"Over the last decade we've developed and refined a number of techniques that allow a database design to evolve as an application develops. This is a very important capability for agile methodologies. The techniques rely on applying continuous integration and automated refactoring to database development, together with a close collaboration between DBAs and application developers. The techniques work in both pre-production and released systems, in green field projects as well as legacy systems."
"The Utilization Saturation and Errors (USE) Method is a methodology for analyzing the performance of any system. It directs the construction of a checklist, which for server analysis can be used for quickly identifying resource bottlenecks or errors. It begins by posing questions, and then seeks answers, instead of beginning with given metrics (partial answers) and trying to work backwards."