---
pattern: 10
type: success
name: Rule of Three Overuse
pack: en-language
language: en
---

# Pattern 10 (en): Rule of Three Overuse — Success Case

## Input Text

> The program fosters creativity, innovation, and collaboration among early-career professionals. Over the course of eight weeks, participants gain inspiration, practical skills, and lasting connections that extend well beyond the cohort. The result is a more dynamic, inclusive, and forward-thinking community of practice that continues to grow each year.

## Expected Output

> The program pairs early-career designers with senior mentors for an eight-week studio project. Last year's cohort of 24 produced two apps that are still in active use at partner nonprofits, and six participants were hired by mentors' firms within three months of finishing.

## Applied Pattern

- Pattern 10 (Rule of Three Overuse): Three triple-item lists in three consecutive sentences — "creativity, innovation, and collaboration," "inspiration, practical skills, and lasting connections," and "dynamic, inclusive, and forward-thinking." Every sentence lands on exactly three items, creating a metronomic rhythm.

## Judgment

**Success** — The fire condition (3-item lists appearing 2+ times in the same document) is exceeded with three triads in three sentences. None of the counts are structurally necessary — "creativity" and "innovation" overlap, "dynamic" and "forward-thinking" are near-synonyms, and there is no reason each list must have exactly three elements. The corrected version uses naturally varying counts: one program structure, two concrete outputs, and one hiring statistic, with specific numbers throughout (24 participants, two apps, six hires, three months).
