Scouting Better

[The other Gabe]

First, I feel like I should summon someone from Skunkworks because they have a scouting app that is very popular in the PNW, and might be worth looking into - it seems like the best answer to your question. ARISE!

when I was scout lead, we used paper, because despite being more cumbersome, it's not subject to needing internet or power or whatever. So even though you don't like it, it's worth at least consideration... But if youre looking for a way to have the most vital information available to you at all times, here's my suggestion (and what my co-lead and I did when I scouted):

get a bunch of flash cards - 1 for each team. Write each team's number on said flashcard. Watch every match. while watching that match, have out the 6 notecards (or maybe just the 3 for the blue alliance if watching the whole field is too overwhelming) for the teams that are currently competing. write down what you notice - if they like to try for the CDF but really aren't good at it, note that. if they have a fantastic shooter but really struggle with the defenses, note that. it's a fantastic way to have a general idea as to the strengths and weaknesses of teams without needing access to all the data that youre having the other scouts collect at all times.

this whole idea hinges on the idea that you'd actually want/are able to to sit and watch every match, of course. and that's not for everyone :v

hopefully that was actually helpful and not just me rambling on for a few paragraphs

[*Rachelle*]

I hear a lot about making scouting more efficient with technology scouting, my team uses paper match scouting, with info about previous seasons on a Google Sheet. Scouting night was down to 2 hours for Week 1, when we started this system a few years ago it took closer to 4-6 hours. My question is how many people are you all keeping up for the scouting meeting and how long does it take you? (Question for OP and those following the thread)

I personally find that staring at a computer screen late at night can be harder than getting up and shuffling papers into specific categories. Some of this is just because moving around helps keep us awake.

As for crumpled papers and bad handwriting, we keep the writing down to tallies and Y's/N's as much as possible, each team has one paper. Never really had a problem with the papers getting destroyed. They are sorted by team number in a folder. It's a mini filing system, so the day starts with something like papers with teams 1-1500 are in the first tab and 2500-3000 might be in the third tab.

Something should also be said for looking at just the numbers and averages. Perhaps a team isn't going for the right strategy, but they have a decent driver and reliable robot, you may have found yourself a good defensive robot candidate that you may not find with certain electronic scouting. PNW is very good about posting matches up on YouTube and we are able to refer to matches that we have questions about very easily.

Let me know if you'd like to see the sheets or have any questions!