Abstract: A system, method, and computer-readable medium that facilitate classification of database requests as problematic based on estimated processing characteristics of the request are provided. Estimated processing characteristics may include estimated skew including central processing unit skew and input/output operation skew, central processing unit duration per input/output operation, and estimated memory usage. The estimated processing characteristics are made on a request step basis. The request is classified as problematic responsive to determining one or more of the estimated characteristics of a request step exceed a corresponding threshold. In this manner, mechanisms for predicting bad query behavior are provided. Workload management of those requests may then be more successfully provided through workload throttles, filters, or even a more confident exception detection that correlates with the estimated bad behavior.