Boyd’s OODA is Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. In Endsley’s model both observe and orient are in a single SA block but Endsley breaks the two steps (observe and orient) into Levels 1, 2 and 3.
Endsley’s paper: Towards a Theory of Situation Awareness in Dynamic Systems can be found on-line.
The paper is from 1995 and the model is applicable to any domain that requires SA including law enforcement, aviation, air traffic control, ship navigation, health care, emergency response, military command and control operations, transmission system operators, self defense, offshore oil and nuclear power plant management
I recently saw a video about Boyd that expressed some non-traditional views on him and his legacy that I found interesting and plausible. If you feel like listening to a flamboyant British YouTube historian, you can get an interesting different view on the subject here:
Makes the point that the OODA is often just a buzzword but I don’t agree that plan-do-check-act (PDCA) and so forth are suitable substitutes. “All knowledge is orientation” - Marjorie Grene
This article compares the OODA loop, the Endsley model and the Scan and Focus approach to Situational Awareness. If you haven”t heard of the Scan and Focus model, it was introduced by Dr. Jake Mazulewicz in 2020/2021 and may be a better explanation for frontline workers and seafarers.
I had not heard of Scan and Focus (S&F) before. I agree that it would be very useful at deck level for working mariners. It gets at a real problem that even if a junior officer is given a specific assignment (tend to the ARPA for example) it’s often the case that they will instead focus on the more interesting thing that’s happening (for example captain of pilot maneuvering in a close quarters situation).
That said S&F is more of a reminder of good practice than a model. There’s a lot more to the OODA loop than a lot of the popularized versions which emphasize it’s use with an adversary. It can be a useful way to think about BRM overall or just routine watch-standing for example.
The OODA loop becomes more of a decision making process than a model of situational awareness. Personally, I prefer the Endlsey model, which is widely used in the aviation industry, with the 3 levels of situational awareness. The scan and focus has merit with frontline operators when focusing on one part of the task reduces your awareness of the overall picture - teh example oft-used is mooring operations, where the deck officer should be scanning rather than focusing on running a winch or tying a heaving line to a mooring line.
