Learning from Catastrophic Database Design Failures

Great presentation about database design by Kevin Loney:
Learning from Catastrophic Database Design Failures

- There is no such thing as a harmless logical read.
- Tune the application, not the statistics.
- Time spent testing is never wasted.
- Most application performance problems are the result of deliberate design choices.
- "No production database will run in Third Normal Form."
The data must ultimately be stored in a format that is as close as possible to the users’ needs. You must never place data normalization above the business needs.
- Avoid active use of remote data.

Seriously evaluate the impact of design changes.
Test rigorously.
And ask for directions – but be careful whom you ask...