Quick start with OODA Loop
If you are not yet familiar with OODA Loop, let's take a quick look. OODA Loop is a cyclical decision-making process developed by American military strategist John Boyd. The abbreviation stands for:
Observe — observation.
Orient — orientation.
Decide – solution.
Act – action.
In simple terms, it is a process that helps you quickly adapt to change and make informed decisions. But how does this apply to a team?
Parsing OODA loops to a command
Observation
During the observation stage, it is important to collect all available information about the current situation. This could be project data, user feedback, market trends or internal metrics.
Practical steps:
Data collection: Monitoring tools (for example, Grafana, Prometheus), surveys, analytics (Google Analytics, Mixpanel).
Information visualization: Dashboards with key metrics, use graphs and reports for clarity.
Communication: Availability of information to the entire team through shared resources (e.g. Confluence, Notion).
Orientation
During the orientation phase, the team analyzes the collected data, determines priorities, and understands the context. This is a time for discussion, brainstorming and strategic planning.
Practical steps:
Data analysis: SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats), analysis of cause-and-effect relationships.
Discussion: Hold regular meetings to discuss current issues and opportunities (retrospectives, sprint planning).
Education: Continuously learn and develop to better understand the market and technology. Webinars, courses, reading specialized literature, etc.
Let's say you notice a decrease in user activity in your application. During the orientation phase, conduct a root cause analysis: changes in UX, competitor actions, technical problems, or external factors. Use analytics data and user feedback to understand what exactly went wrong.
Solution
Based on the analysis, the team decides on further actions. It is important that decisions are informed and consistent with the goals of the project.
Practical steps:
Idea generation: Use creative thinking techniques, such as brainstorming or the same six hats method.
Evaluation of options: Compare the pros and cons of different approaches, use decision-making matrices.
Making a decision: Use consensus or voting method to select the best option.
For example, after analyzing the reasons for the decrease in user activity, the team decides to conduct A/B testing of a new interface design. You generate several options, evaluate their potential effectiveness and select the most promising one for testing.
Action
The team implements the decision. This stage includes planning, task distribution, and progress monitoring.
Practical steps:
Planning: Develop a clear action plan with specific tasks and deadlines. Plus, it includes project management tools, like Trello.
Distribution of roles: Assign responsibility for each task to avoid overlapping or missing important steps.
Monitoring: Track task progress with regular check-ins and status updates.
For example, a team launches A/B testing of a new design. Developers begin implementing changes, designers prepare alternative layouts, and analysts set up metrics to measure effectiveness. You set clear deadlines and assign responsibility for each stage to ensure timely completion.
An example of integrating OODA Loop into existing processes
Let's imagine that a team is working on a platform “KotoKorm Online”and need to quickly adapt to market changes, improve user experience and increase sales. How can OODA Loop help with this?
Current processes of the KotoKorm Online team
Before implementing OODA Loop, the team uses traditional project management methods:
Scrum: Regular sprints, daily stand-ups, retrospectives.
Tools: Jira for task management, Google Analytics for tracking user activity, Slack for communication.
Communication: Weekly meetings to discuss progress and planning.
However, the team faces a number of problems:
Slow adaptation to change: New trends in the cat food market appear quickly, but the team’s response is delayed.
Ineffective decision making: Decisions are often made without sufficient data analysis.
Lack of transparency of processes: Not all team members understand how their work affects overall goals.
To solve these problems, the team decides to integrate OODA Loop into your existing processes. Let's look at how this happens at each stage of the cycle.
Observation
Target: Collection of the most complete and up-to-date information about the state of the project, the market and user behavior.
Actions:
User activity monitoring:
Usage Google Analytics to track user behavior on the site.
Integration Hotjar to obtain heat maps and record user sessions.
Analysis of market trends:
Subscribe to industry news and reports.
Monitoring social networks and forums to understand the preferences of cat owners.
Collecting feedback:
Conducting regular customer surveys using Typeform.
Analysis of reviews and ratings on the website and third-party platforms.
The team noticed through Google Analyticsthat the bounce rate on the Catalog page has increased by 15% over the past month. Hotjar showed that users often do not find the products they need due to complex navigation.
Orientation
Target: Analyze the collected data, determine priorities and understand the context.
Actions:
Data analysis:
Carrying out SWOT analysis (strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats).
Usage Python and libraries Pandas for processing and visualizing data from Google Analytics.
Discussion and brainstorming:
Organize special meetings to discuss identified problems and opportunities.
Usage Miro for the collective creation of mind maps and flowcharts.
Training and development:
Conducting internal trainings on data analytics and UX design.
Encouraging participation in webinars and conferences on e-commerce and marketing.
After analyzing the data, the team found that complex navigation led to high bounce rates. At the orientation meeting, possible solutions are discussed: simplifying the menu, introducing an autocomplete search bar, and improving product filters.
Solution
Target: Making informed decisions based on the analysis performed.
Actions:
Idea generation:
Carrying out brainstorming to find solutions to navigation problems.
Using technology six thinking hats for a comprehensive review of options.
Evaluation of options:
Compare the pros and cons of each proposed solution.
Usage decision matrices to determine the most effective approach.
Making a decision:
Team vote for the best option.
Documenting the decision made and the rationale for the choice.
The team decides to implement an improved search bar with autocomplete and add more intuitive product filters. The decision is made on the basis that this is the fastest way to reduce the bounce rate.
Action
Target: Implementation of the decision made and monitoring its effectiveness.
Actions:
The development team is introducing an improved search bar and new filters. After deploying the changes to Jira a task is created to monitor indicators. After a week, bounce rates drop by 10% and users leave positive reviews of the new navigation.
Integrating OODA Loop into Scrum
So that OODA Loop fits harmoniously into the existing methodology Scrumthe team takes the following steps:
Observe:
Daily stand-ups are used to quickly share observations and data.
Regular metrics reviews at the end of each sprint.
Orient:
Sprint retrospectives include in-depth analysis of collected data and discussion of strategies.
Sprint planning is based on current priorities identified through the OODA Loop.
Decide:
Act:
After this integration OODA Loop integration into the existing processes of the KotoKorm Online team has demonstrated its effectiveness. The team was able to respond to changes faster, improve the user experience and increase sales.
Remember that the key to success is a systematic approach and continuous improvement of processes. Don't be afraid to experiment and adapt OODA Loop to suit your team's needs.
You can learn more about team and project management in online courses from practicing industry experts. Details in the catalogue.
We also recommend that all team leads, beginners and experienced, attend the open lesson on November 5th – “The secret weapon of the team lead: the art of productive indifference.” Let's talk about what the team leader's area of responsibility looks like, how to deal with hyper-responsibility and where is the balance between correct and excessive indifference. Sign up for a lesson on the “Team Lead” course page.
