Frameworks
Complexity creep
The stage where a framework's original elegance disappears under accumulated workarounds and you spend more time running the system than working inside it.
It is the fourth of five stages every framework I have used has moved through: honeymoon, stabilization, adaptation, complexity creep, then breakdown or reboot. Each workaround was reasonable on its own, which is what makes the stage hard to notice from inside.
It is the point at which assessment is worth doing, because the choice between a small fix and a rebuild stops being obvious.