the amount of working memory being used.
cognitive load
2 of our books and 1 talk define this term — and their definitions are worth reading side by side.
changes are within a team’s cognitive load (that is, complexity that fits in your head)
— Sooner Safer Happier, in “A Sense of Urgency”, Jonathan Smart
Cognitive load as a concept was formulated by Sweller in 1988, and he characterized it as the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory.
— Matthew Skelton · How and Why to Design Your Teams for Modern Software Systems, London 2017 · at 7:34
See also extraneous cognitive load · germane cognitive load · intrinsic cognitive load · Team Cognitive Load · Platform · Brooks’s law
Filed under Teams & Organization