Hacking your head: Managing information overload

There are limits to our ability to learn and process information. Overload impacts productivity by causing psychological and physiological stress. Jo Pearce relates findings from cognitive psychology that help us understand how, as developers, we might be overloading both ourselves and those we work withand what to do about it.

There are limits to our ability to learn and process information, but the amount of information we have access to is growing faster than ever. Jo Pearce explains the origins of the term “information overload” and describes what physiological and psychological effects being overloaded causes. With reference to developing for the Web, Jo describes specific, manageable sources of information overload for us as developers and shows how development in general is a continuous learning process. In order to hack how we learn, it’s important to understand a little about how learning happens. To that end, Jo outlines the points of attack by relating the current understanding from the field of cognitive psychology on how our thinking and learning processes work. Using simple examples, Jo demonstrates how to manage projects more effectively, write clearer, more maintainable code, and actively manage our own learning journeys, as well as assisting the journeys of those we work alongside. With this knowledge we should be able to make our development process more efficient and reduce the risk of information overload, both for ourselves and others.