The feedback economy Companies that employ data feedback loops are poised to dominate their industries. by Alistair Croll.
From the post:
Military strategist John Boyd spent a lot of time understanding how to win battles. Building on his experience as a fighter pilot, he broke down the process of observing and reacting into something called an Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act (OODA) loop. Combat, he realized, consisted of observing your circumstances, orienting yourself to your enemy’s way of thinking and your environment, deciding on a course of action, and then acting on it.
[graphic omitted, but it is interesting. Go to Croll’s post to see it.]
The most important part of this loop isn’t included in the OODA acronym, however. It’s the fact that it’s a loop. The results of earlier actions feed back into later, hopefully wiser, ones. Over time, the fighter “gets inside” their opponent’s loop, outsmarting and outmaneuvering them. The system learns.
Boyd’s genius was to realize that winning requires two things: being able to collect and analyze information better, and being able to act on that information faster, incorporating what’s learned into the next iteration. Today, what Boyd learned in a cockpit applies to nearly everything we do.
Information is important but so is the use of information in the form of feedback.
But all systems, even information systems generate feedback.
The question is: Does your system (read topic map) hear feedback? Perhaps more importantly, does it adapt based upon feedback it hears?