Phases of Database Growth and Cost
Having helped &quot;people run databases for their businesses&quot; since the 1970&#x27;s (yes I am a dinosaur), my approach has simplified dramatically into approaching all database requirements as a collection of just 7 EAV (entity-attribute-value) tables [1] - one 3-field table for each field type: date, decimal, integer, text, time, varchar and then one for id&#x2F;tenant.  I then optimize the hardware for a few (very) long narrow tables, and shard as required.  The beauty of this is that the database structure is all in data (where it should be) and I never have to alter the tables.  As hardware has evolved, this approach serves my clients better, plus the turnaround time for changes is closer to the client instant gratification requirement.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Entity–attribute–value_model" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Entity–attribute�...</a>