If you are ever going to get to grips with optimizing something, why not do the opposite first or as a foil?
How often do you really fenangle your database (or other system) properly? Are your performance enhancements really based on science or cargo culting or something else?
Yup that's a variation of the general 'deliver a hugely inefficient solution first, then iterate' tactic. Keeps multiple people employed much longer than a little (debatably) "premature" optimisation ahead of time, keep delivering benefits QoQ (that could have been delivered sooner, but whatever...), keep managers happy.
If you are ever going to get to grips with optimizing something, why not do the opposite first or as a foil?
How often do you really fenangle your database (or other system) properly? Are your performance enhancements really based on science or cargo culting or something else?