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OODA Versus ASDA: Metaphors at War (Kelly, Brennan, 2009)
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http://www.defence.gov.au/army/lwsc/docs/aaj_summer_2009.pdf

In: Australian Army Journal, Volume VI, Number 3, 2009, p.39-50.

Abstract

This article examines the provenance and utility of two metaphors commonly used to help describe the dynamics of contemporary combat. It argues that, although it shares the weaknesses of all metaphors in being partially inappropriate and incomplete, the ASDA cycle has greater contemporary relevance than the earlier Boyd or OODA cycle.

p.39 In 2006, the first edition of the Australian Army’s concept Adaptive Campaigning, capturing the lessons of nearly a decade of Army experimentation, introduced the ‘Adaption’ Cycle. The proposition made was that success in solving complex problems relied on progressive interaction with them and that this interaction could be described by iteration of the sequence: Act-Sense-Decide-Adapt, which was reduced to the acronym ASDA.
 
p.40 Despite the authority enjoyed by OODA, the authors of this article remain firmly convinced of the righteousness of ASDA.
 
p.44 the Adaption Cycle is not intended to replace the body of theory on which it rests. Like the Boyd Cycle, it is simply a metaphor for conflict—albeit one that emphasises certain aspects of conflict which are particularly important in our contemporary setting. In particular, ASDA takes a systems view.
 
p.44 an adaptive system is one in which some or all the elements can change their usual behaviour in response to novel challenges. Because any new behaviour has an impact on the other elements of the system it, in turn, may develop new and previously unexpected behaviours of its own—which are called emergences. As a result of their ability to respond to circumstances, CAS [JLJ - complex adaptive systems] are constantly evolving: they are dynamic. Ideally, this dynamism moves them towards some relatively stable state. However, because the relationships between the elements are nonlinear, tiny changes in the behaviour of a single element may cause huge changes in the behaviour of the system as a whole
 
p.45 It is not possible to learn about or understand a CAS except by interaction with it. To understand its dynamics it is necessarily to push or prod it sufficiently to trigger a response. The range of responses is probably very broad and the relationship between the weight of the probing action and the vigour of the response will be uncertain and possibly disproportionate. CAS are therefore essentially unknowable by remote sensing.
 
p.46 The ASDA Cycle begins with ‘Act’ in order to capture the need to begin interacting—that is to highlight the need for a bias for action, despite having only a rudimentary understanding of the enemy system being faced. Surveillance and deep thought will most likely not provide useful knowledge unless they are teamed with positive actions to provoke a response from the enemy.
 
p.47 Modern combat can therefore be characterised as competitive learning in which all sides are constantly in a process of creating, testing and refining hypotheses about the nature of the reality of which they are a part. The resulting adaptations might need to be extensive
 
p.49 Depending on the importance the reader places on these emphases, the ASDA Cycle is either merely OODA but starting at ‘A’ instead of ‘O’, or is a novel and quite different metaphor for conflict.

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