Matthew Walther

When we talk about software patterns, we spend most of our time discussing the _technical_ contexts they make sense in. Building an API? Use the gateway pattern! Extracting functionality from a monolith? Use the strangler pattern! Etc etc etc.

In addition to its technical contexts, though, every pattern also has a set of _organizational_ contexts that it makes sense in - and these are usually implicit in our discussions.

But these organizational contexts are what separate use from overuse, when it comes to patterns. Ever work on a project where it felt like the team used the Gang of Four book like a checklist? That’s a team that misunderstood the appropriate organizational context for patterns.