What would be the best scouting program that can have a scouting schedule made and hold students responsible for missing a round. I don’t like babysitting the scouts, but that happened last year. Thanks!
This is a systemic problem that a specific scouting system doesn’t really solve.
I encourage a read through of this thread.
Edited for clarity
2 Likes
Working from an “enforcement” perspective may not be the most effective, but it can also be very helpful.
In my opinion, the very fact that people come to a scout and ask him “Why didn’t you do scouting” shows him that people care and that his work is important, and that is motivating.
But of course I also agree with the recommendation for the post, it is excellent and you can learn a lot from it about proper management of a scouting team.
Another thing I am looking for is being able to pull form the TBA API. Last year I made an RLD program for scouting and might do that again.
Removing unnecessary data collection is a huge help, generally makes things feel far less like a chore and allows scouts to watch the field (which is what should be happening anyway, not staring at a data input screen).
Other less obvious components can be careful scheduling of scouts (scheduling some people to be with/not with others), relying on match video for your matches (lets face it we all want to see the robot we built), or if you have enough scouts have them focus on different aspects (notes, inter-team comparisons, strategy synergy, etc). Finally geting details to the drive/strategy team can result in the scouts having their input valued near-realtime for teams you are with/against, which is insanely useful as a motivator.
1 Like
Adding on to this - people will be much more willing to scout if they feel like they’re helping the team.
One often-overlooked aspect of scouting is how inclusive it is. A lot of people aren’t able to be super involved with the robot (time issues, needing more training, etc.) but can help the team by scouting.
1 Like
I’m definitely a bit biased here, but Gearbox (4026.org) might be what you’re looking for. It has automatic schedule creation, so scouters are automatically assigned to matches (though you can edit the schedule). To motivate scouters, you earn XP after each report submitted and unlock minor cosmetics after certain milestones. It also has a scouter management page, so you can see who is and isn’t scouting.