OODA Loop: An Idea Heard Around the World

Earlier this year I was priviliged to be invited to participate in an online discussion entitled: Roundtable on: Science, Strategy and War: The Strategic Therory of John Boyd. The forum was hosted by Zenpundit and the Chicago Boyz.

The reason I return to the subject today is because one of the blogs I frequently read, Asia Logistics wrap took up the subject of using the OODA loop strategy for something other that war fighting. In a post entitled Establishing a Global IT Roll-Out Rule Set, Shawn the host, sees the OODA Loop as a tangible asset in reducing mistakes in implementation of global IT deployment. He offers up suggestions of how the strategy would make sense to IT deployment managers.

The key here is that the OODA concept can act as the foundational approach to a global IT deployment; it should be ingrained so deeply in the minds of the implementation team that it drives subconsciously the continuous improvement and adaptability of strategy and tactics throughout every phase of a project--sales to support, support to upgrades, upgrades to support and so on.

Shawn goes on to write:

Such a template would not lock an implementation team into a fixed set of practices--rather, it would contain an always evolving set of best practices geared towards enhancing OODA Loop and empowering the full talents and capabilities of the implementation team.

Reading this post supports my view in later posts that the OODA Loop theory is applicable to a cornucopia of fields where planning and thinking are paramount to success and survival.
Japan in the OODA loop, Metacognition on OODA and Innovation, and Final comments on the Roundtable on Science, Strategy and War all point to applications other that strictly war.

Shawn next post delves further into how the OODA Loop can be implemented. Global IT Deployment: Principles to Remember. He offers an excellent road map to explain and guide those interested in using this theory in setting up best practices in a global enviornment. He says in part:

...... I believe an ingrained OODA loop discipline builds bridges to bring these regional or local pieces into synch as a global technology deployment progresses.

This will be a developing series and well worth following as Shawn details how John Boyd's OODA Loop can be a vital template for global supply chain management.