Iterative Refactoring

Background

Most refactoring advice is catalog-based: identify a smell, apply the fix. That works for clear-cut problems — a method is too long, a name is misleading, duplication exists. But some code isn't broken in any catalogued way. It's just not right yet. The logic is correct. The tests pass. But the structure doesn't match the idea it's expressing.

This skill addresses that situation. The process is closer to sculpting than engineering: remove a bit of material, step back, observe what's revealed, let that observation guide the next cut. Each transformation is small and behavior-preserving, but the sequence can produce a result that no single step could have planned for.

Why each step matters