Miller’s Law is a cognitive principle stating that the average human mind can only hold approximately seven (plus or minus two) discrete “chunks” of information in its short-term memory at any given time. In the context of technical communication, it dictates the maximum threshold for cognitive load. When a manufacturer exceeds this limit, they aren’t providing more value; they are simply inducing information overload. By utilizing chunking, complex systems can be grouped into manageable clusters, allowing the brain to process high-density data without triggering a “system shutdown.”
The absurdity is that many manufacturers treat an architect’s working memory like an infinite warehouse, when in fact it is more like a very small, cluttered coffee table. If you present fifteen distinct “key features” of your new heat pump, the architect will likely remember none of them—or worse, they will remember the two least important ones.
Humans, being predictably human, will instinctively ignore the excess to avoid mental fatigue. This is not a bug; it’s a remarkably common feature of human behaviour designed to preserve energy. If your product story requires an architect to “try harder” than their biology allows, you have already lost the specification.
Practical Application & Case Study * The Problem: A manufacturer of modular acoustic ceiling systems creates a technical brochure that lists 14 different performance benefits on the front page—ranging from fire ratings and NRC values to recycled content and ease of installation. * The Result: The specifier suffers from a perception gap; they see a wall of text, feel a spike in friction, and move the document to the “read later” pile (which is architect-speak for the bin).
- The FRAKT Intervention: We apply chunking to restructure the choice architecture.
- The Reframe: We group the 14 benefits into three logical “buckets”: Performance, Installation, and Sustainability.
- The Mechanism: Each bucket contains no more than 4 sub-points. By adhering to Miller’s Law, the information is now “pre-digested” for the architect’s brain.
- The Outcome: Because the information fits within the “Magic Number” threshold, the architect can actually recall the three core pillars of the product when discussing the project with their client.
“Your technical data shouldn’t look like a shopping list for a family of twelve. It should look like a well-curated tasting menu. If you give an architect more than seven things to think about, they’ll choose the easiest option: thinking about your competitor instead.”
