### Software engineering involves understanding of architecture, abstractions and implementation details. Determining what knowledge is intrinsic to a team member’s role and what is outside of their scope is critical to reduce the strain on their cognitive load. Internal Developer Platforms provide a way to compartmentalize complexity, enabling people to focus on what’s critical to their role. Cognitive Load refers to the amount of complexity that humans can deal with at any given time, limited by their ability to hold three to seven ideas in their mind simultaneously and affected by distractions and integration of concepts. Modern software is complex and multidisciplinary, requiring abstraction to reduce extraneous cognitive load. A multidisciplinary team works best when everyone focuses on their areas of expertise and ignores irrelevant details. Processes can help organizations manage the challenge of helping out at scale, but often prioritize the supplier's experience over the consumer's. An Internal Developer Platform compartmentalizes complexity, reducing cognitive load and allowing people to focus on what’s critical to their role.