> Therefore, the amount of cognitive load we need to build in our brains in order to understand code is crucial.

This is a really confusing sentence. Is crucial to... what? The amount we need to build in our brains is crucial? I'm lost :-)

Hi there, thanks for pointing out to this complexity!

> Is crucial to... what?

Before that the sentence was like this: "The crucial metric we should keep an eye on is the amount of cognitive load we need to build in our brains in order to understand the code and deliver value."

So it's crucial in general. It seems I should rework the sentence for clarity.

Maybe something like: "Therefore, the amount of cognitive load we need to build in our brains in order to understand code *is a crucial metric*"

I think “build in our brains” is hurting the sentence as well since it is a minor garden path and also building X in our brain is not a common phrasing. Also the words cognitive and brain are kind of redundant with each other since cognitive things only ever happen in brains.

“Therefore, the amount of cognitive load required to understand code is a crucial metric.”

Fixed, thanks!

That kind of feedback is very valuable for me, because I am not a native speaker.

And it's always nice to make an article on cognitive load a bit simpler.

My 2¢ suggestion would be:

> Therefore, [understanding] the amount of cognitive load we need to build in our brains in order to understand code is crucial.

By the way, this was a great read. Thanks for sharing.