Ray Panko's spreadsheet research website |
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Ray Panko is the world authority on spreadsheet errors. A professor at the University of Hawaii, he has been researching the subject since the 1960s. His research is distinctive in that it is driven by measurement. On the question, for example, of whether it is good to express formulas in terms of meaningful names or the more traditional coordinate notation, most practitioners of spreadsheet modelling would have a strongly held view. Ray Panko would not. He would gather several dozen students, make half try one way and half try the other, and see whether there was a difference in error rates of any statistical significance. His key finding is that the error rates in spreadsheets, in software development and other cognitive endeavours are all of the same nature and order, which leads him to the conclusion that practices already proved in the development of software for safety-critical systems can be expected to be useful in the delivery of robust spreadsheets. See also |