Data as a Product — Schema-First Development
Design your data model before your UI. Migrations are first-class citizens, not afterthoughts.
Most developers start a new project by building the UI. They wire up some components, hard-code some data, get things looking right on screen, and then — almost as an afterthought — figure out where to put the data. Tables get created to match whatever shapes the frontend happened to need. Columns get added ad hoc. The schema becomes a reflection of the UI rather than a model of the business domain.
This is backwards. It's like designing the packaging before you know what's inside the box.
Schema-first development flips the sequence. You design the data model first, because the data model is the product. Everything else — the API, the UI, the mobile app — is just a way to interact with that data.
The Schema Is the Contract
When you design your schema before writing applicatio
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