Migrations are Worth the Effort

Steve prefers database migrations as a way of making changes to a database, though he knows they are hard. He gives a few reasons to choose them.

Try, Try Again, Until It's Right

A cloud migration for DoorDash interested Steve, primarily because it didn't work, but they were able to back out and try again.

Who Still Uses SP_ for Naming?

You shouldn't use sp_, and you should use DevOps.

Stairway to Database DevOps Level 4: Creating a new Azure Pipeline (with Azure SQL DB Deployment)

The first three levels of this series have been the lead-up to this level, automating the database deployment with Azure Pipelines. First, we started with an introduction to Azure DevOps and the Git client. Next, SQL Source Control was introduced to manage a database’s schema and manually deploy changes from the database to source control […]

Stairway to Database DevOps Level 3: Managing Code as a Team in Git

In this level of the Stairway to Database DevOps, you'll get an introduction to branching and merging. Learn how to create a branch for making your changes to the codebase, submitting these in a code review, and then merging the changes into those made by other developers.

Does Management Care About the Database?

In the past, Steve hasn't often felt management considered databases to be important, but that is changing.

Five database DevOps practices for boosting team productivity

Speed of delivery and protecting data can often feel incompatible, but there are industry-proven database DevOps practices that bring them together in harmony.

Across each of these five key practices, there’s a theme of removing barriers and cognitive load for teams; but crucially, they are also putting safeguards in place to reduce the risks to production environments.

When Work Isn't Done

Today Steve looks at the case when one software developer finishes their work, but another doesn't. The challenge of reordering work is something that happens more and more as teams struggle to coordinate their efforts.

Why Database Discussions Have Moved From the Backroom to the Boardroom

There are good reasons why business leaders should care about their databases—and hidden costs for neglecting them. Our CMO, Kate Duggan, wrote about the risks and potential costs in this article on Bloomberg.

Stairway to Database DevOps Level 2: Manage Code with Red Gate SQL Source Control

In this second level of the Stairway to Database DevOps, we learn to use Redgate's SQL Source Control to save and updates changes to objects, as well as tracking data in certain tables.