Autumn Leaves and Database Design
Looking out the window here in Wisconsin, the leaves just turned color. We have a beautiful tapestry with all the riotous colors of fall and a nice sunny day to enjoy it.
The beauty of fall colors is the diversity of color and texture. It just wouldn’t be the same if someone had carefully planted all the maples together and all the locusts together. The color is better in a woods that has them all mixed up together, and ecologically, that is more sustainable and healthy.
Same goes for database design. On the one hand, you want to be able to quickly find what you need, on the other hand, you need to have a wide variety of information in your system.
Some folks segregate the data: Resumes are here, project summaries are there. Very little if any overlap occurs. This method denies some important opportunities. For example, say a key player is unavailable to lead the technical team for a project. With segregated databases, you can’t tell who is the next best candidate. With an integrated design, you are two clicks from the next best candidate no matter how large your firm, AND have the data to prove it to the customer.
There are lots of fancy software that claims to automate the process for you, but I’ve found the best database must begin with an architectural design first, rather than buying the software and trying to get it to work for you.
Yikes! This is a big topic so I’ll stop here and spend the next few times talking about one aspect of Database Design. Stay tuned.
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