8 ms·

Now, I have to preface this by saying that I don't know much about football and even less about coaching it, but I wonder how much of this speaks to a lack of a

Now, I have to preface this by saying that I don't know much about football and even less about coaching it, but I wonder how much of this speaks to a lack of a real need for a technology solution for coaches. If it were providing a lot of value to them, I imagine they'd have a harder giving it up. This NFL suggests that there is such a need: "Since Microsoft has been a partner of the N.F.L. and implemented their technology on our sidelines, the efficiency and speed of communication between coaches has greatly increased." But of course, that is the NFL speaking about a partner's product, so I can't imagine them saying anything else.

spaceisballer 10y ago
They probably implemented it with no real need. I'm sure some coaches appreciate it. But really I'm sure MS wants them used on the sidelines so they are on TV so they can advertise the tablets.
- greedo 10y ago
  $400 million reasons...
- gertef 10y ago
  Remember when they were new and the TV announcers were paid to say "check out those Microsoft Surface tablets" and the coaches were just using them as iPad holders?
s3r3nity 10y ago
My read of it is that there are absolutely a lot of problems that tablets/electronic devices could solve on the sidelines of an NFL game. However, the urgency and real-time nature of football such that a lot of money and careers can be made/destroyed by a single game, any/all bugs are immediately seen as a significant hinderance.
yk 10y ago
Belichick is considered the best coach in football of the last twenty odd years, so he has probably his process with pen and paper nailed down. And the thing is, new technology requires a learning curve both individually and also on a larger scale culturally, so I would guess that tablets after a year or so of use would provide a lot of value, however they do not do so now.
- mikestew 10y ago
  From my reading, the learning curve has nothing to do with it. Belichick's complaint seems to me to be that the shit just doesn't work reliably. It's not a "training issue" or "user education" issue. It's a "go back to your cave and don't emerge until you're confident that this works reliably under all user circumstances". It's a "the head coach of a football team shouldn't have to troubleshoot connection issues" issue.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- coleca 10y ago
  Reminds me of a story I heard during a project management class many years ago. The PM was working on a govt contract for the US Army in the late 90s to build a mobile mapping system for use in the field on the Humvees. He got all the specs from the generals to build this marvel of a technology system with screens and scrolling maps (90s remember) and decided to talk to the soldiers in the field to ask them what they wanted out of the project. The soldiers told him what they really wanted was a piece of plywood that they could fold out and lay their paper maps on. They didn't want screens or electronics, because those don't work with bullet holes in them, but the paper maps work fine even if they get shot.
  - 8_hours_ago 10y ago
    This kind of stuff still happens all the time today. A few years ago I worked for a small government contractor which did a lot of phase 1 and 2 projects for the DoD. Most of the contracts we got were for developing experimental technologies to make soldiers more effective, which involved a lot of guessing what the soldiers actually wanted. After making a shiny demo (usually held together with duct tape, ugly perl scripts, and prayers) which the government PM would fall in love with, we would do field testing which would inevitably end with the soldiers reporting that it was a cool piece of technology, but almost completely useless to them. Anyway, it was lots of fun to work on those projects :)
- nhangen 10y ago
  Surface tablets have been in use for at least a few years, maybe 3-5.
ovulator 10y ago
I'm sure there is huge value to coaches. Pull up our list of plays for 4th and one in the redzone. That list then shows immediately what personnel are best for it and who of those personnel may be out of the game right now. QB just threw an interception, lets look over the play that just happened to see what he overlooked and how we can adjust. The problem with technology in this case, is that there is no room for error. You have 40 seconds to call the next play, if you swipe wrong, something crashes you don't call a time out to call IT, you are just fucked. So 100% reliability will trump convenience, no software or hardware is 100% reliable.
- kleinsch 10y ago
  The scenarios you list are valuable, but they have old school paper based ways to do both of those. That's what Belichick is rolling back to.
  - dhimes 10y ago
    And old-school computers in the booth. Just not tablets on the sidelines.
- jlv2 10y ago
  I suspect what makes someone a good coach is that they already know to a high degree what personnel are best for a particular situation on the field, and don't need some algorithm to pick for them.
  - hackuser 10y ago
    That's a really good point. Experts have much different needs than other users, because much of the knowledge is available via a much faster system better integrated with their thinking (their memory). I wonder what experts would actually want out of a sideline tablet system.
    - trynewideas 10y ago
      Per Belichick, the experiment was to deliver portable video to the sideline. Per the NFL, the tablets allowed coaches to quickly queue, annotate, and loop game video play-by-play, as commentators and producers can do in the broadcast booth.

spaceisballer 10y ago

They probably implemented it with no real need. I'm sure some coaches appreciate it. But really I'm sure MS wants them used on the sidelines so they are on TV so they can advertise the tablets.

greedo 10y ago
$400 million reasons...
gertef 10y ago
Remember when they were new and the TV announcers were paid to say "check out those Microsoft Surface tablets" and the coaches were just using them as iPad holders?

s3r3nity 10y ago

My read of it is that there are absolutely a lot of problems that tablets/electronic devices could solve on the sidelines of an NFL game. However, the urgency and real-time nature of football such that a lot of money and careers can be made/destroyed by a single game, any/all bugs are immediately seen as a significant hinderance.

yk 10y ago

Belichick is considered the best coach in football of the last twenty odd years, so he has probably his process with pen and paper nailed down. And the thing is, new technology requires a learning curve both individually and also on a larger scale culturally, so I would guess that tablets after a year or so of use would provide a lot of value, however they do not do so now.

mikestew 10y ago
From my reading, the learning curve has nothing to do with it. Belichick's complaint seems to me to be that the shit just doesn't work reliably. It's not a "training issue" or "user education" issue. It's a "go back to your cave and don't emerge until you're confident that this works reliably under all user circumstances". It's a "the head coach of a football team shouldn't have to troubleshoot connection issues" issue.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
coleca 10y ago
Reminds me of a story I heard during a project management class many years ago. The PM was working on a govt contract for the US Army in the late 90s to build a mobile mapping system for use in the field on the Humvees. He got all the specs from the generals to build this marvel of a technology system with screens and scrolling maps (90s remember) and decided to talk to the soldiers in the field to ask them what they wanted out of the project. The soldiers told him what they really wanted was a piece of plywood that they could fold out and lay their paper maps on. They didn't want screens or electronics, because those don't work with bullet holes in them, but the paper maps work fine even if they get shot.
- 8_hours_ago 10y ago
  This kind of stuff still happens all the time today. A few years ago I worked for a small government contractor which did a lot of phase 1 and 2 projects for the DoD. Most of the contracts we got were for developing experimental technologies to make soldiers more effective, which involved a lot of guessing what the soldiers actually wanted. After making a shiny demo (usually held together with duct tape, ugly perl scripts, and prayers) which the government PM would fall in love with, we would do field testing which would inevitably end with the soldiers reporting that it was a cool piece of technology, but almost completely useless to them. Anyway, it was lots of fun to work on those projects :)
nhangen 10y ago
Surface tablets have been in use for at least a few years, maybe 3-5.

ovulator 10y ago

I'm sure there is huge value to coaches. Pull up our list of plays for 4th and one in the redzone. That list then shows immediately what personnel are best for it and who of those personnel may be out of the game right now. QB just threw an interception, lets look over the play that just happened to see what he overlooked and how we can adjust. The problem with technology in this case, is that there is no room for error. You have 40 seconds to call the next play, if you swipe wrong, something crashes you don't call a time out to call IT, you are just fucked. So 100% reliability will trump convenience, no software or hardware is 100% reliable.

kleinsch 10y ago
The scenarios you list are valuable, but they have old school paper based ways to do both of those. That's what Belichick is rolling back to.
- dhimes 10y ago
  And old-school computers in the booth. Just not tablets on the sidelines.
jlv2 10y ago
I suspect what makes someone a good coach is that they already know to a high degree what personnel are best for a particular situation on the field, and don't need some algorithm to pick for them.
- hackuser 10y ago
  That's a really good point. Experts have much different needs than other users, because much of the knowledge is available via a much faster system better integrated with their thinking (their memory). I wonder what experts would actually want out of a sideline tablet system.
  - trynewideas 10y ago
    Per Belichick, the experiment was to deliver portable video to the sideline. Per the NFL, the tablets allowed coaches to quickly queue, annotate, and loop game video play-by-play, as commentators and producers can do in the broadcast booth.