A database schema is not neutral storage. It is the team’s worldview, written down in DDL. Which entities exist, which relationships are first class, which fields are required — every one of these decisions is a hypothesis about how the business actually works.
When the schema and the business disagree, the schema usually wins, because the schema is the part that has tests and migrations and the business is the part that has feelings. The cost is paid in awkward workarounds at the application layer.
Treat schema design as product design. The shape of the table determines the shape of the conversation it is possible to have with the data later.
