The Second-Use Test

The second occurrence is the first moment recurrence can be observed rather than imagined. Put both oneoff records side by side: scope shape, repeated instructions, required stages, review policy, destination kind, evidence, and failure modes. Promote only what is stable across the pair.

Do not generalize incidental nouns. Two tasks may both concern invoices while one repairs a file and the other investigates a vendor process. Conversely, tasks with different nouns may share the same evidence-audit shape. The reusable unit is behavior and proof, not topic labels.

Look at where the first notes were long. Repeated explanation is a candidate for the named template. Look at where stages differed. A difference may show optional policy or may prove the shapes are not one pipeline. Review observations can reveal common craft the author did not notice.

The second-use rule is a threshold, not an automatic promotion. Two occurrences make comparison possible; they do not guarantee a stable intersection. If the common part is only “do work carefully,” keep both as oneoff.

Diff the Work Orders

Create a table with rows for premises, method guidance, stages, review, destination, and proof. Mark exact shared behavior, task-specific detail, and unresolved difference. Only the first column belongs in a pipeline row.

After drafting the row, replay both historical tasks conceptually. If either would need an exception sentence naming itself, the proposed pipeline is too broad or the shared shape is not ready.

Promotion requires comparable evidence, not mere frequency. Two tasks justify a named row only when their shared instructions, gates, and proof shape survive comparison after instance details are removed. Repetition without a stable seam is still a sequence of honest oneoffs.

Code

Find the stable intersection of two oneoff records·python

first = {"stages": ("plan-gate", "review"), "proof": "served-check", "topic": "links"}
second = {"stages": ("plan-gate", "review"), "proof": "served-check", "topic": "images"}
shared = {k: first[k] for k in first.keys() & second if first[k] == second[k]}
assert shared == {"stages": ("plan-gate", "review"), "proof": "served-check"}
print(shared)

The Second-Use Test