Wednesday 2 March 2016

Building windows of invulnerability and future proofing with ooda loop

 
Building windows of invulnerability and future proofing with ooda loop
John Gelmini



The original OODALOOP diagram ,illustrated in colour in this post was first conceived
in the mind of John R Boyd an extraordinary military man who  first developed his strategy
having spent hours studying the writings and lives of Carl Von Clauswitz, Sun Tzu
and the Samurai warrior Myamoto Mushashi.

Boyd wrote his own masterpiece a "Discourse on Winning and Losing"
and tested his concept in battlefield conditions in the skies above Korea and Vietnam.
The strategies used by the "Coalition of the Willing " to win the 1st Gulf War
were in reality testament to Boyd's thought processes and his concept of Manoever warfare.

Like many ideas forged in the minds of military men , OODA LOOP has great and increasing applicability to business in the 21st century and can supercharge conventional
transformational initiatives to the point where companies and organisations
have a winning edge and even a strategic advantage for a time.
This is because the business and risk climate is intensifying 
and because of the growing incidence of competitors from the Far East 
whose approach borrows heavily  from  the thought processes
of Sun Tzu and Mushashi rather than conventional Western business practices.

We know too, from no less a source than McKinsey's that 50% of all competitors 
did not even exist before 2 years ago and we also know  from the insurance industry 
that 50% of all events are random, unquantifiable "Black Swans" that cannot be predicted 
and may never repeat themselves.

Under these conditions business as usual and conventional methods of improvement based
on historical analysis and guesstimates of the future are increasingly less relevant 
to the point where something more is needed.

OODA LOOP provides a proven methodology that enables organisations and businesses
to become faster and more agile and to shape events so that tiny advantages can be successfully exploited and disadvantages vis a vis competitive forces can be neutralised 
and frequently reversed.

The letters of the acronym OODA LOOP  stand for :
Observe
Orient
Deploy 
Act

The concept in civilianised form requires that we first see what the competitor is doing
or planning to do, then decide what we are going to do whilst keeping that competitor in the dark about what we are going to do, when we are going to do it, how we are going to do it
and with what resources we are going to do it

Whilst the competitor remains in this confused and unknowing state we can then move
to the "Deploy" stage whereby we marshal our resources and then act against him/her
either via a marketing campaign, an acquisition, a merger, a selloff of an unprofitable division,
an increase in sales force strength or the targeting of the competitors accounts.

There are any number of things we could be doing in addition to this including launching
new products, price led initiatives, product bundling using new partners or distribution channels, operational efficiencies and new ways to reduce costs whilst optimising service delivery ,
customer loyalty and profitability.

The key  to  doing all of them successfully is the element of surprise ,the nature of our response
and our speed of reaction and follow up action when the competitor finally reacts
to the events which we have initiated too late to do anything about them.

To develop the element of surprise businesses and organisations need to be well informed
through Competitor Intelligence and Analysis, agile, possessed of a fast operational tempo,
capable of rapid metamorphosis and reaction and must employ people and directors
who are comfortable in fast moving environments where ambiguity and adaptability are welcomed as a means to remain ahead of the curve.

Business plans and Target Operating Models need therefore to be in a rapid state
of constant evolution and development rather than static documents
which are dusted off and revised once a year.

To the extent that a business or organisation can plan ahead, exploit tipping points and trends before others and not rely on what has seemingly always worked before, it can,
using OODA LOOP to enhance what it is already doing and develop "Windows of Invulnerability".

These do not last forever because others may try to emulate what you are doing
but provided you are relentless in your application of OODA LOOP you will prevail
and  be able to future-proof your business or organisation.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-windows-invulnerability-futureproofing-ooda-loop-gelmini?trk=mp-reader-card

You can TCR software and engineering manuals for spontaneous recall – or pass that exam.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube  
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Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?

Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
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Turbo Charged Reading uses these skills significantly faster
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www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com         just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”

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