Project White Horse Forum

Boundary Condition #4 (3) The Observe Orient Decide Act decision making process,  or as it is commonly known, OODA Loop, was evolved over time by John Boyd in search of improvements in capability in the highly competitive environment of war. Over time many have come to see the worth of the OODA process as instructive in any […]

Boundary Condition #1 (4) UPDATE 16 March: See the comments below from PWH’s contributors and advisors One significant element of an unconventional crisis as compared to other large catastrophes is the complex maps of actors – Catastrophic crises systematically involve an enormous variety of stakeholders, on an international scale. Pictures from Japan: http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/03/world/hires.japan.quake/index.html?hpt=T1 Preparation? Readiness? […]

Boundary Condition #2 (3) A work in progress: With this post we conclude the second round of discussion on our 2011 boundary conditions.  Before reading Part 2, a few thoughts: Of no surprise should be the issue of training as a key to operating successfully in unstable or high stress, high impact situations.  But what […]

Boundary Condition #2 (2) Of all activities studied by our research group, flight operations at sea is the closest to the “edge of the envelope”–operating under the most extreme conditions in the least stable environment, and with the greatest tension between preserving safety and reliability and attaining maximum operational efficiency. Rochlin, Laporte, Roberts           […]

Boundary Condition #3 (2) Preserve harmony, create chaos and achieve victory by continually keeping the enemy off balance through a superior capability to adapt. Sun Tzu Today, February 22nd 2011 is George Washington’s birthday.  As a country we don’t really pay homage to our first President, commander of the Continental Army or Father of the […]

Boundary Condition #4 (2) From Searching for John Boyd:  … as PWH continues to research and provide discussion on decision making in severe crisis, Boyd and his “way” is the final  of four boundary conditions.  I intend to use the OODA notion of time cycles and competitive behavior as a “lens,” first for analysis of my  […]

Boundary Condition #1 (3) The previous post (2), presented the parameters defining an unconventional crisis as developed by Dr. Erwan Lagadec.  Here in the following table and discussion we  provide comparison of the characteristics that differentiate decision making, leadership and operational response in relation to both routine emergencies and conventional disasters and to unconventional /hyper complex catastrophic […]

Boundary Condition #1 (2)           “Conventional crises rarely require high levels of inbuilt resiliency from our systems. This is because such events tend to affect circumscribed “ground zeros,” and therefore can be tackled by bringing to bear the “normal” assets and strategies of the unscathed outside on the impacted area.  On the other hand, catastrophic […]

Boundary Conditions for 2011 Ventura County Fire Department, Battalion Chief Ranger Dorn commenting on Deepwater Horizon  As a result of working around emergency plans and training on Threat, Risk and Vulnerability Assessments around the country and having responded to many significant events, I believe most plans for handling emergencies are based on assumptions and guesses […]