Complexity Kills Systems

What is Chunking?

Chunking refers to how our brains prefer to group information. Our working memory can hold about 3 pieces of information simultaneously, with the ability to stretch to 5. So our brain is pretty bad at handling lots of information at the same time.

Chunk information to retain it faster

If we have a large amount of information in front of us, we can group or chunk the information to help our brain retain it. We chunk by finding relationships between information and creating groups we understand. The goal is to get to about 3-5 categories of information.

How to Chunk

Here's how I might chunk notes I've taken while reading a book:

This isn't a shortcut - I have to really think during this process and analyze deeply. It's quite uncomfortable, but that discomfort indicates deep learning. After completing a chapter or book and thinking about how the info relates in this way, I can recall it much more easily later on when I need to.

How this Applies to Systems

If we're not good at juggling more than 5 things in our brain at any given time, then this has significant ramifications on how we should design understandable systems.

This is bad:

Problems:

• No clear starting point.
• Some signs of a flow but lacks clarity.
• Everything is emphasised in the same way.

This is better:

Things that are better:

• Starting point on left.
• Chunked into 3 clear stages.
• No more than 5 items in each stage.
• Transitions between stages.

Problems:

• Everything is still emphasised the same.

This is best:

Things that are good:

• Starting point
• Chunked into 3 clear stages.
• No more than 5 items in each stage.
• Flow between stages
• Highlighted boxes / checkpoints act as anchors for critical information

Chunking systems in this way allows the brain to both understand it faster and retain it better. High risk, critical systems require fast, long-term comprehension from all involved parties. A system could be well thought-out and have the elements correct, but have a bad structure. This ends up as poor adoption (or no adoption) and frustrated participants at having to be involved in something perceptually complex and confusing.