Spent 3 hours on a '5 minute' invoice template fix

Last Tuesday I was sending out my monthly invoices and noticed the tax calculation was off by $12. I figured I'd just tweak the formula in my spreadsheet real quick. Three hours later I had rebuilt the entire sheet from scratch because the error went back to a column I set up in 2021. Turns out I had accidentally linked some cells to a discontinued rate table. Now I have to double check every single invoice I sent for the past 4 months. Has anyone else had a simple fix snowball into a whole day project?

3 comments

3 Comments

skyler_johnson3212d ago

Version history is a lifesaver for stuff like this.

parker_webb12d ago

Oh man, @skyler_johnson32 you are so right about that. Version history is basically the only reason I still have a job some days. I swear I've gone back to an old draft like ten times this week alone, each time because I deleted something I actually needed later. Its funny how we all mess up the same way - thinking we know better than our past selves. I usually end up right back where I started, just with less time and more gray hairs.

lisab3212d ago

Actually read something recently about how a big chunk of design projects end up using the first draft anyway. Made me think of all those times I deleted something thinking I was being clever, only to pull the same thing back from an old version an hour later. Kinda wild that our gut instinct is usually right the first time around, you know?