Concept

Cognitive Load

The mental effort required to process and understand information

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Concept

Cognitive Load

7 visible of 7 connections

Concept

Cognitive Load

Description

The mental effort required to process and understand information

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4 Episodes
3 Related Concepts
9 Frameworks
34 Practices

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Transcript Mentions

Well, there are lots of different ways to talk about DevEx. One way to talk about it is kind of three key things that have components that are important of themselves, and they also kind of reinforce each other. Flow state is one of them, cognitive load is another, and then feedback loops are another. I think when you touch on this... Your question about flow state is a really good one, and I'll admit we're just a few years into this. We're still figuring out what the best flow state and cognitive requirements are for people in this because, to your point, sometimes we're getting interrupted all the time. You don't just get in the flow and lock down, and write a whole bunch of code and do the typing of a whole bunch of code as much anymore. Instead, you're kind of creating a prompt, getting some code back and reviewing the code, trying to integrate what's happening in the system, and that can really interrupt.

I think the main tactic is to remind yourself to be concise. And usually when I do that, I end up trimming 20% at least of what I wrote, tightening up some sentences. I also ask myself, how might I be adding cognitive load to whatever it is that I'm saying? So is there a tighter, clearer, cleaner way that I can ask what I'm asking or present the information I'm presenting or make the recommendation that I'm making? And usually if you even ask yourself that, your brain automatically comes up with stuff. You just see whatever you wrote differently and you're like, "Oh shit, I could trim this entire paragraph because that's secondary." And maybe you have your primary message in Slack, and then within the thread add some of the secondary stuff, right? So I find that most of us, it's reminding yourself to be concise. And once you think of it, your brain naturally will see places where you can trim.

Nicole ForsgrenSource summary

Source summary: AI changes developers’ cognitive demands.

Wes KaoSource summary

Source summary: Sentence structure can burden readers.

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  • How to measure AI developer productivity in 2025 | Nicole Forsgren · discusses · Cognitive Load
  • Become a better communicator: Specific frameworks to improve your clarity, influence, and impact | Wes Kao · discusses · Cognitive Load
  • How to measure and improve developer productivity | Nicole Forsgren (Microsoft Research, GitHub, Google) · discusses · Cognitive Load
  • Persuasive communication and managing up | Wes Kao (Maven, altMBA, Section4) · discusses · Cognitive Load
  • Flow State · relates to · Cognitive Load
  • Developer Experience (DevEx) · relates to · Cognitive Load
  • Economy of Words · relates to · Cognitive Load
  • How to measure AI developer productivity in 2025 | Nicole Forsgren · features · Nicole Forsgren
  • How to measure and improve developer productivity | Nicole Forsgren (Microsoft Research, GitHub, Google) · features · Nicole Forsgren
  • Become a better communicator: Specific frameworks to improve your clarity, influence, and impact | Wes Kao · features · Wes Kao
  • Persuasive communication and managing up | Wes Kao (Maven, altMBA, Section4) · features · Wes Kao
  • Become a better communicator: Specific frameworks to improve your clarity, influence, and impact | Wes Kao · references · High Output Management
  • How to measure and improve developer productivity | Nicole Forsgren (Microsoft Research, GitHub, Google) · references · Good Strategy Bad Strategy
  • How to measure AI developer productivity in 2025 | Nicole Forsgren · references · Accelerate
  • How to measure AI developer productivity in 2025 | Nicole Forsgren · mentions framework · DORA
  • How to measure and improve developer productivity | Nicole Forsgren (Microsoft Research, GitHub, Google) · mentions framework · DORA
  • How to measure AI developer productivity in 2025 | Nicole Forsgren · mentions framework · SPACE

Source mentions

Podcast excerpts and source summaries from the explorer. Entries marked “Source summary” are summaries, not transcript quotations.

How to measure AI developer productivity in 2025 | Nicole Forsgren

Nicole Forsgren · 00:09:07

Well, there are lots of different ways to talk about DevEx. One way to talk about it is kind of three key things that have components that are important of themselves, and they also kind of reinforce each other. Flow state is one of them, cognitive load is another, and then feedback loops are another. I think when you touch on this... Your question about flow state is a really good one, and I'll admit we're just a few years into this. We're still figuring out what the best flow state and cognitive requirements are for people in this because, to your point, sometimes we're getting interrupted all the time. You don't just get in the flow and lock down, and write a whole bunch of code and do the typing of a whole bunch of code as much anymore. Instead, you're kind of creating a prompt, getting some code back and reviewing the code, trying to integrate what's happening in the system, and that can really interrupt.

Become a better communicator: Specific frameworks to improve your clarity, influence, and impact | Wes Kao

Wes Kao · 00:22:50

I think the main tactic is to remind yourself to be concise. And usually when I do that, I end up trimming 20% at least of what I wrote, tightening up some sentences. I also ask myself, how might I be adding cognitive load to whatever it is that I'm saying? So is there a tighter, clearer, cleaner way that I can ask what I'm asking or present the information I'm presenting or make the recommendation that I'm making? And usually if you even ask yourself that, your brain automatically comes up with stuff. You just see whatever you wrote differently and you're like, "Oh shit, I could trim this entire paragraph because that's secondary." And maybe you have your primary message in Slack, and then within the thread add some of the secondary stuff, right? So I find that most of us, it's reminding yourself to be concise. And once you think of it, your brain naturally will see places where you can trim.