It’s trendy now to view Colonel John Boyd’s OODA Loop

[Hangingrock]

Taken from the Tacticalprofessor February 20, 2016 at 9:39 pm | Tags: Boyd, consequences, decision making, rules | Categories: decision making, OODA, planning |

“It’s trendy now to view Colonel John Boyd’s OODA Loop as if it is a model that can help us ‘think faster,’ i.e., make tactical decisions more quickly than our opponent. Unfortunately, that’s just not the case. The O-O-D-A Loop is a representation that describes in a strategic sense how one party thinks during the course of the decision process. That is a far cry from being a usable decision model or even framework. Colonel Boyd never mentioned O-O-D-A as a tactical decision model, nor do I believe he intended it as such.”

 

[tuj]

Well the principles of OODA come from air combat. Energy-momentum, and such. But Boyd full-well intended the OODA to apply at the group level as well, for institutions. The whole point is to make decisions faster than your enemy.

I think that is something we all strive for; a reaction that is so fast and muscle memory that we immediately enter the loop ahead of an attacker who did not anticipate an armed individual.

 

[Jenrick]

OODA come from air combat. Energy-momentum, and such.

Nope, what you're referring to is in fact his theory of Energy Management. Which was directly created to address air combat. OODA was created later in his career when he was at the Pentagon, as a model for successful strategic action.

Body's presentation on OODA took about 2" worth of overhead transparencies, and about 2 days to brief completely. That's a far cry from the 15 minute bullet point lecture it gets these days.

-Jenrick

 

[Deaf Smith]

If you read ALL there is about the OODA loop, and it is a deep subject, it will help.

Deaf

 

[Panzerschwein]

Love OODA. We get it a lot from the briefs at work. it's good stuff. Helpful for the modern day tactical operator.