[Symmetry]

I've found that refactoring to fix a lack of abstraction is usually easier than refactoring to fix the wrong abstraction.

[hinkley]

Definitely. Among other things, this is akin to Work Hardening.

Refactoring tries to avoid this but the slope of that line can still end up being positive and you can’t refactor forever unless you’re very careful. And “very careful” is also not yet quantified.