{"id":4535,"date":"2011-12-01T05:26:35","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T05:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=4535"},"modified":"2011-12-01T05:26:35","modified_gmt":"2011-12-01T05:26:35","slug":"john-robb-on-the-ooda-loop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=4535","title":{"rendered":"John Robb on the OODA Loop"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Robb<\/strong> at Global Guerrillas<\/strong> had a nice primer on John Boyd’s OODA Loop<\/strong> recently and he put on a twist that I thought was very useful:<\/p>\n

HOW TO WIN ANY CONFLICT<\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n

….I’m Inside Your OODA Loop<\/strong><\/p>\n

How does all of this apply to conflict? \u00a0The simple answer is that conflict, in its most basic form, is a contest between decision making loops. \u00a0The side with the FASTER and BETTER decision making loop wins any conflict. \u00a0Why? \u00a0They adapt quicker. \u00a0 Here’s some more detail:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A FASTER decision making loop means that you accomplish a successful OODA loop quicker than an opponent. \u00a0If you can do this, you are\u00a0inside<\/a><\/em> your opponent’s OODA loop. \u00a0This means that by the time your opponent responds to your last actions, you are already onto your next ones. \u00a0Get far enough ahead and the opponent’s decision making process will collapse and victory is assured.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A BETTER decision making loop? \u00a0That’s question that can lead to endless debates and theory crafting. \u00a0My approach to improving a decision making loop? \u00a0Connectivity. \u00a0The more connected a loop is, the better the decision loop is. \u00a0Connectivity falls into three categories:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Mental — improves decisions by connections to a superior mental model of the current situation. \u00a0A superior model\/strategy is predictive of events. It can tell you what data is important and what isn’t. \u00a0Weak strategies\/tactics fall apart upon first contact w\/enemy.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Physical \u00a0 — improves observation through connections to better sources of data, cleaner w\/less distortion \u00a0— improves action by making it possible to actually accomplish the desired decision in the real world<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Moral — better orientation due to connections to strong traditions, extensive experience, and collected wisdom. \u00a0Training can help here.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The opposite is true also. \u00a0Damage an opponents connectivity, and their decision making loops are less effective.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    One of the difficulties with discussing OODA is that many people who either oppose the concept or do not know much about it, will explain the OODA Loop\u00a0only <\/em><\/strong>as\u00a0“getting inside your opponents OODA Loop”\u00a0in terms of\u00a0the capacity to “go faster” -i.e cycle through your own OODA Loop faster than your opponent, making more decisions, taking more actions, leaving them in the dust, disoreinted and going into a downward spiral to defeat. Usually, misrepresented like this:<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Ok, well going “faster” is a small part of it, but not sequentially and there’s neurological limits on this that arrive pretty quickly in terms of thinking speed in any case. Robb’s use of “BETTER” helps capture more of the critical and subtle qualitative nature of the\u00a0“Orientation” box:<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    What are some of the possible effects of a “virtuous cycle” of\u00a0better decisions?<\/p>\n

    Position yourself with more options
    \nGain new perspectives (“Observation”, “Orientation”)
    \nPosition yourself with the greatest comparative advantage (best option)
    \nLock in a comparative advantage
    \nPosition yourself with the longest potential decision tree (no quick “dead ends” or “cul de sacs”)
    \nChange the tempo of interaction in your favor
    \nChange the rules of interaction in your favor
    \nPrevent a conflict with additional potential oponents
    \nLower your costs or increase theirs
    \nAssure minimum gains
    \nArrive first
    \nIncrease or decrease the distance between yourself and your opponent
    \nBroaden or narrow the field of conflict
    \nGain time
    \nSeize or maintain the initiative
    \nDefine or redefine “victory”
    \nForeclose a critical option or set of options to your opponent
    \nForce your opponent to act on your terms (“Check”)
    \nLower the morale of your opponent<\/strong>
    \nConfuse, mystify or mislead\u00a0your opponent
    \nAttract allies or supporters
    \nIncrease your resources or potential maximum gains
    \nRepair, remediate or replace\u00a0previous losses<\/strong><\/p>\n

    John is correct that “connectivity” helps you\u00a0gain many of these\u00a0benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    Remember:<\/p>\n

    \u00a0“Being on the winning side is a lot more fun!”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    ADDENDUM (Some interesting commentary\u00a0on OODA):<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Adam Elkus<\/strong><\/p>\n

    I’ve Got the OODA Blues<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Joseph Fouche:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Libeling\u00a0Boyd<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

    How Not to be Like\u00a0Boyd<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

    Who’s Afraid of Genghis\u00a0John?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

    TDAXP, PhD<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Variations of the OODA Loop 1: Introduction<\/strong><\/a>
    \n    Variations of the OODA Loop 2: The Naive Boydian Loop<\/strong><\/a>
    \n    Variations of the OODA Loop 3: The Sophisticated Boydian Loop<\/strong><\/a>
    \n    Variations of the OODA Loop 4: Pseudo-Boydian Loops<\/strong><\/a>
    \n    Variations of the OODA Loop 5: Post-Boydian Loops<\/strong><\/a>
    \n    Variations of the OODA Loop 6: Bibliography<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    John Robb at Global Guerrillas had a nice primer on John Boyd’s OODA Loop recently and he put on a twist that I thought was very useful: HOW TO WIN ANY CONFLICT ….I’m Inside Your OODA Loop How does all of this apply to conflict? \u00a0The simple answer is that conflict, in its most basic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,346,78,23,336,338,303,462,562,7,127,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cognition","category-connectivity","category-ideas","category-insight","category-intellectuals","category-john-boyd","category-john-robb","category-metacognition","category-perception","category-robb","category-strategy","category-synthesis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}