Design a 90-Day Cognitive-Load Reduction Plan for Six Squads
Overview
What this challenge is about.
Design a 90-day cognitive-load reduction plan for six squads using survey and tool data. Earn a verifiable certificate.
The scenario
GridForecast is a 280-person, Series-C climate-tech company in Copenhagen whose grid-forecasting software helps electric utilities balance renewable supply against demand; its six engineering squads each own around twelve services, and rapid scaling has left engineers spread thin across a sprawling tool surface.
The Brief
What you'll do, and what you'll demonstrate.
Design a measurable cognitive-load assessment and a fundable 90-day platform roadmap that reduces the load carried by GridForecast's six engineering squads.
Earning criteria — what you'll demonstrate
- Administer and score a Team Topologies cognitive-load self-assessment to produce comparable per-team scores
- Cross-reference a tool-surface inventory against measured load to diagnose root causes rather than symptoms
- Translate diagnosis into prioritized, effort-estimated platform interventions
- Sequence interventions into a feasible 90-day roadmap that a stakeholder can fund
- Communicate findings so each recommendation traces back to observable evidence
Program Fit
Where this fits in your program.
Sharpens the same skills your degree expects you to demonstrate.
Aligned coursework coming soon.
Skills
Skills you'll demonstrate.
Each one shows up on your verified credential.
- Platform Engineering
Apply platform engineering to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Cognitive Load
Apply cognitive load to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Team Topologies
Apply team topologies to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Developer Experience
Apply developer experience to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Process Design
Apply process design to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Stakeholder Communication
Apply stakeholder communication to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
Careers
Career paths this challenge builds toward
Completing this challenge demonstrates skills that transfer directly to these roles:
Platform Engineer
Building a measured load assessment and a fundable intervention roadmap mirrors the core platform-engineering loop: diagnose developer pain with evidence, then propose paved-road improvements that reduce friction without guessing at root causes.
This challenge sharpens
- platform-engineering
- cognitive-load
- developer-experience
Developer Experience Lead
The challenge centers on quantifying how engineers actually spend attention across tools and turning that into prioritized improvements — the daily work of a developer-experience lead who must justify investments in tooling and process to leadership.
This challenge sharpens
- developer-experience
- cognitive-load
- stakeholder-communication
Engineering Effectiveness Manager
Cross-referencing team self-assessments with an operational inventory and sequencing interventions across a quarter builds the organizational-design and process muscles an effectiveness manager uses to lift team throughput sustainably.
This challenge sharpens
- team-topologies
- process-design
- stakeholder-communication