Enumerating constraintsfour days beforeThe process of inferring a set of constraints with which to communicate…The OODA Loop

What the heck is strategy work?2022We turn the mastermind toward frameworks. The key objective of this role…Lenses, framings, and models2022At a meeting this week, I realized that I use the terms…Jankless2021As we Orient, examining our prediction error and updating our model of…One of the lenses for which I tend to reach frequently is the OODA loop. First articulated by John Boyd in the context of combat, it’s found its way into various other spheres of strategic thinking. The way I hold it is probably different from how The Mad Major intended, because I apply it in non-confrontational contexts. Here’s the basics.

Prediction errors and jank2021

Conceptually, our interaction with the environment outside can be viewed as this continuous cycle of observing, orienting, deciding, and acting — also known as the OODA loop.

Communicating strategy as constraints2021A click up from a plan is communicating strategy as constraints. When…When we observe, we try to gather information about the environment. What is happening? What are the circumstances? What are the changes? Trends? What are the constraints?

OODA and Intention2021The ability to make predictions is an astounding quality of retained-mode systems.…Then, like clockwork, we move on to orienting, or making sense of what we’ve observed. We try to look at all of the existing information we might have, smash it with the new one, and synthesize a model of what’s happening.

Understanding2022Once the notion of a problem is sufficiently semantically disambiguated, we can…Once we’ve convinced ourselves that this is indeed the model, we decide. We try to roll the model forward in time and predict what will happen next, forming our hypothesis for the final step.

Being Strategic2022It all begins with intention. There’s something in our environment – the…Once we have the hypothesis, we act within the environment. The all-important feedback loop takes us back to the first step. Acting is just a test of our hypothesis, and we need a way to keep refining that hypothesis.

So we jump back into observing. What happened after we acted? How did the environment react to it? What does that tell us about it? And on we go, cycling through the OODA loop.

The model underneath2021It will probably not come as a surprise to you that we…OO and DA2021Each presents two different configurations for the OODA loop: I’ll call them…Oodles of OODA loops2021Our discovery of the inner OODA loop was cool, but I bet…One significant part that I often see missed is that there are actually two interrelated loops. As mentioned above, the environment cycles through a loop along with us. Suppose that you and I are playing a simple turn-based game. Applying the OODA loop lens, I am part of your environment. It’s easy to see how both you and I are cycling through two loops. You observe my actions, I observe yours. We both orient, decide, and act based on the actions of each other. Being turn-based, our game synchronizes our OODA loops. I can act only after you act and so on. Now, imagine that you could take five turns while I could only take one? That would give you a massive advantage. You’d be running … err… loops around me.

Product and ecosystem loop perspectives2022Let’s also pretend we’re very lucky and that the compounding strength of…This is a valuable insight that’s not easy to grasp when just looking at a picture of a loop. Outside of this cyclical sequence of steps is another loop — the one of the environment.

Touching infinity2022As we explore the process of understanding, it may not be immediately…If I am cycling in lockstep with the environment, I never have to worry about keeping up. I have the advantage if I am cycling much faster — I can be five steps ahead, anticipating what comes next like a magician. Of course, if my OODA loop cycle is a few times slower than that of the environment, I am like that sloth from Zootopia, hopelessly out of touch with what’s happening: the environment is zooming past me.

Micro and macro jank2021If our team’s OODA loop runs just a tiny bit slower than…The OODA inside2021Because of the way we humans are wired, the expectation gradient is…Jank2021I first learned about jank when I joined the Chrome team. It’s…Jankthe same dayI first learned about jank when I joined the Chrome team. It’s…OODA, unrolledlinks here, 2021Putting jank and the OODA loop next to each other, it’s hard…A Solutionlinks here, 2022Wait. Did I just reinvent the OODA loop? Kind of, but not…Chances to get it rightlinks here, 2023Second, we need to actively work to reduce the gap between making…The ODA and OODA stanceslinks here, 2023In this stance, observations stream into our model, and continuously update this…The Breadboard developer cyclelinks here, 2024For my long-time readers: yes, we’ve baked the OODA loop right into…Aircraft Carriers and Zodiac Boatslinks here, 2024Such projects are also typically small-sized. Larger teams means more opinions and…It is my experience that these situations are rare and I am not going to spend much time considering them. Instead, I want to study the situation where most organizations find themselves: the two loops cycle at nearly identical speeds, and the organizations struggle to get their OODA loops to go faster. Which brings us to the concept of jank.