Database quotes

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Robert_N_Britcher

One Database

“I went too far. I specified too much detail. I insisted that one relational database connect every element of the software development environment. The subsystem designers and coders soon learned that this elegant solution could not work. Uniformity and commonality have their limits. ... They developed separate databases that could be queried independently. The team succeeded and I learned when to stop.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 41.

David_Epstein

Giant Undertakings

“Since the 1990s, researcher Bent Flyvbjerg has kept a database that tracks giant undertakings... Only 8.5 percent of projects finished on time and on budget; 0.5 percent did that and delivered the prophesied benefits. Almost every major infrastructure project goes over budget, but at least not by as much as IT projects, which have a greater tendency to go hundreds of percent over budget. The pattern of disaster that Flyvbjerg has documented is relatively simple: With few constraints, exciting projects get too large too fast, going from big idea to giant endeavor extremely quickly.”
  • Source: David Epstein in the book “Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better”. Published 2026 by Riverhead Books. Page 14. ISBN 978-0593715734 (Ebook).

Researcher Freedom

“The problem of researcher freedom leading to false conclusions is now known to be pervasive in science. The age of big data and big-database software makes it easier than ever to mix and match statistics in pursuit of positive results that are likely just artifacts of chance.”
  • Source: David Epstein in the book “Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better”. Published 2026 by Riverhead Books. Page 38. ISBN 978-0593715734 (Ebook).

Shoshana_Zuboff

Highly Informated Database

“In the highly informated organization, the data base takes on a life of its own.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 393. ISBN:0465032125.

Management Circles Around Data

“As the intellective skill base becomes the organization's most precious resource, managerial roles must function to enhance its quality. Members can be thought of as being arrayed in concentric circles around a central core, which is the electronic data base.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 396. ISBN:0465032125.