Monday, November 5, 2012

A Year of Gratitude: Day Three Hundred Sixty-one



Day 361 – Learning (?) New Skills

I created a Job Aid (a document that helps people do a particular task or process) on "How to create an Excel Pivot Table."  That may not seem like much until you find out I have never used a pivot table.  I have never even seen one, much less figured out how to create one and train someone else on how to do so.  It was a fairly daunting task to a pivot table neophyte, and one that had to be done since it was my boss who had asked me to do it.

To make it as simple as I can, a pivot table allows the user to take an Excel spreadsheet and look at the data in multiple ways.  It is a fairly straight-forward process to create one and then view it from multiple “angles.”  ...At least it's straight-forward for someone who knows why they are helpful and can use it appropriately.  I naturally had other people look at the document I created (most of it came from the Microsoft Excel website) to make sure what I had put together actually worked.  It did (whew!), and I presented it to my boss without any fanfare.

This job may not be keeping me very busy, but the good news is I’m learning new things.  I can think of worse things happening at work.

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