Qualitative Scouting?

[Rangel]

Originally Posted by Captain_Kirch

All this can be tracked with numbers, trust me! You just have to think outside the box. Instead of asking how good a driver is, ask how bad they are (Do they get fouls constantly, fail tasks, etc.). Instead of asking how well a team cycles, ask how many cycles they complete a match. Think through your measures, decide whats important to you and whats not. Just be sure your scouts are recording data, not opinion pieces.

I agree that they can be tracked with numbers, but I personally don't think they should. While it's easy to point out driver faults, a driver who isn't a bad driver isn't necessarily a good driver. Things like driver skill and how they drive is very hard to place into a value system and be accurate. I would trust a scouter/strategist(s) that clearly understands the difference between a bad, decent, or good driver more than a database listing fouls. Especially since what makes a bad or good driver is really just an opinion itself. Failure to accomplish tasks may also be a robot error and not necessarily reflective of the driver. In regards to the other qualitative scouting measures, cycles per match doesn't necessarily work if a team decided not to focus on cycles in some matches. Same with patterns. How many possible patterns are needed to reflect every strategy a team can do?