Cognitive Bandwidth Allocation

CORE DEFINITION

A scheduling framework that treats attention and working memory as a finite bandwidth to be allocated across tasks, distinguishing high-bandwidth work such as creative problem solving and complex decisions from low-bandwidth work such as routine processing and information gathering. The core proposition is that output depends on the match between task demand and available capacity, so the same hour produces very different results depending on where it sits in the daily energy cycle. The key qualification is that capacity varies systematically within the day and is depleted by load, so the schedule must follow the energy curve rather than the clock.