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Establish practice

Define cadence, owner, participation, and success signals for a recurring team practice.

Practice CharterweeklyOperating practice

Establish the practice

Define cadence, owner, participation, and success signals so the method works as a recurring team practice.

Derived automatically

Variant for Operating practice. The plan is derived from method form, method steps, and runsheet.

Runsheet
Cadence logic
Rhythm before scope

An operating practice works through repetition. The cadence should be small enough to hold reliably.

Iteration flow
One run, reusable each time

The steps describe one repetition and are adjusted after review.

  1. 1

    Phase 1: Introduce categories

    15 min

    Explain cognitive-load model with examples per category. Intrinsic: domain complexity, architecture depth. Extraneous: bad tools, slow processes, documentation gaps. Germane: skill building, learning time.

    OwnerIf terms are unclear, participants rate wrong thing. Bring examples from own org, not abstract theory.
  2. 2

    Phase 2: Anonymous survey

    10-15 min

    Fill scale 1-5 per category (1=low, 5=overloading). Optional free-text fields per category for concrete examples. Secure anonymity.

    TeamIf team size <5, anonymity hard. Then communicate anonymity clearly or have external person run survey.
  3. 3

    Phase 3: Share results

    15-20 min

    Show aggregated values (average and distribution per category). Free-text fields as clustered topics. Discussion: what surprises, what matches own perception.

    TeamFor extreme values (median >4), signal immediate reaction. Whoever reported help should experience it, not workshop theater.
  4. 4

    Phase 4: Discuss structural causes

    20-30 min

    For each highly rated category, look for causes. Intrinsic: often cannot be reduced, but decomposed (team splitting, bounded contexts). Extraneous: improve tools, processes, docs. Germane: create learning time.

    TeamBlame is not lever. Structural causes are: team too large, responsibilities too broad, tooling state, documentation state. Solutions are org design, not personnel issue.
  5. 5

    Phase 5: Measures and owners

    15-20 min

    Top-3 measures with owner, deadline, success indicator. Measures can be team-internal (for example docs cleanup) or escalation to management (for example team splitting).

    TeamWithout measures, assessment is frustration without effect. At least three concrete measures with follow-up date per workshop. Next assessment in 3-6 months for comparison.
Usable artifact

Practice Charter

Copyable charter with purpose, cadence, owner, participation, flow, success signals, and review.

practice-charter.md

Practice Charter: Team Cognitive Load Assessment

Purpose

Helps clarify team boundaries, interfaces, and collaboration in concrete terms. It clarifies responsibility, interaction, and load between teams. The result is captured as a cognitive-load profile and action list.

Cadence

weekly

Owner and Participation

  • Owner: open
  • Participants: 3-12
  • Mode: synchronous

Flow per Iteration

  1. Phase 1: Introduce categories (15 min) Explain cognitive-load model with examples per category. Intrinsic: domain complexity, architecture depth. Extraneous: bad tools, slow processes, documentation gaps. Germane: skill building, learning time.
  2. Phase 2: Anonymous survey (10-15 min) Fill scale 1-5 per category (1=low, 5=overloading). Optional free-text fields per category for concrete examples. Secure anonymity.
  3. Phase 3: Share results (15-20 min) Show aggregated values (average and distribution per category). Free-text fields as clustered topics. Discussion: what surprises, what matches own perception.
  4. Phase 4: Discuss structural causes (20-30 min) For each highly rated category, look for causes. Intrinsic: often cannot be reduced, but decomposed (team splitting, bounded contexts). Extraneous: improve tools, processes, docs. Germane: create learning time.
  5. Phase 5: Measures and owners (15-20 min) Top-3 measures with owner, deadline, success indicator. Measures can be team-internal (for example docs cleanup) or escalation to management (for example team splitting).

Success Signals

Cognitive-Load-Profil, Maßnahmenliste

Review

4 weeks