to complain about. I thank God for the gift of Buhari.

Once again, happy independence!

Then in an unrelated news, Microsoft Excel was 30 years old yesterday. Microsoft Excel is arguably the world's most used business software.

Below is an interesting piece from TechWeez

There is no software program from Microsoft that intimidates as well as endears fierce loyalty as Microsoft Excel. This powerful spreadsheet program is used by hundreds of millions of users, from homes, business, education and government offices across the globe. Excel is used by elementary school children to calculate very simple tables, and by research scientists to crunch Genome data. Released to the public on September 30th, 1985, Microsoft Excel is thirty years old today. To celebrate we will highlight some interesting facts that you may not know about the program that brought “rows and columns” to the world.

Before Microsoft Excel was conceived, the spreadsheet software that ruled the world was Lotus 123 (first released in 1983). Thus the mission for Excel 1.0 program managers was simple: Do what Lotus 123 did, but do it better and faster. As Microsoft operating system at the time was DOS, the team initially worked on building a DOS version. Six months in, they realized that a GUI (graphical User Interface) approach would be much yield a better user experience. But there was a huge dilemma.  Though Redmond had been working on Windows 1.0 since 1983, it was not ready. Thus the Excel team decided to write Excel for the leading GUI OS available then, Apple’s Mac (a very contentious decision even then).  This decision turned out to be the right out as Microsoft’s bet on Excel and Windows worked.

“Microsoft really bet its future on two programs at right about the same time: Excel and Windows. If both of them had failed, Microsoft wouldn’t be here today. Both of them succeeded. It really helped cement Microsoft’s role,” – Doug Klunder, Microsoft Excel 1.0 Lead Developer

It is also important to note that Excel also succeeded to blunders from Lotus 1-2-3 in failing to counter the approach from Microsoft.

Excel 1.0 was the first product that Microsoft specifically hired a tester for. Prior to that, developers had to test their own code. Even with that, code changes were being done on September 29th, 1985. The master disc was created at 2am on September 30th, 1985 (but the Excel team changed the clock on the PC creating the master disc to 8am the previous day so it would not look as the software was rushed. They then rushed the master disc to a manufacturer, and managed to get several retail discs created and placed in a few stores before the launch later that day. Thus they could truthfully say that Excel was in stores at the launch. Interestingly when the Excel team checked the time stamp of Lotus 1-2-3 disks, they also noticed that it was done at the middle of the night too.

image: techweez.com

Interesting Microsoft Excel Facts

The Excel 1.0 initial design was done in a hotel in Bellevue, Washington over 3 days by a small group that included Doug Klunder, Jabe Blumentahl, Charles Simoyni and Bill Gates
Excel 1.0 started with a team of three programmers that grew to a maximum of 11 programmers. The current Excel fills an entire campus of building in Redmond.
Excel is on its 16th iteration and is unique among the original set of Microsoft programs that was never launched with a DOS version.
Excel 1.0 was able to beat Lotus 1-2-3 on speed using a feature called “intelligent ReCalc” that only updated data in the cells that were affected by a data change, rather than recalculating every cell (as was the standard practice). Bill gates is credited with coming up with this idea.
Excel is older than 75% of the Kenyan population.
Excel has sold over 1 billion copies
Excel 1.0 to 7.0 only had 16,834 rows and. Excel 2016 (v16.0) has 1,048,576 rows by 16,834 columns, though with the latest Power BI functionality spreadsheets with 10 million rows can be analysed.

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