The 'People Watching' Strategy

The deliberate act of observing the people within your vicinity, their mannerisms, interactions and movements is a crucial learning tool of tradecraft.

The act of observing people and their interactions, usually without their knowledge. Speech in action, relationship interactions, body language, expressions, clothing and activities.

The intentional act of people watching is not unlike visiting a zoo, except the animals, or specifically the humans, are free in their natural habitat.

Observing how a different species than our own does something, anything or everything without any outside influence is fascinating because they’re so completely different from us in every single way.

And yet, an even greater level of intrigue, information and education can be reached by observing our own species – people watching, both foreign and domestic.

Human civilization is an ever-growing, ever-evolving and ever-moving organic machine of which each person is a cog that keep it functioning in one way or another. A function we can manipulate or adapt.

For what purpose or reason is irrelevant. What’s important is that each individual person is a part of it that incidentally or purposefully work together to keep the machine going – it’s the force of civilization.

Of which we can decipher and use to our advantage in OPS or in daily life for social engineering or adaptation.