When you run a query twice, and get dramatically different run times, your first step can be to try to identify the differences in execution plans. For many that means running  the two different queries (before & after) and splitting you screen in order to visually compare the plans. Did you know SQL Server Management Studio gives you the option to compare to different execution plans? It makes it easy not only to visualize the differences, but it also shows you detail properties that allow you to dive into the numbers. This functionality was introduced with SQL Server 2016, and is also part of the functionality of the Query Store…