[atoav]

I think a good programmer should have an "intuition" whether it is worth to build an abstraction for something or not. If in doubt don't do it.

If in hindsight your intuition fooled you constantly, adjust it.

[redisman]

I agree but it's kind of too vague to have as a company/team-wide policy

[atoav]

Sure, but I wouldn't implement something like that as a policy, but as a guideline. So when someone really goes overboard into one or the other directionyou can point them to the guideline, but there is still some freedom in deciding on the spot.

[herodoturtle]

If the need / opportunity to abstract something is highly subjective then it is best left to the team lead / senior architect. For all other obvious cases having a policy as outlined above strikes a healthy balance between autonomy and uniformity.