{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/treat-a-rule-switch-as-a-setup-cost",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-1252",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Treat a rule switch as a setup cost",
  "summary": "The visible click is not the whole switch; the task rules have to become active again too.",
  "kind": "heuristic",
  "body": "When work uses different mental rule sets, count the switch as real setup. Laboratory task-switching studies show measurable switching-time costs, especially as rule complexity rises. Use that evidence as a design cue, not a stopwatch claim: group work that shares the same rules when practical, and leave explicit cues when a switch is unavoidable.",
  "limits": [
    "The cited study is laboratory research and does not quantify a universal real-world switching penalty. Some jobs require rapid switching; the goal is to expose the cost, not forbid it."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-cognitive-state-and-offloading"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-6FC7448A2E61ED3F"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "Controlled task-switching experiments found switching-time costs when people alternated between task rules, with larger costs for more complex rules and smaller costs when task cues were available.",
      "source_id": "RS-6FC7448A2E61ED3F",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "The experiments do not supply a universal number of minutes lost to every workplace interruption or justify eliminating all switching.",
      "locator": "Abstract"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "Two tasks both look short, but they use different rules, tools, schemas or definitions and you are deciding whether to interleave them."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "The cited study is laboratory research and does not quantify a universal real-world switching penalty. Some jobs require rapid switching; the goal is to expose the cost, not forbid it."
  ],
  "example": "Reviewing ten records with the same validation logic may be a coherent batch. Alternating each record with a different incident-analysis method is a rule switch even if both happen in Excel.",
  "check": "The batch boundary follows shared cognitive setup, not convenience alone, and necessary switches have a visible restart cue.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-6FC7448A2E61ED3F",
      "title": "Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11518143/"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-EF3925703702450D",
      "title": "Design the task around cognitive limits instead of fighting them",
      "url": "/collections/design-the-task-around-cognitive-limits-instead-of-fighting-them"
    }
  ]
}