I find trying to decide on "proper abstractions" can also cause the same issue as trying to design for scale: you have to make complex design decisions based on how the future might turn out (which components might you need to replace? what might their future interface requirements be?).

I think it might be more efficient to do whatever is fastest/easiest based on what you know now & always plan on refactoring when you know more. So you end up trying to write less, simpler, code knowing you're going to tear it apart soon.

Which I think still fits with your overall point.