Database Design for a New Product

What to assess Start from real objects and relationships: customers, orders, tasks, or inventory. Agree on identifiers and ownership before designing tables.

How to apply it Use constraints to protect data integrity and indexes for queries you actually run. Avoid duplicating the same fact across unrelated tables without a reason.

Operational considerations Plan migrations as versioned changes and rehearse them on a copy of realistic data. Backups are only useful when restoration has been tested.

Next step Permissions, retention, deletion, and audit needs should be defined early when records are sensitive or regulated.