In past years, prior to deploying an application, significant time and effort was expended in gathering requirements to produce a design. The design was completed up front, before any code was written or database schema created. Furthermore, the design was comprehensive and static – it was expected to be viable for years without requiring significant modifications. When changes eventually were needed, they became a major redesign effort that often impacted multiple facets of the application and database. None of this was completed quickly, or without risk.