I often struggle to remember which database fits which use case — relational, document, key-value, graph, time-series.
Memorising rules never worked for me.
So instead, I turned database selection into a short comic-style story inspired by Shakespeare.
Surprisingly, this made system design concepts stick far better than any cheat sheet.
Curious to know how this approach feels to others.
Scene: A Julius Caesar play. Brutus and Cassius whisper on stage.
🎠Act I: The Database Selection Problem
Brutus:
Cassius, before we stab Caesar… a question.
Which database should Rome use?
🎠Act II: Why Memorization Fails
Cassius:
Good Brutus, must thou memorise all databases?
Brutus:
I tried.
They flee my mind faster than loyalty in Rome.
🎠Act III: Mapping Problems to Databases
Cassius:
Then answer me this — where lies Rome’s gold?
Brutus:
In a vault.
No errors permitted.
Cassius:
There stands thy relational database.
Where a single mistake is treason.
Brutus:
And the citizens?
Ever changing, oddly shaped?
Cassius:
A cupboard of chaos —
a document database.
Brutus:
When a guard cries,
“Water, now!”
Cassius:
No thought.
Only speed.
A key-value store.
Brutus:
And when one asks,
“Knowest thou a good carpenter?”
Cassius:
A friend of a friend of a friend.
A graph database.
Brutus:
Daily costs of war,
tallied by time?
Cassius:
A ledger.
A time-series database.
🎠Act IV: The Core Lesson of Database Selection
Brutus:
So the lesson?
Cassius:
Choose not the database first —
choose the problem.
Brutus:
Et tu, database confusion?
(Exeunt. Applause.) đź‘Ź
🧠Why Storytelling Works for System Design
- I stopped memorizing database definitions
- I started remembering real-world situations
- Each database became a scene, not a rule
Turns out, the human brain remembers stories far better than tables.
đź’¬ What Do You Think?
Does this storytelling approach help you remember database selection better?
Or do you prefer traditional system design explanations?
Would love to hear your thoughts 👇
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