In Construction, Overload Sounds Like “This is Stupid”
There was a moment about a decade ago, one of those moments where it clicked. We were in the middle of a massive technology overhaul and a superintendent in the training pulled me aside. He didn’t want to talk about schedule apps, budget structures or safety reports.
He wanted to talk about logins.
“Right now, I’ve got eight different usernames and passwords. Five different interfaces. Dozens of workflows requiring manual intervention. You want to know why we can’t figure out your software? Half the day is spent remembering which tab, which login and which process to use. And when I finally figure it out, someone’s interrupting me from back on site about a change order.”
That’s when it hit me: it wasn’t that these folks hated technology. They hated drowning. We had bolted-on so many disconnected tools to this new “transformation” that their mental bandwidth was shot before they even picked up a tablet.
At the time, I didn’t have a word for it. But now I know it was my first real-life encounter with cognitive load. And in construction, we’ve been quietly letting it chew away at productivity, safety and morale for years.
And yes, it even impacts our ability to adopt the very innovations we brag about in conference keynotes.
What Is Cognitive Load in Construction?
Think of cognitive load as the mental bandwidth it takes to get something done. We all have a finite amount of working memory (like RAM in a computer) and when it’s full, performance tanks.
In construction, the load comes from a mix of things. There’s the intrinsic stuff, like the actual complexity of reading drawings, sequencing tasks or coordinating crane picks. Those are just the nature of the work.
Then there’s the extraneous stuff, the clutter we add that has nothing to do with getting the job done. Messy worksites, unclear instructions or even eight redundant software platforms.
And finally, there’s germane load. This one is actually good for you. Think of things like the mental effort of learning a new skill or reflecting back on a project so you can do it better next time.
The problem in our industry is that we’ve been quietly stacking more and more of that extraneous load on our teams. We hand field crews a pile of apps, each with its own password, interface and quirks and expect them to flip between them like seasoned air traffic controllers.
That’s not innovation. That’s digital suffocation.
And the more tools we layer on without connecting or streamlining them, the more mental space we steal from the work that actually matters.
The Cost of Heavy Cognitive Load
When that mental space gets too crowded, the cracks start to show. Mistakes that never used to happen suddenly pop up as materials get ordered wrong, hazards get missed and safety rules slip through the cracks. You can even see it in people’s faces, too. Fatigue sets in faster. A operator who spends the morning battling clunky software or complex controls will tire sooner, react slower and have a harder time staying sharp through the afternoon.
But it’s not just physical performance that suffers.
Morale takes a hit. When every task feels like a scavenger hunt through a maze of logins and workflows, frustration builds. People disengage, tempers flare and collaboration starts to break down. Over time, it changes the culture. Teams stop innovating, stop sharing ideas and sometimes stop trusting leadership to fix the broken systems.
Eventually, productivity follows the same downward slope with slower decisions, more rework and missed deadlines, as the very margins you were trying to protect start to erode.
Spotting Overload Before It Breaks Your Team
The tricky thing about cognitive overload is that it doesn’t announce itself. No one walks into a meeting and says, “Hey, I’m at my maximum mental capacity today.”
Instead, you must notice the small shifts. A normally sharp worker hesitates over a routine decision. A foreman who’s always on top of things suddenly makes a simple but costly error. The crew that used to throw out ideas in the morning safety meeting now just nods quietly and gets back to work.
Sometimes it may show up as irritability, or that thousand-yard stare halfway through the morning. Other times it’s more concrete, like an uptick in near-misses or minor incidents during the busiest periods. Because in construction, people don’t usually say, “I’m overloaded.” They say, “This is stupid,” or “We’re wasting time.”
If you know what to listen for, those comments are an early warning siren that mental bandwidth is running out.
Strategies to Lighten the Load (Especially with Tech)
Here’s the good news: we can fix this. In fact, some of the biggest productivity wins I’ve seen in my career had nothing to do with a shiny new app and everything to do with removing unnecessary complexity.
Kill Redundancy: If you’ve got three systems doing the same job, pick one. Standardize it. Integrate it. Every redundant login you eliminate gives your team back mental bandwidth.
Integrate or Eliminate: If systems can’t talk to each other, either make them talk or show them the door. Forcing people to re-enter the same data in multiple places is the definition of unnecessary cognitive load.
Simplify Workflows: Map out your processes from the field’s point of view. If a workflow takes 12 clicks across three apps, ask why. Then cut steps until it’s as lean as possible.
Stage Information: Don’t hand the crew the entire project manual at once. Give them what they need, when they need it. Less mental clutter = more focus on the task at hand.
Protect Focus Time: In the office, “focus hours” are a thing. On site, you can create similar pockets by limiting interruptions during critical tasks. Let the foreman finish the safety check before you ask about tomorrow’s pour.
Train for Automation: The more skilled your team, the less mental effort basic tasks require. Invest in training that builds muscle memory, so working the system becomes second nature.
Lead Like It Matters: If leaders treat cognitive overload as a serious performance risk, so will the crew. Check in. Listen. Fix broken processes quickly. Your credibility depends on it.
Our People Deserve Better
Construction is full of smart, capable, problem-solving humans who will give you everything they’ve got day in and day out. If you give them a fighting chance.
They’re not afraid of technology. They’re afraid of drowning in it.
The solution isn’t always more apps, more dashboards, more “digital transformation.” Sometimes the smartest, most innovative thing you can do for your project is remove something. Cut the noise. Streamline the tools. Protect their brainpower for the work that matters, building safely, efficiently and with pride.
Because at the end of the day, construction runs on people. And people perform their best when they’re not carrying a mental backpack full of bricks you never meant to hand them in the first place.
Let’s lighten the load. Your projects, and your people, will thank you.
Construction is cool, tell your friends!