Minimal Modeling: welcome

Alexey Makhotkin from Minimal ModelingOct 20, 2026

Hello, and welcome to the Minimal Modeling substack.

Minimal Modeling is an approach to documenting and designing your database. It’s simple, lightweight, and incremental.

I’m working on a book about database design for beginners. The goal of this book is to help you get from a vague idea of what you need to implement (e.g.: “I need to build a website to manage schedule and instructor appointments for our gym”), to the full and complete definition of database tables. Here is a table of contents:

Database Design Book

If you know somebody who would benefit from the ideas presented here, please tell them about this substack, or send them the link to minimalmodeling.com.

Find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/alexeymakhotkin.