| name | thinkies-detect-diminishing-returns |
| description | Detect when further effort yields little gain |
Follow these steps:
1. Track pattern emergence
Note when each theme first appears. Do subsequent examples introduce new dimensions or just reinforce what's known?
2. Test predictive power
Predict what the next observation will reveal, then check accuracy. Does the model anticipate reality, or keep hitting surprises?
3. Measure theme stability
Compare early theme definitions to current ones. Do core insights hold, or does new data keep reshaping them?
4. Count novel information
Track the ratio of confirming examples to genuinely new ones. Detect when novelty approaches zero.
5. Check boundary conditions
Deliberately explore edge cases. Do existing patterns explain them, or do they expose gaps needing more investigation?
6. Declare convergence
State what has stabilized, what confidence level the synthesis supports, and what marginal value further exploration would add.