It’s also extremely productive.

Management always thinks a new web report / dashboard will solve all the problems.

Team then spends a week or month building said report into system.

Only to find that it doesn’t help anything. Six months of iterations later it’s correct and useful.

Or have someone build a one off report in excel. Iterate a few times that afternoon until it’s correct. Then it’s handed off to developers. Avoiding months of rework.

Respectfully, I don't think it's insightful to point out that Excel is Turing complete. That's a technical curiosity, it doesn't inform our discussion here.

The boundaries of what we call 'software development' are fuzzy, but that's true for all sorts of things. Assembling a computer doesn't make you an electronic engineer, despite that you're building a complex electronic system. If a high school teacher comes up with a basic arithmetic question that, by coincidence, has never been asked before, the teacher still doesn't count as a research mathematician for solving it.

I think you misunderstood the point (or they edited the comment). Excel is user programmed automation, and it’s incredibly wide spread.

"Excel as technical curiosity".

Peak SV.