◆ Amazon DynamoDB

Design DynamoDB global secondary indexes

This is real work, not a feature someone invented — it comes from real job ads and real questions people asked. Below are four ready AI prompts: get it done, make it easy for the next person to say yes to, work out the right move when you are stuck, and stop it coming back.

4prompts

The same task, four prompts

today's deadline · the next reviewer · the stuck moment · the pattern
AExecute — do the immediate taskAdd a global secondary index to the 'orders' table. It needs to allow efficient lookup of…+
Add a global secondary index to the 'orders' table. It needs to allow efficient lookup of orders by 'customer_email' and be able to sort by 'order_date', so the customer service team can quickly find recent orders.
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
BImprove — make it easier to acceptBefore I finalize the new 'customer_email-order_date' GSI on the orders table, make sure it…+
Before I finalize the new 'customer_email-order_date' GSI on the orders table, make sure it won't break the bank. I need to ensure the projected cost for the new index's read/write units is reasonable given our query patterns, and that it's not over-provisioned for the expected usage by the customer service team.
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
CDecide — diagnose the stuck momentThe new global secondary index for looking up orders by 'customer_email' is performing terribly…+
The new GSI for 'customer_email' is showing high read latency for common queries.
The new global secondary index for looking up orders by 'customer_email' is performing terribly in staging, with high read latency for common queries. The customer service lead, Sarah, is already complaining it's slower than the old system. I'm not sure if the projection is wrong or if the query patterns are just too diverse for this index. What's the most likely cause of the latency, and what's the quickest fix to get it usable by Monday?
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
DBecome — change the patternI consistently find myself needing to add or modify global secondary indexes late in the…+
I often find myself adding or modifying GSIs late in the development cycle.
I consistently find myself needing to add or modify global secondary indexes late in the development cycle, causing delays and rework. This often happens because I don't fully anticipate all access patterns upfront. What habit should I change in my initial design phase to better predict and incorporate necessary indexes from the start, saving us time and headaches?
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?

Questions people actually ask

honest answers, no sign-up

Every task here was seen in the real world. Someone doing the job named it, a real job ad asked for it, or a lot of people asked about it online.

If nothing real showed a task, it is not on the page. That is the whole rule.

They are the same job approached four ways, because what you need depends on where you are.

Get it done today. Make it easy for the next person to say yes to. Work out the right move when you are stuck. Learn the pattern so the job stops coming back.

For most of these jobs it can carry the heavy thinking - draft it, sort it, check it, rehearse it with you.

It cannot sit in your chair, take the blame when a number is wrong, or notice what nobody wrote down. Let it do the first 80%. Keep the last 20% that is truly yours.

No. Copy any prompt and paste it into the AI you already use. No account, no score, no wall in the way.

Any of them. The prompts describe the work rather than naming a product, so they are not tied to one assistant.

That is also why they keep working when you switch.

Change it freely. Every prompt is a starting line, not a rule.

Put in your real numbers, your real names and your real deadline. The more you make it yours, the better the answer comes back.

The tasks come from real job ads, published job data and the questions people ask in public forums.

The steps come from Amazon DynamoDB's own documentation, with practitioner sources for the traps the manual does not mention.

Push once. Ask it to sharpen the weakest part and to say what it assumed.

Most wrong answers come from a missing detail rather than a bad prompt - tell it the thing it could not know.