Cognitive load review

Checklist for measuring and acting on team cognitive load.

  1. Confirm survey questions, confidentiality approach, and communication plan with people partners.
  2. Launch survey to delivery teams; keep it open for one sprint and send reminders.
  3. Export responses and calculate scores by dimension (domain, technical, operational, cross-team).
  4. Pull supporting metrics: pager volume, support tickets, WIP limits breaches, onboarding time.
  5. Visualize results in a simple heatmap comparing current vs. previous quarter.
  6. Facilitate workshop with platform, product, and team representatives to interpret findings.
  7. Prioritize interventions; assign owners, due dates, and impact hypotheses.
  8. Communicate decisions and support commitments to affected teams within one week.
  9. Track action progress biweekly and adjust if load does not decrease.
  10. Capture lessons learned to refine next quarter's survey and workshop format.

Prerequisites

  • Survey tooling that can anonymize responses when needed.
  • Accurate service/team ownership data to map responsibilities.

Pitfalls

  • Weaponizing results or using them in performance reviews.
  • Failing to follow up, which erodes trust in future surveys.
  • Ignoring onboarding or cross-team collaboration overhead.

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