Learning goal: treat command as a repeated cycle (decide–act–learn), and understand tempo as both a weapon and a failure mode.
Cycles
Command decisions are not one-time choices. They are cycles: observe, orient, decide, act, then observe again. Every cycle consumes time and produces effects that feed back into the next decision.
Tempo
Tempo is the speed of cycling relative to the adversary and the environment.
- Higher tempo can overwhelm an opponent’s ability to respond.
- Higher tempo can also outpace your own ability to understand what is happening.
Exercise
Pick a simple adversarial scenario (e.g., two teams competing for a resource) and write:
- three decision points,
- what information is required for each,
- what happens if the information is late or wrong.
Then identify what you would delegate to subordinates to keep the cycle moving.