Over-Abstraction

Kind: anti-pattern

Layer: Enforcement Core

Record: architecture:over-abstraction

Severity: discouraged

Scope: contract_compatibility

Formed by: Add too many interfaces, layers, factories, adapters, or generic types relative to actual variability.

Canonical: Ontology

A defect in which layers, interfaces and factories outnumber the variation they serve.

Listed in Architecture principles, after Premature Abstraction and before Golden Hammer.

Refactored by

• Collapse Layers
• Inline Abstraction
• Preserve Only Real Boundaries

Severity

• discouraged

Category

• Anti-patterns

Force

• Contract compatibility

Negated by

• Minimum Viable Architecture

Linked from

• Anti-patterns
• Architecture Review / Evolution / Governance Artifacts
• Core Modular Design
• Severity levels
• The forces