Implicit Communication Beats Explicit by Orders of Magnitude

“Although “mutual trust” gives us all a soft, warm feeling, how does it actually help win? Simply, it speeds execution of OODA loops. The reason? For starters, it permits implicit communication among team members, where very little needs to be written down. Obviously, people can communicate this way much faster than through any form of writing—it’s much quicker not to say something than to spell it out in detail. Implicit communication, with enough mutual experience, can provide more information more accurately as well.”

“Boyd insisted that we should … emphasize implicit over explicit in order to gain a favorable mismatch in friction and time (i.e., ours lower than any adversary) for superiority in shaping and adapting to circumstances.”