OODA for operational excellence (Ship It! #4)

This week on Ship It! Gerhard talks with Ben Ford, former Royal Marine and founder of Commando Development, about the OODA loop (observe, orient, decide, act). Shipping is just a small part of it. The OODA loop that you know is probably the wrong one. We explore Mission & Command, Situational Awareness and a few other practices that will help you deal with complexity as you code and ship. As a former Royal Marine Commando, Ben learned these skills the hard way, and then refined them over many years as a software engineer. Check out the diagrams in the show notes - they are a work of art and precision.

This week on Ship It! Gerhard talks with Ben Ford, former Royal Marine and founder of Commando Development, about the OODA loop (observe, orient, decide, act). Shipping is just a small part of it. The OODA loop that you know is probably the wrong one. We explore Mission & Command, Situational Awareness and a few other practices that will help you deal with complexity as you code and ship. As a former Royal Marine Commando, Ben learned these skills the hard way, and then refined them over many years as a software engineer. Check out the diagrams in the show notes - they are a work of art and precision.

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Featuring:

Ben Ford – Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, WebsiteGerhard Lazu – Mastodon, Twitter, GitHub, Website

Show Notes:

Algorithms for Leadership
Ben’s OODA YouTube playlist
Team of Teams
One Mission
Extreme Ownership
Turn the Ship Around
Red Teaming
The Thousand Brains Theory of Intelligence

Ben's OODA remake of John Boyd's original

Ben's representation of OODA - my favourite 💙

The OODA diagram that is easiest to remember

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!