SQL Optimization

IBM | Predictive AI | Iterative Design | Object Model

Lorem ipsum <Job Title>, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. 

What is SQL Optimization?

SQL Optimization is a core pillar of IBM’s Db2 AI for z/OS platform. The SQL Optimization pillar uses Predictive AI and monitoring to improve database performance and reliability.

 

Reduce Consumption

Uses predictive AI to lower CPU resources

Improve performance

AI optimizes SQL query access paths for better

performance

Enhance resiliency

Use AI to identify performance improvement 

Optimization

Reduces administration time and simplifies management

Who Uses SQL Optimization?

System Adminstartor

  • Monitor SQL statements and Predictive AI recommendations
  • Initiate Predictive AI recommendation explorations
  • Manually or configure auto-deployment of Predictive AI recommendations
  • Review recommendation details and history

How is SQL Optimization Used

Lorem ipsum consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. 

Challenges

Product team had no prior experience working with UX designers

Formally introduced team to design methodologies and demonstrated how design would integrate into the team

Requirements continuously evolved throughout the project

Remained flexible to pivot design direction quickly and ensured the right stakeholders attended design reviews

 

Needed to develop product knowledge quickly

Conducted extensive whiteboarding sessions and created diagrams before beginning formal design work

 

Limited access to users and customers for research and feedback

Informally gathered feedback during customer calls and

leveraged the product team’s experience

 

Process

To get to a design solution I worked closely with the product management and the development teams to craft a strategic design vision for an action driven user experience. We collaborated to develop a persona, requirements, user stories, etc. to guide us through the design process.

High Level Requirements

Provide the system administrator with a holistic and actionable dashboard

Enable a user to manually initiate Predictive AI recommendations 

Allow a user to progressively learn recommendation details

Assure the UI adheres to IBM’s Carbon design system 

Object Model

First the design team and collaborated with development to develop an understanding of the building blocks of SQL Optimization. 

 

We did this by working with the development team to create an object model. The object model gave us:

 

  • Agreed upon common definition 
  • A list of all attributes
  • Metrics 
  • Actions that can be taken on each object

The object model was helpful in establishing an agreed upon relationship and definition for each business object.  

Lifecycle

To better understand how the System Administrator interacts with an AI Recommendation, I collaborated with the Development and Product Management teams to develop the recommendation lifecycle. This diagram proved valuable by establishing a single, agreed-upon definition of the different deployment states.

 

Primary lifecycle: 

 

  1. An AI recommendation remains in the deployed state until the System Administrator initiates an exploration
  2. Once exploration completes, the AI Recommendation is created and becomes Pending
  3. If accepted, the AI Recommendation is added to the deployment queue, then deployed

 

This lifecycle can repeat for as long as a deployment is necessary for the business.

Delivery

The final desktop and mobile designs were created using Figma and were delivered simultaneously to development. Throughout the final design process the design team members collaborated closely to assure terminology, style, and behaviors aligned across desktop and mobile. 

About

© John Stickley 2026 All Rights Reserved

Work

About

SQL Optimization

IBM | Predictive AI | Iterative Design | Object Model

Lorem ipsum <Job Title>, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. 

What is SQL Optimization?

SQL Optimization is a core pillar of IBM’s Db2 AI for z/OS platform. The SQL Optimization pillar uses Predictive AI and monitoring to improve database performance and reliability.

 

Reduce Consumption

Uses predictive AI to lower CPU resources

Improve performance

AI optimizes SQL query access paths for better

performance

Enhance resiliency

Use AI to identify performance improvement 

Optimization

Reduces administration time and simplifies management

Who Uses SQL Optimization?

System Adminstartor

  • Monitor SQL statements and Predictive AI recommendations
  • Initiate Predictive AI recommendation explorations
  • Manually or configure auto-deployment of Predictive AI recommendations
  • Review recommendation details and history

How is SQL Optimization Used

Lorem ipsum consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. 

Challenges

Product team had no prior experience working with UX designers

Formally introduced team to design methodologies and demonstrated how design would integrate into the team

Requirements continuously evolved throughout the project

Remained flexible to pivot design direction quickly and ensured the right stakeholders attended design reviews

 

Needed to develop product knowledge quickly

Conducted extensive whiteboarding sessions and created diagrams before beginning formal design work

 

Limited access to users and customers for research and feedback

Informally gathered feedback during customer calls and

leveraged the product team’s experience

 

Process

To get to a design solution I worked closely with the product management and the development teams to craft a strategic design vision for an action driven user experience. We collaborated to develop a persona, requirements, user stories, etc. to guide us through the design process.

High Level Requirements

Provide the system administrator with a holistic and actionable dashboard

Enable a user to manually initiate Predictive AI recommendations 

Allow a user to progressively learn recommendation details

Assure the UI adheres to IBM’s Carbon design system 

Object Model

First the design team and collaborated with development to develop an understanding of the building blocks of SQL Optimization. 

 

We did this by working with the development team to create an object model. The object model gave us:

 

  • Agreed upon common definition 
  • A list of all attributes
  • Metrics 
  • Actions that can be taken on each object

The object model was helpful in establishing an agreed upon relationship and definition for each business object.  

Lifecycle

To better understand how the System Administrator interacts with an AI Recommendation, I collaborated with the Development and Product Management teams to develop the recommendation lifecycle. This diagram proved valuable by establishing a single, agreed-upon definition of the different deployment states.

 

Primary lifecycle: 

 

  1. An AI recommendation remains in the deployed state until the System Administrator initiates an exploration
  2. Once exploration completes, the AI Recommendation is created and becomes Pending
  3. If accepted, the AI Recommendation is added to the deployment queue, then deployed

 

This lifecycle can repeat for as long as a deployment is necessary for the business.

Delivery

The final desktop and mobile designs were created using Figma and were delivered simultaneously to development. Throughout the final design process the design team members collaborated closely to assure terminology, style, and behaviors aligned across desktop and mobile. 

About

© John Stickley 2026 All Rights Reserved

John Stickley

About

Work

SQL Optimization

IBM | Predictive AI | Iterative Design | Object Model

Lorem ipsum <Job Title>, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. 

What is SQL Optimization?

SQL Optimization is a core pillar of IBM’s Db2 AI for z/OS platform. The SQL Optimization pillar uses Predictive AI and monitoring to improve database performance and reliability.

 

Reduce Consumption

Uses predictive AI to lower CPU resources

Improve performance

AI optimizes SQL query access paths for better

performance

Enhance resiliency

Use AI to identify performance improvement 

Optimization

Reduces administration time and simplifies management

Who Uses SQL Optimization?

System Adminstartor

  • Monitor SQL statements and Predictive AI recommendations
  • Start explorations for Predictive AI explorations
  • Deploy Predictive AI recommendations
  • Review recommendation details and history

How is SQL Optimization Used

Lorem ipsum consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. 

Challenges

Product team had no prior experience working with UX designers

Formally introduced team to design methodologies and demonstrated how design would integrate into the team

Requirements continuously evolved throughout the project

Remained flexible to pivot design direction quickly and ensured the right stakeholders attended design reviews

 

Needed to develop product knowledge quickly

Conducted extensive whiteboarding sessions and created diagrams before beginning formal design work

 

Limited access to users and customers for research and feedback

Informally gathered feedback during customer calls and

leveraged the product team’s experience

 

Process

To get to a design solution I worked closely with the product management and the development teams to craft a strategic design vision for an action driven user experience. We collaborated to develop a persona, requirements, user stories, etc. to guide us through the design process.

High Level Requirements

Provide the system administrator with a holistic and actionable dashboard

Enable a user to manually initiate Predictive AI recommendations 

Allow a user to progressively learn recommendation details

Assure the UI adheres to IBM’s Carbon design system 

Object Model

First the design team and collaborated with development to develop an understanding of the building blocks of SQL Optimization. 

 

We did this by working with the development team to create an object model. The object model gave us:

 

  • Agreed upon common definition 
  • A list of all attributes
  • Metrics 
  • Actions that can be taken on each object

The object model was helpful in establishing an agreed upon relationship and definition for each business object.  

Lifecycle

To better understand how the System Administrator interacts with an AI Recommendation, I collaborated with the Development and Product Management teams to develop the recommendation lifecycle. This diagram proved valuable by establishing a single, agreed-upon definition of the different deployment states.

 

Primary lifecycle: 

 

  1. An AI recommendation remains in the deployed state until the System Administrator initiates an exploration
  2. Once exploration completes, the AI Recommendation is created and becomes Pending
  3. If accepted, the AI Recommendation is added to the deployment queue, then deployed

 

This lifecycle can repeat for as long as a deployment is necessary for the business.

Delivery

The final desktop and mobile designs were created using Figma and were delivered simultaneously to development. Throughout the final design process the design team members collaborated closely to assure terminology, style, and behaviors aligned across desktop and mobile. 

About

© John Stickley 2026 All Rights Reserved

About

Work

John Stickley