Books
Look Smarter Than You Are
15 books. The 13 below are co-authored primarily with Tracy McMullen and available on Amazon. Two more (Look Smarter Than You Are with Financial Reports and Looking Smarter Than You Are with Web Analysis) were self-published for training classes. All written before generative AI existed. (We typed every word ourselves, like people used to do.)
Look Smarter Than You Are with Hyperion Essbase
with Tracy McMullen
The original. The one that started a 15-book streak. Essbase for humans.
Look Smarter Than You Are with Essbase 11: An Administrator's Guide
with Tracy McMullen
Everything an Essbase admin needs to know. We wrote it so they wouldn't have to read Oracle's documentation.
Look Smarter Than You Are with Smart View and Essbase 11: An End User's Guide
with Tracy McMullen
For the people who actually use the software every day. The ones who deserve a book that doesn't put them to sleep.
Look Smarter Than You Are with Essbase 11.1.2: An Administrator's Guide
with Tracy McMullen & Robert Gideon
Updated for 11.1.2. More features, more pages, same dry humor.
Look Smarter Than You Are with Smart View 11.1.2
with Tracy McMullen
Smart View got smarter. So did the book.
Look Smarter Than You Are with Oracle Hyperion Planning: An End User's Guide
with Tracy McMullen
Planning for end users. Because 'just figure it out' is not a training strategy.
Look Smarter Than You Are with Hyperion Planning: An Administrator's Guide
with Tracy McMullen
For the people who build the plans everyone else fills out. You're welcome.
Look Smarter Than You Are with Hyperion Planning 11.1.2: An End User's Guide
with Tracy McMullen
Updated Planning for end users. Still more useful than the official docs.
Look Smarter Than You Are with Hyperion Planning 11.1.2: Creating Hyperion Planning Applications
with Tracy McMullen
The application builder's guide. For when you want to create, not just consume.
Look Smarter Than You Are with Hyperion Planning 11.1.2: Advanced Hyperion Planning
with Tracy McMullen
The advanced guide. For people who looked at the basics and said 'I need more.'
Look Smarter Than You Are with Oracle Enterprise Planning Cloud
with Tracy McMullen
Planning moved to the cloud. We followed. Oracle didn't invite us. We just showed up with a book.
Look Smarter Than You Are with Oracle Planning and Budgeting Cloud
with Tracy McMullen
PBCS edition. Because Oracle renamed things and we needed another cover.
Look Smarter Than You Are with Oracle Analytics Cloud Standard Edition
with Tracy McMullen
The analytics book. The last one on Amazon. Written before generative AI could have done it for us.
Why 15 Books?
When Tracy McMullen and I started writing, Oracle's documentation was... optimistic. Users needed practical guides written by people who actually implemented the software. So we wrote one. Then another. Then we couldn't stop.
Every book in the series is designed to make enterprise software less intimidating. The title, Look Smarter Than You Are, is the whole philosophy: you don't need to be an expert to use these tools well. You just need a book that doesn't assume you already know everything.
All 15 were written before large language models could generate text. We didn't have AI co-authors. We had caffeine, deadlines, and a shared belief that no one should have to read Oracle's official docs if they don't want to.
All Books on Amazon
The complete collection. Good for learning. Also good for making your bookshelf look more technical than it probably is.
View on Amazon