ooda

Observe, Orient, Decide, Act

Created: by Pradeep GowdaUpdated:Aug 01, 2024Tagged: ooda .

OODA method was given by John Boyd.

John Boyd
John Boyd

Boyd’s OODA Loop by Chet Richards.

The concepts of the late US Air Force Colonel John R. Boyd have influenced military thought in profound ways, from the design of modern fighter aircraft to the tactics used by the US Marine Corps in both Gulf Wars. This paper describes the best known aspect of his strategic thought, the OODA “loop,” and how practitioners in war and business can use the loop to implement a framework that has proven successful since the time of Sun Tzu.

“OODA loop as a way of making luck work for you”

Boyd argued that the loop applies to companies, too. If you can “get inside the OODA loop” of your competitor, you have the advantage. By the time they even notice a market is there, you have identified an opportunity, gathered data, tried an approach, and learned from mistakes.

Zemblanity
Zemblanity

via; text taken from vgr.

There are many ways to exploit others’ habits, but wrangling luck is perhaps the most powerful way. Wrangling luck effectively creates a sort of “competitive climate” comprising patterns of serendipity and its opposite, zemblanity.

Competitive Climates

You’re in a world where luck is the scarce resource, because there are more ways for things to go wrong than right. If you can direct more luck towards your- self and more misfortune towards your adversary, you’ve amplified the effectiveness of just about everything else you do.

In open competitive environments, luck is not just about die-rolls or card shuffles. It is a control variable. The control variable. In the overall game of life, your big goal is to drive serendipity towards yourself and its opposite, zemblanity (there, you learned a new word) towards your adversaries.

When luck is being consciously wrangled in a real-life game, winning feels like things miraculously going your way, things falling into place for you just right, unreasonably out of proportion to your actions. This is serendipity.

By contrast, losing feels like an overpowering sense of doom and snowballing misfortunes out of proportion to your sins and stupidity. This is zemblanity.