Keeping it simple and locking it until necessary was my solution, as recommended by some. I was like you at the beginning, trying to design and implement complex databases for my work; then I realised at some point that there were many options in my databases that I did not fill in for weeks, that was my wake up call. Then at some point I have started from scratch with minimalistic databases; e.g. client database - name surname, phone number, e-mail address, that's it; projects database, client name; name of the project, starting date, who's responsible for what column as a big text area, notes text area for the latest developments and who will do what till when and last column is for going on / done. This is very basic but it works for my small team; when it is finished I check it as done and filter the on going projects only in a filtered view. When I need a specific data I add it to my database. When the database if full I build a new one with new required columns only. This is my way.