All good design follows from this 7-step model
All good design flows from these 7 stages of actions and the 3 principles of discoverability, feedback, and the conceptual model:
- A user wants to achieve something (goal) against a state of the world
- To do this, the user needs to a) figure out what is possible and b) figure out how to do this (discoverability)
- Then, the user takes action on this and gets feedback on these actions (feedback)
- Finally, the user interprets this feedback and incorporates it into her conceptual model of how the product works (model)
And the cycle repeats, starting with new goal-setting.
While reading the CFAR handbook I realized that these 7 stages of actions map neatly to the OODA loops we already know and love:
United States Air Force Colonel John Boyd was a fighter pilot and theorist who developed a model of decisionmaking called the OODA loop.
Essentially, Colonel Boyd’s theory was that people are constantly looping through the same four steps as they interact with their environment:
- Observe—Sometimes also called the “notice” step, this is the point at which you become aware of something which might require your attention. For a fighter pilot, this might be a flash of light on the horizon. For everyday life, this might be something like hearing a crash come from the kitchen, or seeing an expression flicker across your partner’s face.
- Orient—This is the point at which you frame your observation, and decide how you will relate to it. Is this a problem to solve? A threat to avoid? Something unimportant that you can dismiss?
- Decide—This is the point at which you formulate a plan. What will you do, given the ongoing situation? How will you respond?
- Act—This is the point at which thinking pauses (until your next obser- vation) and you move toward executing the plan you’ve already formed.
The image on the left shows the 7 stages of action and the image on the right shows the same graph but the stages of OODA superimposed on top of the image.
I could not not join in on the hype… so here’s a ghiblicore picture of me!
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