Database Reference
In-Depth Information
How Do You Approach Performance Problems?
Simply put, the aim of an application is to provide a benefit to the business using it. Consequently, the reason for
optimizing the performance of an application is to maximize that benefit. This does not mean maximizing the
performance, but rather finding the best balance between costs and performance. In fact, the effort involved in
an optimization task should always be compensated by the benefit you can expect from it. This means that from a
business perspective, performance optimization may not always make sense.
Business Perspective vs. System Perspective
You optimize the performance of an application to provide a benefit to a business, so when approaching performance
problems, you have to understand the business problems and requirements before diving into the details of the
application. Figure
1-2
illustrates the typical difference between a person with a
business perspective
(that is, a user)
and a person with a
system perspective
(that is, an engineer).
Figure 1-2.
Different observers may have completely different perspectives
4
It is important to recognize that there is a cause-effect relationship between these two perspectives. Although the
effects must be recognized from the business perspective, the causes must be identified from the system perspective.
So if you do not want to troubleshoot nonexistent or irrelevant problems (compulsive tuning disorder), it is essential
to understand what the problems are from a business perspective—even if subtler work is required.
