Perhaps a better way to put it is that your code base develops through assimilation rather than predicting abstractions and then shoe-horning features into them

Perhaps a better way to put it is that your code base develops through assimilation rather than predicting abstractions and then shoe-horning features into them. In my experience the most elegant interfaces consistently emerge from the repeated process of adding features and refactoring the code to best fit them at that time. I can't tell you how many awkward abstractions I've had to work around at earlier points in my career because the project lead is trying to get everything to fit into their grand vision. Projects developed through assimilation mature far more smoothly because the design emerges to match reality. When you try to predict abstractions projects tend to leap and lurch. The repeated cycle is prediction, stretching, breaking and then finally rewriting.