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An Introduction to the OODA Loop
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Col John Boyd, USAF fighter pilot Ace, developed the concept of the "OODA Loop" (Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act) to describe the process needed to win. This model matured as he won dogfights in Korea and Viet Nam, and he later used it to describe how to gain a competitive advantage in any situation. Recently, the OODA Loop has begun to be applied to business and product development as a way to describe their decision making cycles. In these situations, the loop often gets stuck at the "D" and the team is reduced to making a sound like "OO-OO-OO." The OODA Loop is a succinct representation of the natural decision cycle seen in every context: war, business, product development, or life. A simplified version of Col Boyd's representation of the OODA Loop is shown below:
Observe Orient Decide Getting stuck in the OODA Loop means that there are no decisions, and thus no actions. In actuality, a decision to do nothing has been made. Time keeps moving, and resources are used. In Boyd's war-fighter scenario, the enemy gets the upper hand. In business, the competition keeps progressing in its OODA Loops and you keep using your resources while adding no value. In other words, getting stuck at the decision point can have severe, even grave consequences. The organizational response to being stuck is often more analysis, more data, more simulations, or more "decision by wringing hands." Sometimes these efforts help, if directed at the right "sticking point," but often these activities only postpone decisions until some external event occurs that demands a decision. This results in "decision by running out of time" or, if the action is dictated by a superior, "decision by fiat." Neither of these has much chance of being a robust decision. Robust Decision methods were designed to keep organizations from making the "OO-OO-OO" sound by helping you manage deliberation, fuse information and choose what-to-do-next. A full technical paper describing 12 OODA Loop guidelines to help you get unstuck, stay unstuck and make robust decisions is available for download. 
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