OODA Loop Theory for Business

OODA Loop Theory for Business

The OODA Loop Theory and modern business:

JOHN Boyd was a US Air force fighter pilot and military strategist.

He was involved in the training of combat air force fighter pilots and developed the OODA loop that has been widely applied in military situations but can also be a tool to aid decision making in business.

OODA is an acronym for Observe, Orientate, Decide, Act.

Observe is the first step, involving the collection of information and data, orientate comes next and is about filtering the information and data that is relevant, third stage is deciding what to do and the fourth is to Act.

It is intended to aid rapid decision making and carries an acceptance that it is not always possible to get every scrap of data and information, mull it through and prevaricate before deciding what to do and doing it.

Acting fast brings advantage by shaping the actions of a competitor or adversary. Success in winning a fast jet dog fight or in other military situations is often about acting first and disrupting your enemy.

There is a saying that it is not necessary to be the best but important to be first. That is often but not always true.

However, there are occasions when quick decisions are crucial in businesses and so the OODA loop approach can be helpful.

However, it is a concept that was essentially developed for adversarial situations involving combat, winning and losing.

This is the case most often in military and sporting situations.

In business success is generally more complex and often requires co-operative behaviours and relationships. For this the OODA loop really applicable?

See below a video explaining in some further detail: