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CLRG™
Cognitive Load Reduction Guide™

Remove invisible complexity before automation.

CLRG™ is a process-level redesign tool that identifies where cognitive load has quietly become operational risk, then reduces it before you add AI, agents, or workflow automation. When cognitive debt accumulates, systems don’t usually fail loudly. They fail quietly: ambiguous inputs, brittle exceptions, unowned decisions, and “everyone knows what we mean” handoffs that collapse at scale. CLRG™ makes that invisible complexity explicit, then removes it.

The Problem CLRG™ Is Built To Solve

Too many organizations try to “automate the workflow” before they “clarify the work.” That sequence is backwards.


AI systems fail quietly when they inherit processes that are:

  • Overloaded with exceptions and edge cases, no one has documented

  • Dependent on tacit knowledge (“ask Jamie, she knows”)

  • Built on vague categories, inconsistent labels, and shifting definitions

  • Full of implicit decisions with no owner, threshold, or escalation path

  • Driven by context-switching and rework that never shows up in dashboards
     

CLRG™ reduces cognitive load at the source—so automation doesn’t amplify confusion.

A Simple Promise

CLRG™ will not make your organization “more automated.” It will make your organization more automatable by reducing the human cognitive debt that causes AI systems to fail quietly.

What You Receive

1) Cognitive Load Map (CLM)

A visual process map annotated with cognitive load hotspots:

  • Context switches

  • Rework loops

  • Exception density

  • Tacit knowledge dependencies

  • Ambiguous classifications

  • Hand-off ambiguity and “decision fog”

3) Redesign Blueprint

A process-level rewrite that includes:

  • Simplified flow (minimum necessary steps)

  • Standardized definitions and required inputs

  • Decision points with owners, thresholds, and escalation paths

  • “Stop doing” list (complexity you will retire)

2) Cognitive Debt Register (CDR)

A ranked list of complexity sources with impact and removal strategy.

4) Automation Readiness Plan

A staged plan that identifies:

  • What to automate now (safe, stable, high-confidence)

  • What to delay (still ambiguous, high exception rate)

  • What to simulate/test (high risk, high leverage)

  • What must remain human judgment (value allocation)

5) Executive Decision Memo (board-ready)

A crisp memo you can circulate internally:

  • What was simplified

  • What risk was removed

  • What automation becomes safe

  • What governance must exist at runtime

How CLRG™ Works

Step 1 - Intake & Scope (30–45 min)
We select one process that affects revenue, risk, or scale pressures (e.g., onboarding, approvals, support triage, contracting, billing, claims, compliance workflows).

Step 3 — Cognitive Load Diagnostics
We score cognitive debt drivers (examples below) and identify failure modes that AI would amplify.

Step 2 — Process Reality Capture (2–5 stakeholder interviews)
We capture the real process, including the workarounds and unwritten rules.

Step 4 — Redesign Workshop
We remove invisible complexity: tighten definitions, remove ambiguity, reduce exceptions, and clarify decision ownership.

Step 5 — Deliverables + Next-Step Plan
You get the map, register, blueprint, readiness plan, and executive memo.

What We Measure In CLRG™

Who CLRG™ Is For

CLRG™ evaluates cognitive load using practical signals leaders can act on, including:

  • Exception density (how often the “standard flow” breaks)

  • Context-switch rate (how often people must jump systems or channels)

  • Tacit knowledge reliance (how often the process depends on “tribal memory”)

  • Decision opacity (how many decisions are implicit, undocumented, or ownerless)

  • Definition drift (how often key terms vary across teams/tools)

  • Rework loops (how often work returns for clarification/correction)

CLRG™ is designed for leaders who are serious about automation and unwilling to fake certainty.

Typically pulled in by:

  • COO / Ops leaders who own process outcomes

  • CIO / IT teams who are tired of “automating chaos”

  • CISO / Risk leaders are seeing silent failure modes

  • GC / Compliance leaders worried about meaning and accountability

  • Business unit heads under pressure to “do more with less.”

When to use CLRG™

You should deploy CLRG™ when:

  • A process “works” only because a few experts keep it afloat

  • Automation projects keep stalling or being rolled back

  • Teams complain about tools, but the real issue is process ambiguity

  • AI pilots produce outputs, but trust and adoption remain low

  • You’re about to implement agents, copilots, or workflow automation at scale

Start with one process.

 

We will identify where invisible complexity hides, remove the cognitive load that leads to quiet failure, and deliver a redesign that makes automation safe.

When You're Ready - We're Ready. Keep It Simple.

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