I recently got a great question: if I order by a column where all rows in that column have the same value, will SQL Server then order the results by the clustered index key?
A few folks have asked: will auto-tuning and adaptive query plans mean the end of performance tuning jobs for SQL Server? In this week’s episode, I talk about why I’m excited about those features rather than afraid of them.
Digging into this problem, I share the #1 mindset problem I had as a DBA, why this mindset is so common among database professionals, and a daily habit that can change your approach to new technology.
Are you worried that you talk too fast when you give a speech, talk, or presentation?
In this episode, I give you simple, practical tips that I’ve used to successfully improve the way I give presentations. Four years ago, I got frustrated feedback from listeners who had a hard time keeping up with my mouth; now I get congratulations that the pace was great.
A query is slow, and you figure out how to collect the query execution plan. Now what?
In this video, I talk “big picture” about what execution plans are, what “cost” is, why to collect “compiled for” values, and the steps I take to analyze execution plans while performance tuning queries.
To see this in action, you can play along with this sample script.
Table partitioning makes execution plans a bit more confusing.
I have a free online course which walks you through decoding execution plans, including whether or not partition elimination occurred.
Sharpen your performance tuning and indexing skills this summer, for free, one week at a time!
Copyright (c) 2025, Catalyze SQL, LLC; all rights reserved. Opinions expressed on this site are solely those of Kendra Little of Catalyze SQL, LLC. Content policy: Short excerpts of blog posts (3 sentences) may be republished, but longer excerpts and artwork cannot be shared without explicit permission.