Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M0517

Hill Chart

Hill Chart
BusinessHigh supportProject Management
Included
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

Divide task progress into two phases: uphill (figuring out what to do, eliminating unknowns) and downhill (specific execution, just manual work).

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Identify real risks. Don't use deceptive phrases like '50% done'. Ask the team: 'Is this task currently uphill or downhill?' If uphill, there are still unknowns and progress may stall at any time; only when downhill can you accurately estimate completion time.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Progress visualization proposed by Basecamp: tasks are divided into uphill (figuring out what to do, eliminating unknowns) and downhill (specific execution). The mechanism is 'using stages rather than percentages to express real risk'.

MINIMUM ACTION

In progress 0/2

Practice this model in one real situation:

Check to track your progress (stored locally)
Learning progress0%
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Source support: Explicit

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