What is a database and why do I need one?
For some of you, this might be a bit simplistic, for others, this is the newsletter you have been waiting for. With baited breath, you have longed for me to explain what a database is and why it’s SO important.
Said no one ever.
There are some things you should know. And knowing this will help you think about your product in different ways, especially when we start talking about APIs. (Next week)
A database is where your data lives. It’s a bunch of columns and rows. And these columns and rows store information in cells. There are all kinds of different types of cells that do all kinds of different things. Oversimplified enough?
This will make some folks cringe… Imagine a database as a Google Spreadsheet. It’s a document that has columns like First Name, Last Name and Phone Number. Each time you ad a new row, you are adding a new record. That’s a basic database.
Because you have this data now, you can do things with it. Like, sort it by first name, last name or phone number. As the data gets more complicated you can also do more with it. You can find out how many records have a specific last name. That’s a query. You are asking questions of the database.
Something to think about is how you store the data. In our example above, putting the first name, last name and phone number all in one field will give you bad data. I had a project that I worked on where the data was exactly that. And worse. It took weeks to get that all apart and make it useful. Manual data entry. It was awful. I wish that I could say that it was the first or last time, but it happens ALL the time.
Additionally, you never know where your data is going to go. You might think that you are doing a simple spreadsheet for your business. You want to cram all kinds of information into a single cell. But there might come a time in the future where you will regret that. SO a little forethought might save you a ton of work later.
Why is it important to know what the database is? When you start to grasp how the database works, you can think about what you can do with the data. Then the possibilities are endless.
Let’s say you are building a to-do list app. Your basic fields will likely be something like:
- The owner
- The date and time it was created
- The to-do description
- When it’s due
Knowing that you can come up with all kinds of useful functions for the user. Send a text to the owner when the due date is a week away. Send an email when the task is overdue. Send a summary of what an owner did that week. All useful.
Imagine adding two more fields. A longitude and a latitude. They can be where the to-do was created or where the to-do needs to be completed. Now you can do things like reminding an owner that they need to do a task when they get to that location or remind them when they get near that location.
Again, understanding what a database is even at the most simplistic level can help you think about what your product can do. And it will help you not create bad data. Next week we’ll start talking about APIs and how to make the data available and useful in surprising ways.
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This is the from the archive of an ongoing series called Making Things That Matter. Each week I will send you an email with another step in the process of building products and launching ideas. Signup here to join the conversation.
