About one in five inquiries I get could be solved with a well-organized Google Sheet. Sometimes I tell them so. They are usually relieved.
When a spreadsheet is right
One user, fewer than a hundred rows, no shared edits, no integrations, no recurring schedule. If those five things are true, you don’t need an app.
Rule of thumb
If your “app” would have one user and zero scheduled jobs, your app is a spreadsheet.
When it isn’t
The moment two people need to edit the same row at the same time, you have a software problem. The moment something needs to happen on a schedule, you have a software problem. The moment you’re emailing CSVs to yourself, you have a software problem and you are losing.
