The Manager's Guide – #77

Apr 23, 2024

Cognitive Load for Knowledge Work

💡 Cognitive Load is an essential framework for understanding the mental demands placed on knowledge workers, helping to manage their capacity and prevent burnout.
🧠 Cognitive Load consists of three components: intrinsic ability, extraneous effort required, and the inherent difficulty of the task.
💪 Cognitive strength varies day-to-day and is critical for handling complex tasks; it can be influenced by the individual's knowledge and the supportive environment.
🔧 Cognitive friction, which comes from the work environment, can either increase or decrease the mental effort needed to complete tasks.
🏋️‍♂️ Managing cognitive weight involves understanding the complexity of tasks assigned to workers and ensuring they are within their capabilities.
🤝 Creating a supportive work environment and effective team dynamics reduces cognitive friction and enhances overall productivity.
📚 Continuous professional development and proper resource allocation can help increase a team’s cognitive strength, allowing them to tackle more significant challenges.
🔄 Encouraging practices like Test-Driven Development (TDD) and Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) can streamline processes and reduce unnecessary cognitive load.

🏔️ Removing dependencies within teams accelerates product development, akin to climbing a mountain more swiftly without waiting for others.
📘 Demanding clear narratives from teams helps to define goals and avoid aimless project development, ensuring a faster route to completion.
🏃‍♂️ Keeping deployment and incident metrics healthy is crucial, as it reflects on the engineering team's efficiency and directly impacts product velocity.
🧭 Employing trusted engineering guides can identify and mitigate the root causes of slow product development, enhancing overall team effectiveness.
🚧 Being cautious with unpopular or niche products is important, as they can significantly slow down overall product velocity if they consume disproportionate resources.

Oh, don’t we love feedback :)

🛠️ Feedback is crucial for personal and professional development, but it's often delivered too late, making it feel overwhelming and threatening.
🧠 Receiving feedback can trigger an “amygdala hijack,” causing individuals to react defensively rather than rationally.
🔄 To create a culture of continuous feedback, a consistent, day-to-day program called “Everyday Feedback” was developed at Chartis, involving on-demand learning and practical application.
🎭 Actor-coaches play a vital role in the feedback training by reacting realistically to feedback, helping participants refine their approach in a controlled, supportive environment.
👥 Peer coaching and role-playing are integral to the training, enabling colleagues to practice and refine their feedback skills in realistic scenarios.
🗣️ Effective feedback should be a respectful, two-way conversation aimed at shared understanding and improvement, not a one-sided critique.
🌐 The “Everyday Feedback” program has standardized feedback practices within the organization, making it a routine part of daily operations at Chartis.
⏩ The program emphasizes the importance of planning and conducting thoughtful feedback sessions and encourages ongoing support for behavioral changes.

Coincidentally, I’ve recently posted about the right praise-to-feedback ratio.

🌱 Transitioning from junior to mid-level engineer involves not just completing tasks but also influencing team direction and scope.
🚀 Effective career growth as an engineer is less about task completion and more about impactful work that aligns with company goals.
🛠️ Taking initiative in codebase improvements, like completing migrations, can be fulfilling but may not align with career advancement goals if not impactful.
📈 Understanding the “why” behind your work and its impact on the team and company is crucial for advancing to senior roles.
🗣️ Communicating with managers and tech leads about project prioritization is key to developing skills relevant for career progression.

A really really important topic of leadership, which sadly very few people grasp.

🎓 Power involves influence over others, while authority relates to official decision-making rights.
🌱 Cultivating power can stem from various sources such as expertise, networking, rewards, and charisma.
🛡️ Authority is derived from a formal position within an organization, enabling decision-making and compliance from others.
🔄 Balancing power and authority is essential for effective leadership and maintaining a healthy workplace environment.
📈 Recognizing your own power and authority can help in creating a more equitable work environment through responsible usage.
🗣️ Feedback and transparency are key to managing power dynamics and ensuring fairness and accountability.
🌟 Empowering others by delegating responsibilities and fostering their unique skills contributes to a positive workplace culture.
⚖️ Leading by example influences workplace norms and behavior, promoting a work-life balance and ethical conduct.

“Having an effective peer group, especially in middle management, might be harder than you think.” — Amen.

🌐 The “tragedy of the commons” applies to leadership, where lack of specific ownership leads to resource neglect, such as in shared codebases or management duties.
🔄 Middle management often neglects peer relationships, focusing more on vertical than horizontal interactions within the organization, leading to isolation.
🏆 Competitive dynamics within peer groups can create hostile environments, reducing cooperation and communication.
🤝 Strengthening peer relationships is crucial for creating a supportive and effective team dynamic in middle management.
🧲 The polarity model suggests that organizations can attract or repel others based on whether they create value or conflict, influencing how they should interact with different teams.

I hope you liked it, and you’ve learned something — if you did, don’t forget to give a thumbs-up and share this issue with your friends and network.

See y’all next week 👋