In the world of Django development, making decisions about how to structure your models can have a big impact on your project down the line. One particular feature that seems handy at first glance is the ManyToManyField. It promises to handle relationships between models effortlessly. But before you dive in and start using it everywhere, let me share a cautionary tale about why you might want to think twice.

Let's imagine a scenario where we have a Django model called Project. Each project can have multiple users assigned to it, so we use a ManyToManyField to represent this relationship. It looks something like this:

class Project(models.Model):
  title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
  project_name_code = models.CharField(max_length=200, unique=True)
  resources = models.ManyToManyField(User, related_name='project_resources')

At first, everything seems fine. We can easily access the resources associated with a project using project.resources. But then, as our project grows, we realize that we also need to access all the projects associated with a user. This becomes a bit trickier to handle, especially within serializers and viewsets.

To make things smoother, we might think of creating a third table to manage this relationship explicitly. So, we create a new model called ProjectResource:

class ProjectResource(models.Model):
  project = models.ForeignKey(Project, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name='project_resources')
  resource = models.ForeignKey(settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name='project_resources')

In theory, we thought that Django's data migration would seamlessly transfer data from the original ManyToManyField table to our new ProjectResource table. However, reality hits hard – the migration doesn't work as expected, and we end up losing all our third table data.

In hindsight, it would have been better to create the third table manually from the beginning. While ManyToManyField might seem convenient initially, it can lead to headaches later on, especially when you need more control over the relationship or when your project requirements evolve.

So, the lesson here is simple: don't always go for the easy route with ManyToManyField. Sometimes, it's worth going the extra mile to create a third table manually. It may take a bit more effort upfront, but it could save you from a lot of trouble in the long run.

In conclusion, think carefully before using ManyToManyField in Django ORM. Consider your project's current needs and potential future requirements. And remember, sometimes a little extra work at the beginning can prevent a lot of headaches down the road.