Hudl

Hudl Focus - Launching an Outdoor Smart Camera

Role and Team: Sole product designer · 1 PM + 2 engineering teams, plus hardware, sales, marketing & support

Hudl’s indoor smart camera was a hit with indoor high school sports, but the lack of an outdoor version was a major roadblock in the company’s strategy to go after athletic department packages. Football teams, the biggest driver of those packages, had no camera. Our responsibility was to launch 6500 outdoor smart cameras, with an initial focus on American Football.

I co-led the market research with my PM, then successfully advocated for a beta season to de-risk a hardware launch that couldn’t be easily patched after shipping. A Covid-delayed schedule let us run two beta seasons (fall and spring). I interviewed 30+ coaches, analyzed 300+ survey responses, and structured a living update doc with ongoing research findings and metric tracking that kept our distributed team close to the customer. I designed across hardware-integrated problems: play-tracking feedback, video quality under stadium lights, ML-driven auto-clipping of plays, and a first-of-its-kind integration with Hudl’s Sideline instant-replay system.

Outcome: 199 cameras tested across two betas surfaced the algorithm and hardware UX fixes that shaped the roadmap. The camera launched on schedule, and in a higher quantity than originally planned, in fall 2021. The research/metrics space earned praise from the CPO and VP of Design.