OODA Loop
en.wikipedia.org
OODA Loop
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Re: OODA Loop
#2Compare also PDCA [1] which is used more by civilians.
Every time people rediscover rapid iteration in tight feedback loops, and every time so far it's gotten watered down to nothing again by people who get the rituals, but don't quite grok the underlying concept. [2]
On the other hand, you could do practically any sort of ritual or even just laze around in bed: if you understand the underlying concept, you'll still get decent results. [3]
see also: [4] for a short bit on OODA when actually flying an aircraft.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDCA
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult
[3] http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/koans.html See eg. Tom Knight and the Lisp Machine ;-)
[4] https://youtu.be/OCFMX5z-ed4?t=940 (starting 15:40) Art of the kill, Pete "Boomer" Bonanni
Re: OODA Loop
#3The idea of getting inside an enemy's decision loop means that you are iterating OODA faster than they are.
OODA is sometimes paraphrased by cynics as 'Observe, Overreact, Deny, Apologise'.
Re: OODA Loop
#4I built a startup around 2005 based on a variation of OODA that I independently devised before I learned of it. Unfortunately the critical hardware features I needed weren’t caught up yet and it didn’t work out, but the competitors to this day still don’t have feature parity. Thinking in the framework of feedback loops is super powerful.
Re: OODA Loop
#5I have fond memories of my Krav Maga instructor casually saying "reset their OODA loop" in place of "punch them in the face" during lessons.
Re: OODA Loop
#6Boyd's biography is a great read:
https://www.amazon.com/Boyd-Fighter-Pilot-Who-Changed/dp/031...
about a very unconventional man.
Re: OODA Loop
#7I have fond memories of my Krav Maga instructor casually saying "reset their OODA loop" in place of "punch them in the face" during lessons.
Casually a trained badass (or a sufficiently unhinged person) will ignore that punch and proceed to destroy you.
So unless you're a super trained boxer and can knock out everyone in one, it's a waste of time.
You lost the element of surprise and tempo. If you want to do some damage, do it, not rely on the opponent obliging or complying.
Re: OODA Loop
#8I highly recommend reading Boyd's transcript of a talk he gave in 1989 instead of the wiki on this stuff: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5497331ae4b0148a6141b...
It will resonate with any builders in the HN audience and give a ton of context behind the thinking here.
> You know, some people like to be regarded as being an analyst. They think that’s a term of endearment. I treat it as a personal insult if somebody calls me an analyst. A personal insult. If you’ve read the last paragraph, I’ve showed there are two things you have to be able to do: analyze and synthesize. Analysis and synthesis. And if you can do that in many different areas, tactics, strategies, goals, unifying theme, you can run businesses, you can do any goddamn thing you want.
I find his discussion of Clausewitz's "friction" and the idea of speed as always being relative to one's adversary incredibly useful, even for my day to day work in Tech.
Re: OODA Loop
#9I found Science, Strategy, and War a great deep dive of the OODA Loop.
Re: OODA Loop
#10LazerPig gives a pretty good (albeit irreverent) take on John Boyd... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZDfdCj61dY