Think Before You Start

I'm cleaning up a de-normalized relational data model for my booking application. This task has consumed approximately 30 hours and remains incomplete.

The primary challenge is the application's production status. The database contains substantial data, and de-normalization has corrupted portions of it. Separating 5% of problematic data from 12,000 rows proves technically unfeasible. I'll migrate the 95% and archive the remainder. While imperfect, this solution delivers progress now.

I created this legacy myself, rushing to meet delivery demands. My customer prioritized speed, so I implemented shortcuts reluctantly. This pattern reflects industry realities: project delays pressure teams to skip thorough analysis for immediate feature release.

When you bypass deep problem analysis, you incur "thinking debt." Life inevitably demands repayment. Eventually, you must focus exclusively on the problem, dedicating full cognitive resources to resolution.

Invest time in thorough problem analysis. It would have saved me 30 hours of headaches. It will save you too.

If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.–Albert Einstein