My first full-time position after graduate school was with a major testing company. The kinds of highly nuanced research problems, politics, and policies that I faced in this environment were all new and scary as a dark alley. There were project budgets to estimate, research staff to manage, (sometimes shifting) deadlines to meet, limited resources, and real consequences for real people (shout out to all the data simulators). The director of my research group, who quickly became a mentor and friend, shared this bit of wisdom: projects fail in their execution largely because of bad design. Projects and programs fail to meet expectations because someone failed to think around the corners – they under-budgeted, under-powered, or understaffed the venture. I have designed and reviewed dozens of studies, assessments, and survey instruments since then. In every case, the time spent designing and planning was essential to the quality of its execution and outcome. Poorly designed research and assessments remind me of this hilarious moment from the Cosby Show:   Bad design. Awful execution. Failed expectations. It is my passion to partner with researchers and organizations to help them realize their measurement or research goals, and alleviate the frustration that comes when [...]