Reference content for naming and addressing structural and hygiene problems in code. Consumers cite the relevant pattern or rule by name.

Discipline

When citing any pattern or rule from this catalog:

Name the pattern (e.g. "Feature Envy", "Premature Abstraction"); cite Fowler or Evans where applicable.
Refactoring direction — propose a concrete move (e.g. "Move Method to X", "Replace Conditional with Polymorphism", "Extract Policy object").
Severity — blocker if the change entrenches a pre-existing scattered pattern by adding a callsite; suggestion if it introduces a new pattern or a prerequisite refactor would simplify the work.

Pre-existing pattern rule

"Make the change easy, then make the easy change." — Kent Beck. When working with code that has pre-existing problems:

Doesn't worsen it (reads, passes through, no new callsite): skip — never flag ambient patterns the work doesn't interact with.
Adds another callsite to a scattered pattern: flag as blocker — stop and extract.
Depends on it (would be simpler if fixed first): flag as suggestion — "Consider extracting [X] first as a prerequisite." Suggest a separate issue.