The OODA Loop | Decision Making Model
What is the OODA Loop?
American Military Strategist Joyn Boyd ( know more about him here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_(military_strategist) ) developed the OODA Loop based on his experiences as a fighter pilot during the Korean War. In the OODA Loop Diagram, John Boyd divided any decision-making process into four interacting and overlapping main processes : Observe, Orient, Decide and Act.
The cycle begins with an observation, which leads a participant to orient on possible options, then decide on an appropriate course of action, and finally act on that decision. At that point, the results are observed, and the cycle begins again.
The Four Steps of the OODA Loop
1. Observe
This is the data collection phase — here, decision-makers are trying to ingest all the information they can. They aren’t thinking about how to prioritize it or what to do with it yet — they’re just aggregating what’s available. This stage reflects the need for situational awareness, detecting changes that are happening around us.
2. Orient
At the orientation step you will know what has to be done. Raw statistics are leveraged into insights. Information is analyzed, evaluated, and prioritized. The purpose of orient is to clear the mind of all unnecessary influence and emphasize on the right information.
3. Decide
Decide is where the you makes the significant determination about a specific effect and chooses an option. As a result, you base your decision on experience and knowledge of potential results. Based on your current cognition perspective, you make decisions and determine what course of action you need to take.
4. Act
The selected approach is actively carried out at this step. This stage is about testing the hypothesis generated in the decision phase. Here, you’re doing two things: executing your decision, and determining if your hypothesis was right. Because the OODA loop is, after all, a loop, action is never the last step of the process. What is learned about the validity of the hypothesis is repurposed throughout the entirety of the next cycle of the OODA loop.
Key benefits as Decision Making Model
Decisions and amendments are faster with the OODA loop. It provides a broader framework for measuring various professional and personal decision making models and enabling high-level optimization to the decisions being made. It is a formless technique that self-improvises and adapts to the real world. The best thing about this decision making model is that It involves using the available information, considering possibilities, and choosing the best possible decision quickly, but also consists of changing the action as soon as when new information becomes available.
Drawbacks
Unfortunately, Boyd never wrote down his ideas on the OODA Loop in articles or a book, but he mentioned them in his presentations. This is why there are various interpretations of this model. As the OODA loop is focused on moving faster in dynamic situations, it is subject to the general problem of all models – insufficient information may not lead to desired results. Also, it involves the risk of making a big decision too soon.
Final Takeaways
The underlying principle behind the loop was that the pilot who can cycle through the loop the fastest will win because their opposition will still be responding to a situation that has already changed. So this decision making model works best where you to adapt quickly in highly dynamic environments to beat your competition. Though the method was introduced for air force pilots to winning battles, you can easily apply the same method for career growth and personal development. Because of how straight forward the technique is, it faces criticism often because it seems like stating the obvious. But, being more mindful in little ways is what the OODA loop aims for.
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