4 ms·

> “ Notice that the word speed appears twice. This is not the time for committees, study groups or widespread consensus building. Even with imperfect informatio

by mlthoughts2018 7y ago

> “ Notice that the word speed appears twice. This is not the time for committees, study groups or widespread consensus building. Even with imperfect information, the future of your company depends on your ability to make rapid decisions and start acting.” Yikes. I guess principled decisions have to go? Executive authority! It reminds me of the president in The Simpsons Movie... “I was elected to lead, not to read.”

asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
A few issues: 1. A decision isn't automatically more principled because it is made by a committee/consensus. Often the opposite is the case. 2. The purpose of the firm is to make money/value for shareholders, not principled decisions. If making principled decisions gets in the way of the goal, principled decisions are what should slip. 3. At least in the US, companies are generally not organized as democracies, so even if executives sometimes choose to delegate their authority to committees, that arrangement is always subject to revocation in extraordinary times.
kop316 7y ago
The OODA loop was invented by Col. John Boyd during the Vietnam War and is being adapted here for the business environment. The point is for some hard decisions, you will have to act on imperfect or incomplete information. A good leader will make a decision, because doing nothing and hoping you get more info will in fact be worse than making the wrong decision. As you get more information, you can then alter or tailor your decision. This is especially true in a military environment. For an example in a popular movie, look at 1st Lieutenant Norman S. Dike Jr. in Band of Brothers.
- meheleventyone 7y ago
  Isn't the point of getting inside the opponents OODA loop to force them to make decisions faster than they are able to sensibly and ergo force wrong decisions. If you get inside your own loop by hurrying your decision making forcing wrong decisions how is that sensible? It also seems obviously untrue that acting on a wrong decision is better than doing nothing. The results of a wrong decision could of course be worse than the results of not making a decision in haste. If you're already at the point of being forced to make decisions then you've already screwed up? You're being reactive.
  - kop316 7y ago
    >Isn't the point of getting inside the opponents OODA loop to force them to make decisions faster than they are able to sensibly and ergo force wrong decisions. If you get inside your own loop by hurrying your decision making forcing wrong decisions how is that sensible? Nope. The point is if I am inside their OODA loop, I can make decisions and react quicker than the adversary. Now they are reacting to my decisions and I have the advantage. > It also seems obviously untrue that acting on a wrong decision is better than doing nothing. The results of a wrong decision could of course be worse than the results of not making a decision in haste. The keyword there is "could be". That's what makes leadership hard. You have to know when is enough information to make a decision, and when you need to wait. Or if you made the wrong decision, what can you do now? EDIT: For an example, there's a small brewery down the street that cannot can all of their beer. Making beer takes 3 weeks at least. So there's predictions of COVID-19 ending in May to Sept. So what is the right choice? Do I hope that it ends early and brew beer in a couple of weeks, or do I wait until Sept? What about all of the perishable supplies I have now? It does me a lot more harm to wait until the "all clear" and then order supplies. Why? Everybody else will do the same thing, and now I am out of beer for three weeks (and longer for other beer). That is a lot of revenue left on the table lost. What about making it now? Well if I am too hasty, now I have beer that will skunk because I cannot sell it fast enough. So the brewery owner needs to see what info they have now (obverse, orient), and decide and act. What will cost me more money?
    - meheleventyone 7y ago
      > Nope. The point is if I am inside their OODA loop, I can make decisions and react quicker than the adversary. Now they are reacting to my decisions and I have the advantage. Yes you'll have the advantage because they'll be making bad decisions as the situation will have changed by the time they've decided to act on older information. It's not sufficient to simply act faster you have to be making good decisions as well. > The keyword there is "could be". That's what makes leadership hard. You have to know when is enough information to make a decision, and when you need to wait. Or if you made the wrong decision, what can you do now? Yes exactly so acting isn't axiomatically the thing to do. Although making a great folly seems like a great way to get lionized in military history. :D

asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago

A few issues: 1. A decision isn't automatically more principled because it is made by a committee/consensus. Often the opposite is the case. 2. The purpose of the firm is to make money/value for shareholders, not principled decisions. If making principled decisions gets in the way of the goal, principled decisions are what should slip. 3. At least in the US, companies are generally not organized as democracies, so even if executives sometimes choose to delegate their authority to committees, that arrangement is always subject to revocation in extraordinary times.

kop316 7y ago

The OODA loop was invented by Col. John Boyd during the Vietnam War and is being adapted here for the business environment. The point is for some hard decisions, you will have to act on imperfect or incomplete information. A good leader will make a decision, because doing nothing and hoping you get more info will in fact be worse than making the wrong decision. As you get more information, you can then alter or tailor your decision. This is especially true in a military environment. For an example in a popular movie, look at 1st Lieutenant Norman S. Dike Jr. in Band of Brothers.

meheleventyone 7y ago
Isn't the point of getting inside the opponents OODA loop to force them to make decisions faster than they are able to sensibly and ergo force wrong decisions. If you get inside your own loop by hurrying your decision making forcing wrong decisions how is that sensible? It also seems obviously untrue that acting on a wrong decision is better than doing nothing. The results of a wrong decision could of course be worse than the results of not making a decision in haste. If you're already at the point of being forced to make decisions then you've already screwed up? You're being reactive.
- kop316 7y ago
  >Isn't the point of getting inside the opponents OODA loop to force them to make decisions faster than they are able to sensibly and ergo force wrong decisions. If you get inside your own loop by hurrying your decision making forcing wrong decisions how is that sensible? Nope. The point is if I am inside their OODA loop, I can make decisions and react quicker than the adversary. Now they are reacting to my decisions and I have the advantage. > It also seems obviously untrue that acting on a wrong decision is better than doing nothing. The results of a wrong decision could of course be worse than the results of not making a decision in haste. The keyword there is "could be". That's what makes leadership hard. You have to know when is enough information to make a decision, and when you need to wait. Or if you made the wrong decision, what can you do now? EDIT: For an example, there's a small brewery down the street that cannot can all of their beer. Making beer takes 3 weeks at least. So there's predictions of COVID-19 ending in May to Sept. So what is the right choice? Do I hope that it ends early and brew beer in a couple of weeks, or do I wait until Sept? What about all of the perishable supplies I have now? It does me a lot more harm to wait until the "all clear" and then order supplies. Why? Everybody else will do the same thing, and now I am out of beer for three weeks (and longer for other beer). That is a lot of revenue left on the table lost. What about making it now? Well if I am too hasty, now I have beer that will skunk because I cannot sell it fast enough. So the brewery owner needs to see what info they have now (obverse, orient), and decide and act. What will cost me more money?
  - meheleventyone 7y ago
    > Nope. The point is if I am inside their OODA loop, I can make decisions and react quicker than the adversary. Now they are reacting to my decisions and I have the advantage. Yes you'll have the advantage because they'll be making bad decisions as the situation will have changed by the time they've decided to act on older information. It's not sufficient to simply act faster you have to be making good decisions as well. > The keyword there is "could be". That's what makes leadership hard. You have to know when is enough information to make a decision, and when you need to wait. Or if you made the wrong decision, what can you do now? Yes exactly so acting isn't axiomatically the thing to do. Although making a great folly seems like a great way to get lionized in military history. :D