In 2017, while working at Push Interactions, I had the opportunity to work with Chad Hudson, the Manager of Football Analytics & Scouting for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Chad had a clear goal, move the team’s scouting process from old-school paperwork to a sleek, data-driven dashboard.
Problem Statement: Helping the Saskatchewan Roughriders Scouts Go Digital
The challenge wasn’t just building a tool; it was convincing scouts (who were used to write things down on paper) to embrace a whole new way of working. Every week, we’d hop on calls with Chad, planning our next steps and fine-tuning features based on the team’s feedback. It was a constant balance of making the dashboard powerful enough to analyze data but simple enough that scouts wouldn’t feel overwhelmed.
Deliverables
Information architecture, Low and High-fidelity mocks, prototype
Role
Product Designer, UX/UI
Figuring Out the Real Problem
Sat down with Chad and his team to understand how scouts worked. Identified key pain points (too much manual paperwork), hard to compare players, and a lack of real-time insights.
Researched how other sports teams were using data to improve decision-making.
What Are We Actually Solving?
The mission: build a digital scouting dashboard that’s intuitive, fast, and insightful.
Key priorities: Ditch the paperwork and make everything digital. Allow scouts to easily track and compare players. Keep it simple and no complicated spreadsheets
Created user personas to map out what scouts, coaches, and analysts needed from the tool.
Bringing It to Life
Designed wireframes and early prototypes, constantly refining based on Scouts and Coaches feedback.
Kept iterating to have a balance between usability and depth of insights.
Making Sure It Actually Works:
Rolled out the dashboard in phases to make adoption easier.
Hosted training sessions with scouts to ensure they felt comfortable using it.
Gathered feedback after launch and made improvements to refine the experience.
The Outcome
In the end, the Roughriders scouting team had a modern, easy-to-use dashboard that transformed how they analyzed player data. No more flipping through stacks of paper.
It was a rewarding experience, and seeing how our work helped the team make smarter decisions was incredibly satisfying.
This project was a great reminder that good design isn’t just about aesthetics, it’s about solving real problems and making people’s lives easier. Plus, working with a legendary CFL team? Definitely a cool bonus.