deliver better

In [change the game]:

There are physical limits to observation and action. Given equally matched adversaries with access to the same data and tools, both will hit absolute limits to how fast they can observe the environment or act on it.

But realistically, adversaries are not equally matched. They gather different amounts + kinds of data. They act slower or faster. 

In [ooda x cloud]:

Observe - instrumentation, monitoring, data collection, etc.

Orient - analytics in all its forms, correlation, visualization, etc.

Decide - modeling, scenarios, heuristics, etc.

Act - provision, develop, deploy, fail, iterate, etc.

What does cloud speed up? And who has the advantage?

The proximate answer is obvious: operating in cloud models accelerates action. But the real benefit of being faster to act is upstream. It's so you can spend more time figuring out what's going on out there in the world and come up with the best--not the fastest--response and act on it at the optimal--not the fastest--time.

In Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, Frank Partnoy writes:

Because Connors and Evert needed less time to hit a return, they had more time to gather and process information. They saw, they prepared, and finally, only after they had processed as much information as possible, they hit. Their preconscious time management—what their brains did during the “prepare” period—was crucial to their success. Their talent enabled them to stretch out a split-second and pack in a sequence of interpretation and action that would take most of us much longer.

And also:

Sometimes there is a first-mover disadvantage. Sometimes the second mouse gets the cheese.

Which is what I was talking about in [pacing]:

It's not at all clear...that it's uniformly better to be functioning at a faster pace than competitors at all things.

Being fast to provision + market.. is only worth anything if you can use that speed to deliver something better.

Act faster. Observe greater. Orient longer. Decide truer.

Deliver better.