November 2006 Newsletter

Winning Through OODA

The 4specs newsletter looks towards increasing your products sales through specifications, with an emphasis on developing websites that are more effective in getting specified and selling products.

Commercial construction has a very slow cycle of new product introductions, adoption and product replacement, even when compared with automobiles. Some aspects of the cycle can be speeded up to your competitor's dismay and worst nightmares.

Gone are the days of a 3- to 5-year cycle on binders and a yearly review of the brochure that goes into the Sweets catalog. The Internet and websites give you the ability to change on a moment's notice, like a Porsche Boxster on a mountain pass compared to a loaded truck and trailer.

Quoting from Mindsim.com:

Col John Boyd, USAF (Ret), coined the term and developed the concept of the "OODA Loop" (Observation, Orientation, Decision, Action). Perhaps most importantly, Boyd was instrumental in explaining and disseminating the concept of "cycle time" and "getting inside the adversary's decision cycle."

Here are 3 articles that will expand on this:

• From FastCompany.com - [link no longer available}
  • "Now think of your company: Is it an F-16 or an Aeroflot turboprop?"
  • "What do you do in the semiconductor industry and other sectors where the time advantage of proprietary technology is collapsing even as the cost of developing it explodes? Companies in manufacturing, telecommunications, retail -- in nearly every business -- are discovering that fashion, fad, and fickle customers require constant vigilance and adjustment. We operate in a video-game world where time is compressing, information goes everywhere, and the rules of the game change abruptly and continuously."
• Robert Paterson's Radio Weblog - Because all tactical operations are dynamic, they are also time sensitive.
• From Wikipedia - OODA Loop

Change your company's website from an Aeroflot turboprop to an F-16. Stop thinking of your website as being completed for the next 5 years, and consider your website as a tool to be continually updated and improved. Future newsletters will help you change your website process and to become more effective in being specified - thus setting up sales for your distributors and reps to close.

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Colin Gilboy
Publisher - 4specs
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