Strategium: OODA Loop

I had not thought of this previously but when my Knight talks to us about plans in a fight he is talking about the OODA loop This theory was developed by Colonel John Richard Boyd, (January 23, 1927 – March 9, 1997), a United States Air Force fighter pilot and later Pentagon consultant, whose theories have been highly influential in the military, sports, business, and litigation . According to Boyd, decision making occurs in a recurring cycle of   observe-orient-decide-act. If an individual or organization can process this cycle quickly, by observing and reacting to unfolding events more rapidly than an opponent,  they can thereby "get inside" the opponent's decision cycle and gain the advantage(1).

Since decision-making occurs in a recurring OODA loop cycle, this strategy allows you to continuously move from one loop to the next. Recognition of an evolving situation and by quick adaption of a strategy along with an obscuring of your intentions, by making them unpredictable to your adversary, will allow you to operate at a faster tempo.  This enables you to generate some element of confusion and disorder which forces your adversary to clarify his intentions, (i.e forces them into an offensive maneuver).  By allowing some chaos and confusion to enter the situation, the use of this strategy throws chaos in the direction of your adversary thereby giving you control of the encounter.

A notable piece of advice:

Fear comes from not being in the moment of here and now. It is thinking too much of the past and extrapolating it into the future, that creates fear and distorts reality. There is no room for fear or deception in the immediacy of here and now. You either deal with what is coming at you or accept it.

References

(1) Osinga, Frans. Science Strategy and War, The Strategic Theory of John Boyd. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-37103-1.

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