“It’s just a spreadsheet” (it was not just a spreadsheet)

AGM, last October. Someone says "we should have a ladder". I say, and I remember the exact words, "I can do that, it's just a spreadsheet".

It was not just a spreadsheet.

The ladder itself is dead simple. List of names. Beat someone above you, you go above them. Brilliant. Everyone loved it for about three weeks.

The spreadsheet is what nearly killed it. Every challenge, I logged. Every result, I put in and moved everyone round. Every "did Phil accept yet?", I chased. Every challenge nobody answered, I had to decide what to do about. Updating rankings on my phone at my cousin's wedding. DURING THE SPEECHES. My girlfriend has not forgotten.

Then I had flu for a week in February and didn't update it, and that was that. Table was wrong, people stopped trusting it, people stopped challenging, by March it was basically dead. Nothing wrong with the ladder. The ladder was fine. It was me being the ladder that wasn't fine.

So if you're about to say "it's just a spreadsheet" at your AGM, don't. Or do, but know what you're signing up for.

Things I'd tell past me, in no order:

Decide how far up people can challenge BEFORE you start. Two or three places. I didn't and week one someone at the bottom challenged the club champion and it was carnage.

Decide what happens when someone ignores a challenge. Because someone will. Phil is currently 4th and has been 4th since May and accepts nothing. There needs to be a time limit after which he just loses the spot. (Phil, I love you, but.)

Write the scoring down. One set? Best of three? Tiebreak? You'd think people would just agree on court. They don't.

Half the committee wanted a box league instead and we spent a whole meeting on it (Graham minuted it, four pages). Short version as I understand it: box league = small groups, everyone plays everyone in a few weeks, guaranteed games, but way more organising and you can't really join halfway through. Ladder = play when you like, join when you like, but lazy people can sit on a spot (PHIL). We went ladder. I'd still go ladder.

We moved it onto Rallio in April and the bit I care about is the table now just moves on its own when someone puts a score in. Challenges that nobody answers expire on their own. I'm not doing it at weddings any more. That's genuinely all I wanted.

Anyway. It was not just a spreadsheet. Don't say it's just a spreadsheet.

P.S. Phil, if you're reading this, I've challenged you twice.