Excel World Champion Diarmuid Early Shares Top Tips

Diarmuid Early is no stranger to the competitive Excel scene. He has been a top contender for several years, often entering the knockouts as the first or second seed. Despite this consistency, he noted that his previous best finish in the Microsoft Excel World Championship was fifth place. Winning the 2025 title in Las Vegas was a major breakthrough for him, describing the feeling as "great" after being a "long-term underperformer in the postseason."

Early's expertise is built on a solid foundation of professional experience. He has been in the Excel business for approximately 20 years. His journey began in college and transitioned to professional use at Boston Consulting Group. He then spent a decade at Deutsche Bank as a business manager, focusing on financial data analysis and reporting. For the last six years, he has operated his own consulting firm, dedicating his career to mastering spreadsheets.

Early's number one tip for office workers is to believe that a better way exists. He advises against spending minutes on manual tasks like copying and pasting. Instead, he suggests searching for an automated solution. Early claims that 80% of Excel struggles can be solved by a simple search with a crisp description. He recommends using tools like Google or ChatGPT to find solutions that thousands of other users have likely requested before.

Investing time in learning functions is crucial for long-term success. Early uses the SUMIFS function as a prime example. While it may take longer to learn the first time, the efficiency gains are exponential. He explains that the second time is faster, and the thousandth time is significantly faster than manual entry. This approach also drastically reduces the likelihood of errors. Early notes that new employees are often expected to take time to learn, making it the perfect opportunity to build these skills.

Early warns against common mistakes, such as manually typing cell references into formulas (e.g., A1 + B3 + C5). He describes this as a "dark path" that is prone to misclicks and errors. He also highlights the importance of analyzing the results. He states:

"It's great to be able to very, very quickly zoom through and say, 'The answer is seven.' If you get to that quickly, you get more time to say: 'Does it make any sense that the answer is seven?'"

He observes that junior bankers and consultants often skip this verification step, handing over answers without insight. Taking the time to validate data builds credibility and helps spot mistakes before they reach management.

Artificial Intelligence is becoming a major tool in data analysis, but Early believes it has limits. He views AI as a helpful resource for taking users from a "bad" level to "not bad" or "good." However, he doubts it offers much value to highly experienced users like himself. Early stated that if AI reaches a point where it can teach him new things in Excel, "then there's not much room left for human Excel users."

Early recalls his time training others at Boston Consulting Group. He describes the look of "combined joy and horror" on a student's face when learning a new trick. These are the lessons that save hours of work—sometimes preventing late nights until 2 a.m. He believes that human experience and the accumulation of "hacks" still hold significant value in the professional world.