OODA Loops

                                  Understanding the Decision Cycle

---

Has it ever struck you just how many military terms have become everyday terms in business-speak? As well as "fighting off threats" or "engaging in a price war," we talk about "gathering intelligence," "making a pre-emptive strike," and even trying to "out-maneuver" the competition.

War and business are often compared and contrasted. And it's fun to read books like The Art of War, written in 6th Century China by Sun Tzu, and to think about how these can be applied to business strategy!

So, when former US Air Force Colonel John Boyd developed his model for decision-making in air combat, its potential application to business soon became apparent.

Boyd developed his model after analyzing the success of the American F-86 fighter plane compared with that of the Soviet MIG-15. Although the MIG could climb and turn better, the American plane won more battles because, according to Boyd, the pilot's field of vision was far superior.

This improved field of vision gave the pilot a clear competitive advantage, as it meant he could assess the situation better and faster than his opponent. As a result, he could out-maneuver the enemy pilot, who would be put off-balance, wouldn't know what to expect, and would start making mistakes.

Success in business often comes from being one step ahead of the competition and, at the same time, being prepared to react to what they do. With global, real-time communication, ongoing rapid improvements in information technology, and economic turbulence, we all need to keep updating and revising our strategies to keep pace with a changing environment.

See the similarities with Boyd's observations? Brought together in his model, they can hold a useful lesson for modern business.

This tool is very important not only in business but our daily lives. It helps us become better at decisions in our daily life. It is a logical process to follow so you gather the right information to make a good decision for anything. It is slow at 1st untill you get the hang of it and becomes imbedded in your thought processes and then like the fighter pilots it becomes "real time" fast  but it takes work and thoughtful practice.If one of your weak areas involves poor and or slow decision making ,then this is a practical tool to change that into a strength.

Understanding the Tool

Called the OODA Loop, the model outlines a four-point decision loop that supports quick, effective and proactive decision-making. The four stages are:

1.      Observe – collect current information from as many sources as practically possible.

2.      Orient – analyze this information, and use it to update your current reality.

3.      Decide – determine a course of action.

4.      Act – follow through on your decision.

You continue to cycle through the OODA Loop (see figure 1, below) by observing the results of your actions, seeing whether you've achieved the results you intended, reviewing and revising your initial decision, and moving to your next action.

Figure 1 – The OODA Loop Sequence

Observing and orienting correctly are key to a successful decision. If these steps are flawed, they'll lead you to a flawed decision, and a flawed subsequent action. So while speed is important, so too is improving your analytical skills and being able to see what's really happening.

.

Let's look more closely at what each stage involves:

Stage 1: Observe

At this initial point in the loop, you should be on the look-out for new information, and need to be aware of unfolding circumstances. The more information you can take in here, the more accurate your perception will be. Like an F-86 pilot with a wide field of vision, you want to capture as much incoming data as possible. The kind of questions you need to be asking are:

·         What's happening in the environment that directly affects me?

·         What's happening that indirectly affects me?

·         What's happening that may have residual affects later on?

·         Were my predictions accurate?

·         Are there any areas where prediction and reality differ significantly?

Stage 2: Orient

One of the main problems with decision-making comes at the Orient stage: we all view events in a way that's filtered through our own experiences and perceptions. Boyd identified five main influences:

·         Cultural traditions.

·         Genetic heritage.

·         The ability to analyze and synthesize.

·         Previous experience.

·         New information coming in.

Orientation is essentially how you interpret a situation. This then leads directly to your decision.

The argument here is that by becoming more aware of your perceptions, and by speeding up your ability to orient to reality, you can move through the decision loop quickly and effectively. The quicker you understand what's going on, the better. And if you can make sense of the situation and the environment around you faster than your competition, you'll have an advantage.

And it's important to remember that you're constantly re-orienting. As new information comes in at the Observe stage, you need to process it quickly and revise your orientation accordingly.

Stage 3: Decide

Decisions are really your best guesses, based on the observations you've made and the orientation you're using. As such, they should be considered to be fluid works-in-progress. As you keep on cycling through the OODA Loop, and new suggestions keep arriving, these can trigger changes to your decisions and subsequent actions – essentially, you're learning as you continue to cycle through the steps. The results of your learning are brought in during the Orient phase, which in turn influences the rest of the decision making process.

Stage 4: Act

The Act stage is where you implement your decision. You then cycle back to the Observe stage, as you judge the effects of your action. This is where actions influence the rest of the cycle, and it's important to keep learning from what you, and your opponents, are doing.

Using the Model

The OODA Loop isn't meant to be a static, linear "do this, then this, then this" type model: it needs to be a smoother, more continual process. With this approach, the faster you can move through each stage the better. In fact, if you were to sit down and map out each step, your decisions would likely slow down instead of speed up.

The goal of the model is to increase the speed with which you orient and reorient based on new information coming in. You want to be able to make a smooth and direct transition between what you observe, how you interpret it, and what you do about it.

When you make these transitions rapidly, you're in a position to be proactive, and you can take advantage of opportunities your competition isn't even aware of yet. Boyd calls this "operating within your opponent's OODA Loop." Here, your competitor is moving too slowly and simply reacting to environmental changes. By contrast, you're working on the offensive, making strikes and forcing them to react to you. 

Tip:
Be careful with this emphasis on speed. In some situations, you genuinely need it. In others, a more cautious, deliberate approach is appropriate. This is likely to be affected by things like the length of product cycle times, the rate of change in your industry, and the consequences of a poor decision.

Key Points

Whether it's looking out for the next big opportunity, making a move before your competitors do, or assessing the current state of affairs, you often need to be sharp-sighted and decisive. The OODA Loop gives you a great way to maintain this vigilance, and be proactive in a rapidly changing world.

By using the OODA Loop, you can be nimble in your decision-making, and make changes to your decisions and strategy quickly and decisivel

http://youtu.be/JIVWM0ldJ6w. Have a look at this video and apply the steps to your daily desicion making. It is very practical tool in all desicion processes, not just business and warfare.

Reflections

I must be getting on in years I think. I am in my 59th year and I seem to be spending a lot more of my time reflecting on what has been going on in my life. The lessons I have learnt, and the lessons that I have been given, but have not learnt from. How I have played my cards when met with success, and non-success. I do not think we fail at anything if we find victory where it's at because you learn a lot from both sides of the coin, and sometimes how you deal and play your cards after success or the achievement of your goals can put you back 10 steps in your overall development. And I am not talking only about physical effort.

Careers seem to be a very important part of people's lives these days and physical effort and practice can be a great playground for the development of skills to deal effectively with the challenges of day to day lives where the stakes can be a bit higher, and how effective you are can change your life and those that are around you, i.e. family, friends, co-workers. By being  the role model, and leader. By living your life and taking the lessons that you learn through your physical practice out into the rest of your world as it is.

One of the aspects of my physical effort is now how I see my fellow competitors. When I was younger all I wanted to do was to beat the person in front of me or my clubmates. I felt this aggressive feeling that they had to be beaten at all costs. Now I look at those people around me during a race and their best efforts, and to use the effort of those athletes or co-workers to draw out the best of myself, it is replacing the "it is all about me" and substituting it with a bigger picture of" we", to draw from their best efforts in a very caring and compassionate environment, and do the same for myself to draw out my best efforts by the inspiration that others around me give. In this way we become integral in that we are all connected.

To be able to do this we need to be comfortable with ourselves. To be grateful for all that we have, and to reframe our small world in a positive way. How we look after ourselves spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, and nutritionally all play a large part in how we see ourselves, and how we can reframe our world in a positive way. Very hard to do on little sleep, poor diet, little or no exercise and the wrong type of activity, and I am sorry but a 20 minute walk the dog while he stops at every 2nd tree for a scent party is not exercise or physical practice. Each day you need the discipline to set aside time to reflect on how you went to-day. How did you improve today and how did you help others to improve themselves. Use the breathing  tools, arousal visualisation, and the mantra that I find very helpful these days is "slow is smooth, smooth is fast". Slow down your thought processes before you act. Develop the skill set to look at yourself in "real time" and how you are going and whether your decisions are reflecting  on yourself and others in a positive or negative way . If things are not going so well, tough times at work, missing your daily physical practice, yoga, and meditation, you need to stop, and spend a few hours in a self imposed retreat to redirect yourself on a subconscious and conscious level, so you can regain your effectiveness. Your physical practice gives you all the physical bodily benefits of achievement but it also refuels your emotional and spiritual parts of yourself to put you "into the right frame of mind" to be able to settle down to a time of contemplation and be able to redirect yourself with decisions based on what values you hold in high regard and the practice of breath mastery, visualisation, and physical decision-making models such as the OODA  loop the SECMAC models which I will have a closer look at in my next blog.

Get back on track having used your tools to make a good plan. Now you need the courage to come forward and give your spirit the nourishment it needs to put your plan into action. The OODA loop was developed by the U.S. Navy fighter pilots to help them think in such a way that they are continuously orientating  themselves in their situation, making a decision, putting that plan into action, and then reviewing that plan, and so the loop goes around again, orientation, decision-making, putting the plan into action, and then reviewing that plan. They get so good at this, that this is the thought process they use flying at quite often supersonic speeds during warfare simulations and the real thing. Your plan may not be perfect but your mission now is moving along getting better every time you complete the loop. Use all your positive tools to feed your dog of courage. Again breath control, visualisation, mantras, posturing, and displaying a Kokoro spirit of never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, giving up. Self mastery is a path to a better life that not a lot of people take on these days. It is a very effective way to be true to yourself and to be a model for others to follow. It does not happen overnight but it will happen with patience, time, and practice to be the master of your own destiny. In mastering yourself you are able to help those that are part of your world down the same path.

" People look at me and laugh because I am different. I look at them and laugh because they all look the same."