The Bus Factor: Why your CSV workflow is a liability

In software engineering, the "Bus Factor" is a morbid but useful metric: How many team members would have to get hit by a bus for the project to stall?

In finance and operations, the metric is often one.

The "Steve" Dependency

Every office has a "Steve." Steve knows that you can't just double-click the bank export. Steve knows you have to open a blank Excel sheet, go to Data, use the legacy wizard, select the third column, and mark it as 'Text' so the account numbers don't break.

But what happens when Steve goes on vacation?

• A junior analyst double-clicks the file.
• Excel auto-formats 005432 to 5432.
• The VLOOKUP fails.
• The reconciliation report is wrong.

Process over People

Reliable data pipelines cannot depend on human vigilance. People get tired. People forget steps. People leave companies.

To reduce risk, you must move from "Steve knows the trick" to "The tool handles it automatically."