When someone is in pain but cannot verbally communicate, diagnosing the problem is difficult. Much like a very young patient, before Oracle instrumented its source code, it was limited in what it could say to us. Finally, Oracle instrumented its source code, and we began listening to it.

Oracle's words may seem strange, but when you've learned what phrases like db file scattered read mean, you will be able to pinpoint the cause of its pain and understand how the flow of information within Oracle was disrupted. In a very real sense, Oracle grew up, and now we can listen to Oracle speak to us like an adult.

Immediately, performance diagnosis takes on a whole new dimension. Instead of inferring where the problem resides and spending countless hours performing diagnosis, our time shifts toward analysis. Wait-event analysis has paved the way to response-time analysis, enabling us to quantify the user experience and develop solutions focused on directly reducing time, instead of increasing efficiency.