The OODA Loop

I spent enough time watching Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita in Karate Kid movies that I am persuaded that concepts that apply in one place (“wax on / wax off” and “paint the fence”) for example, can also be applied elsewhere, as Miyagi-San deftly taught Daniel.

So, it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that I would be intrigued at the many ways we can apply USAF Colonel John Boyd’s concept of the OODA Loop in projects, business, and in our day-to-day. Familiar with it? It’s particularly useful in competition, but it can be applied elsewhere as well.

It comes up in entrepreneurship a fair amount, and I’ve seen it in some marketing strategy toolkits, but I advocate for all of us adding it to our list of assets to draw on when it makes sense to do so, especially when faced with a constantly changing landscape of technological advances, customer whimsy, and turbulent economic pressures.

The OODA loop:

Observe, Orient, Decide, Act

Observe – take in what’s going on around us. This requires mindfulness, being fully present, observing with our eyes, ears, and sometimes with our whole body. Obviously, it includes the ability to look around, to take in data, and to see both up close and further afield, but it also includes the ability to separate the relevant information from the noise, to separate fact from fiction, the find both the relevant details and the big picture.

Orient – put the observations into the context of what we know, given our past experiences with this same set of stakeholders, with similar circumstances, with our own abilities and resources, with whatever is on the horizon. This includes self-awareness as well as other-awareness. It requires situational awareness, historical sensitivity, an ability to retain and recall information, and the ability to see trends and patterns.

Decide – consciously and intentionally make a choice. This includes choosing to take path A or path B, choosing an attitude, an action, or a plan forward. This includes, however quickly or briefly, making the deliberate choice. It requires self-management, especially if decision-making can be a struggle. It also requires a level of confidence, at least in the moment that the decision is the best path forward.

Act – move, step, act, go, speak, or do. This is the implementation of the decision. No longer theoretical, hypothetical, or imaginary, this is the step where we put our decisions into play, put our foot forward, and say or do whatever it is that we decided a moment ago to do. This requires discipline, confidence, and the energy to move forward.

And it’s a loop, which means that the very moment that we’ve taken action, we need to be prepared to observe, orient, decide, and act again!

Let’s see it in action…

• That person just wrapped their arms around their body and changed their posture in their chair just now (Observe) Are they cold or are they closing off the discussion (Orient), take in the temperature of the room – warm enough – and the tone of the conversation – getting elevated; (Decide) I think they may be feeling threatened or attacked, I will soften my tone; (Act) Take a deep breath, soften my tone, lighten my voice, ask a “how” question or a “what” question to toss the conversation back their way, and sit back changing my body language….LOOP
  (Observe) That person unfolded their arms and leaned back into the discussion…

• The photo or meme gave me a strong emotional response, and I want to forward it to others; (Observe) Is it an AI-generated photo or is it real? Is it a meme that is true/good/useful? Does it demonstrate the characteristics of something I want to forward? (Orient) What will the outcome of forwarding this be? What happened last time I or someone else forwarded something like this? What could be an outcome from forwarding something like this? Where did it come from, and do I trust the source? (Decide) I will check the source before forwarding. (Act) I go to check the source, and I see it will take me to a page I don’t think I trust… LOOP
  (Observe) That website isn’t something I trust so I don’t forward that photo, and I notice that I’m getting a few other posts from that same source in my feed…

• A team member just said they are 75% done with their task. (Observe) What words did they use and what tone did they use? (Orient) Last time they reported they were 95% done, why is this less? We only have a few more days before this part of the project has to be done, and we can’t afford to go backward. (Decide) I need to ask them about the remaining 25% and whether they believe they can finish on time, given the shift from 5% left to 25% left in the last week. (Act) I ask them about whether they can finish on time, and they say that they will need an extra day. LOOP…
  (Observe) I keep an eye on their work over the rest of the week, through daily check-ins.

• A fourth member of my team just told me that they are distressed at work. (Observe) I see four people on my team with rising stress levels. (Orient) One or two might have been okay, but four people all expressing distress is problematic. The pressure is high right now; deadline is looming; tensions have been high; I’ve been kind of grouchy; I ask myself what are things that have been previously beneficial and de-stressing for the team? (Decide) I am going to create space at our next team meeting to celebrate how far we’ve come, call out the distress, create a 5-minute brain break for something nice, and apologize for my own grouchiness. (Act) Schedule the team meeting, offer both celebratory words as well as space to vent and heal and to do something nice together for a few minutes – a 5 minute “show and tell” works well with this group; apologize for my grouchiness and make intentional efforts to do better. LOOP…
  (Observe) The team seems to soften during the team meeting, and the next day seems to be a bit better…

So how do we get better at flying the OODA loop? Here are a couple of key skills that emerge as muscles we need to build to:

Discernment – observation to just observe isn’t enough. The OODA loop demands that we observe with the intent to interpret and discern what details are important. A fun glimpse at this can be seen during Will Smith’s candidate screening process during the first Men in Black movie.

Recall – being present in the moment matters, but the OODA loop also demands that we leverage knowledge from our past, our awareness of what’s happened before, and our awareness of what kinds of things could happen. It demands that we have some context of where we are, who we are with, what kinds of things have happened in these kinds of situations before, and what possible outcomes could happen from here.

Confidence – the OODA loop and the speed at which it requires we move, demands that we move with some level of confidence in our actions. We act with the confidence that the decision we’ve just made is the best decision we can make given the information available at the moment. We act swiftly and decisively – knowing that this is a loop, and we can observe, orient, decide on a different course, and take the next action as soon as we need to do that.

Humility – ironically, the OODA loop also expects a level of humility in understanding that this is a loop, and each moment demands that we continue to fly that OODA loop. We are continuing to Observe, to Orient, to Decide, and to Act, as the information that comes available may be different than what we first thought, we may need to orient ourselves to new circumstances and take a different course of action. We have to have the humility to acknowledge that our first path isn’t the only possible path.

Speed – A key element of the OODA loop is the speed at which it moves. When I was first introduced to the OODA loop, the story was told of a business that went under while it was gathering data, because the competition was flying the OODA loop around it, and the action the competitor took resulted in the first company’s demise.