Summary
Even though we make decisions every day, becoming an effective decision-maker is a skill that takes a lot of time and effort to master. John Boyd’s OODA loop shows that the process is iterative and continual, with success dependent upon the following:
Understanding the target outcome desired
Gaining situational awareness through observing and understanding your capabilities and the dynamics of the ecosystem you are operating in
Identifying the impacts of friction areas to gauge what decision options will most likely help you progress toward the outcome desired
Following through with the action, and observing its impact so that you can determine how far you progressed, and if there are new details or changes that must be learned and incorporated into your situational awareness
Boyd showed that continually honing situational awareness and learning are at least as important as the speed of decision-making itself. Damage to any ingredient harms decision quality, and with it the ability to succeed.