NoSQL - Old Masters Oil painting technique and Software development

Years ago I devoted a substantial amount of time to oil painting. It was a deep dive for 6 years, and I learned a lot about the art of oil painting including some of the old master techniques commonly used by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Goya, Velasquez and more. 

Though I don't use the skills I learned from that period today, I recently realized I use the attitude and approach I learned, especially in working with NoSQL. 

To generalize, the Old Masters technique was to work from thin to fat. The artist would start a painting using very thin paint using lots a turpentine and medium to thin the color. With the thin paint, the artist would then cover the whole canvas with color but in a very general way, not specifying any details but setting up the top level structure of the composition. Then the artist would wait a day or two for it to dry. Note that a productive studio would have many canvases in process. The painter then would add another layer of paint which was a little bit fatter and less turpentine defining pictorial elements a little more. Then the painter would let that dry. The painter then with each session would progressively paint fatter paint and more definitively until the painting was completed. 

How is this similar to building a NoSQL application? I would say that with NoSQL you should start your design very broadly and the flexible schema allows you to do so. You can then go fatter and refine and add details as you go because of the flexible schema. The result is a growing and living application that is agile enough to adjust to new needs and ideas. 

In contrast, I would say that SQL design is more akin to ink drawing where you make permanent, definitive and detailed decisions up front. Then you have to live with them for the rest of the life of your application. You could change the design later but not without some heartache. 

So if you are using NoSQL, let's see your masterpiece!