Cognitive Load

AI tools force knowledge workers into constant task-switching that neuroscience proves is cognitively expensive. Only 2.5% of people can effectively multitask, yet we’re asking everyone to perform like fighter pilots without selection or training. Berkeley researchers found workers experienced burnout as managers consumed efficiency gains with increased assignments—repeating the Jevons Paradox from the telegraph and typewriter eras. Organizations measure output volume while ignoring cognitive sustainability, creating hidden supervisory labor that extracts maximum throughput regardless of cost.

I’m in Redmond this week for the Microsoft MVP Summit - 4000 MVPs, 83 buildings across 500 acres, and not a single roadmap leak to share. The summit is NDA-covered, but that was never the point anyway. The most valuable thing you can do here isn’t sit in a preview session. It’s finding the engineer whose documentation you’ve been reading for years, buy them a terrible American coffee, and ask the question that doesn’t fit in a support ticket.