Developer Experience Tools
Cognitive Load Reference
Search cognitive load concepts for platform and DevEx teams. Covers intrinsic vs extraneous vs germane load, team cognitive load, and platform engineering interventions.
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About this tool
Cognitive Load Reference
The Cognitive Load Reference covers intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load types, team cognitive load thresholds, and platform engineering interventions.
• Reference cognitive load types before a team topology redesign
• Look up team cognitive load thresholds before adding a new service to a team
• Find platform engineering cognitive load reduction patterns
• Reference Sweller's theory before presenting team structure recommendations
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FAQ
What does this tool tell you?
The Cognitive Load Reference covers intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load types, team cognitive load thresholds, and platform engineering interventions.
What affects the result most?
Cognitive load types: intrinsic (task complexity), extraneous (bad tooling/docs), germane (learning). Team cognitive load: sum of all services owned / team capacity — >8 services per team is risk zone. Domain complexity: number of bounded contexts a team must understand to make a change.
How should I use the result?
Use this tool to orient quickly to the concepts, field names, or values you are about to look up in a full specification or vendor documentation. It summarizes the common cases; the authoritative source remains whichever standard or vendor doc defines the values themselves.
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