[primitur]

I agree with you - I think this bit of advice addresses the effect, not the cause, of an ignored problem: design, design, design.

Design your database for your application - if you have some major hassle with your database after App 1.0 is developed, its because you missed this very important step.

Don't treat the .db like its an architectural sandbox, adding/tweaking/removing things 'to make it better' after the fact. Careful .db architecture means, once your app reaches a functional state, your .db should be already pretty much immutable.

Maybe the solution for those who can't escape this flaw is to simply build the App first, then the .db, so that there is little chance for the .db to be screwed up in the first place, who knows ..