OODA Loop
A four-step decision-making framework — Observe, Orient, Decide, Act — originally developed for military strategy. The faster you cycle through the loop, the greater your advantage.
EverydayConcepts.io
Origin
Developed in the early 1970s by John Boyd (1927–1997), a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and Pentagon consultant nicknamed "Forty-Second Boyd" for his standing bet that he could defeat any pilot in simulated combat within 40 seconds. Boyd distilled his combat experience into the Observe-Orient-Decide-Act cycle as a general theory of competitive decision-making, and it has since been adopted far beyond the military — in business strategy, litigation, and sports.
Updated February 22, 2026