Claude for Excel: five things I've learned

Claude for Excel is the most impressive AI tool I've come across. By far.

I picked it up after Secret CFO said to just start using it, no manual needed. That's exactly what I did, and it's as instinctive as advertised.

I'd been using web-based Claude alongside Excel, and it works, but it's clunky, manual and iterative in a way that'll properly test your patience. Claude in Excel is night and day.

Here are a few things I've learnt along the way that I thought I'd share.

1. Think of it as a very smart graduate intern

Keen, fast, super-capable. But it needs direction. What's the objective? What should it look like? Inputs vs workings vs outputs. The brief you'd give a new hire is exactly the brief it needs.

2. Set guardrails early

It will build something impressively complicated quite quickly, and if you can't follow the logic, you can't really trust (or explain) it. Decide on the level of complexity before it gets carried away.

3. Pick a marker before every change

Before it processes any change, pick a marker (annual profit, say) and check it moves the way you'd expect. If nothing should move, tell it that too. It'll verify for you.

4. Watch your tokens

Iteration drains capacity faster than you'd think. Ask it to play back your brief before it starts a task. Sounds fussy. It isn't.

5. Think about where your time goes now

This is the one worth sitting with. Claude is doing a lot of the legwork, which means you're directing, coaching and reviewing. That's a different skill set. It's worth being intentional about where your headspace, and your skill set, lands in this new set-up.

A note on data

Whatever the tool, I'm careful about what client data goes into it. I'm transparent with clients about which AI tools I use, and I make sure the right permissions and safeguards are in place first. There's more on how I use AI on AI experience page.