OODA Loop

The Promise

Win contested situations by orienting faster than the situation drifts. Observe what is actually there, orient against your assumptions, decide, act, and loop again before the situation has moved.

How It Works

• Observe: take in what is actually true, not the wished-for situation.
• Orient: interpret against your real models, not your aspirational ones. This is the load-bearing step: most stalls come from corrupted orientation, not from bad execution.
• Decide and act: pick one move and run it.
• Loop within hours or days, not weeks. A tighter loop with rough orientation outperforms a slower loop with polished orientation.

In Practice

Stalled improvement plans usually have plenty of effort behind them and a corrupted orientation in front of them. The plan was built against the world the person wanted to be in, not the world they are actually in. Resetting the orientation step, even once, typically surfaces adjustments that weeks of additional effort had missed.