- Note how orientation shapes observation, shapes decision, shapes action, and in turn is shaped by the feedback and other phenomena coming into our sensing or observing window
- Also note how the entire “loop” (not just orientation) is an ongoing many-sided implicit cross-referencing process of projection, empathy, correlation, and rejection
- Schwerpunkt – main focus of effort or the underlying goal, the glue that holds together various units
- Fingerspitzengefuhl – fingertip feel or a leader’s instinctive and intuitive sense of what is going on or what is needed in a conflict
- Cheng – Taking actions that are consistent with the adversary’s expectations
- Ch’I – Taking actions inconsistent with the adversary’s expectations
Note on “Implicit guidance & control”: When one has developed the proper Fingerspitzengefuhl for a changing situation, the tempo picks up and it seems one is then able to bypass the explicit Orientation and Decision part to Observe and Act almost simultaneously. This enables the commander to bypass parts of the loop and almost compress time. They use this to select the least-expected action rather than what is predicted to be the most-effective action. This action disorients the enemy. This means that as the commander compresses his own time, he causes time to be stretched out for his opponent.
5 OODA Loop Manipulation Techniques
Create Disorientation (mismatch of events and observations), Disruption (adversary being engaged in uncoordinated actions), and Overload (events unfold faster than the adversary can adapt)
- Ambiguity
- Alternative or competing impressions of events as they may or may not be
- Deception
- An impression of events as they are not
- Novelty
- Impressions associated with events/ideas that are unfamiliar or have not been experienced before
- Fast Transient Maneuvers
- Irregular and rapid/abrupt shift from one maneuver event/state to another
- Effort (Cheng/Ch’I or Nebenpunkte/Schwerpunkt)
- An expenditure of energy or an irruption of violence – focused into, or thru, features that permit an organic whole to exist
Note on Friction: Focus not on speed but friction. Friction impedes activity. Friendly forces need to diminish their own friction while increasing the “adversary’s friction and stretch out his time (for a favorable mismatch in friction and time), thereby denying the adversary the opportunity to cope with events/efforts as they unfold
