Expression choice for the error of being too exact? [closed]
In engineering, we use the term overspecify
Wiktionary gives a good definition
overspecify (third-person singular simple present overspecifies, present participle overspecifying, simple past and past participle overspecified)
To specify in excessive detail.
The customer overspecified the requirements and now we're contractually required to build it this way. Does he think he's an engineer?
To specify excessive capability.
As usual the customer overspecified the requirements, it's like asking for a car that sits 20 and fits in compact car's parking space.
To provide redundant or inconsistent information.
An overspecified truth table contains at least one decision that will never be executed because it is already specified in a previous decision... A noun phrase is overspecified when it is used in a context where a pronoun would have been unambiguous. (It could also mean that the material requirement was underspecified.)
We have tools that can cut material to a very high accuracy. It wouldn't be reasonable to require high accuracy for something like wood, for example, because wood is dimensionally unstable. To create a requirement for such accuracy in this case would be to overspecify the requirement.