When we discuss performance tuning, we often focus on how to make query execution more efficient, and with good cause since execution is the single most important piece of performance tuning on SQL Server.

However, query execution can only begin once query parsing, optimization, compilation and caching have occurred. These steps are generally less well-understood than execution, but can also have a significant effect on the overall performance of your SQL Server.

This session will look at the work SQL Server has to do to produce that executable query plan, as well as choices we can make as database developers that affect the pre-execution stages of query processing. After this session, you should have an understanding of ways to reduce the amount of "grunt work" that SQL Server has to do before it can get down to the business of actually running a query.