Managers mostly have low computer skills, unless they started out as a computer person and worked their way up. So they think that anything is possible, and may have no idea of the limitations we face. But they think if they throw enough money at a problem, it might go away. If it doesn't go away, it must be the worker's fault. Spend money to add more memory cache to the SQL Server instead of having the developer redesign the application to cache data to a local file for things that don't change that often. If that doesn't work, get a technical specialist and have him read some web pages on SQL Server and appoint him the DBA and hope that the problems go away. If that doesn't work, blame the developers, whose hands got tied and ideas get ignored. Put one on probation as a warning to the rest. The market is in management's favor now, they can hire higher skilled developers for less pay now. As long as they can work under the same limitations, politics, and conditions that the rest of us work under and don't leave in less than a month like the others have. ;)