> "over-engineering" [...] is only ever used to discourage long-term thought Not exactly. The term is used to discourage long-term thought that almost certain

> "over-engineering" [...] is only ever used to discourage long-term thought Not exactly. The term is used to discourage long-term thought that almost certainly won't pay off. As such, it usually will cause more trouble in the long term. So it's not just a failed investment with a missing long-term win, but an "investment" that will cause a long-term loss. Over-engineering usually happens when people either over-estimate their ability to predict the future. Or, when they just learned a bunch of exciting technologies or patterns, and drift into some kind of hammer/nail thinking.