Chunking is the process by which individual bits of information are combined to form larger, coherent pieces of information in memory. Since human working memory seems to be limited to 5-9 discrete items, the ability to chunk information together effectively expands the capacity of one’s working memory.
While chunking has been developed as a skill in various mnemonic systems, it seems primarily to be an automatic process. It’s this automatic process that seems like the key factor in the development of expertise and intuition, but that’s not to say that developing the skill of chunking (and potentially of breaking apart chunks) is unimportant. See also Navigating the abstraction ladder as a key skill.
Working memory is a performance-limiting factor in almost every(?) domain, so developing chunks and thereby pushing low-level details out of working memory is an important improvement avenue; unfortunately I don’t know any tricks to improve that.
Still pondering: is chunking the only or even primary way skills/knowledge move from conscious to subconscious?
Further Reading
How Big is a Chunk, Herbert A. Simon