A conversation with Robbie Burns
Assessment delivery rarely makes headlines when things go well. But when something goes wrong, the consequences can be significant for candidates, organisations, and reputations.
Delivering high-stakes assessments is complex work that most people never see, even though so much depends on it. When processes run smoothly, candidates progress and organisations move forward. When weaknesses appear, the impact can be considerable.
Robbie Burns has spent many years working alongside assessment teams navigating these challenges. He recently joined Cirrus as Head of Business Consulting, leading our consultancy, managed services and psychometrics offering to help clients design, deliver and defend robust exam programmes.
In this interview, he reflects on the realities of exam delivery, the risks teams often recognise but struggle to address, and how independent support can help bring clarity and confidence to the process.
You have been in assessment for a long time. How did you end up in this world in the first place?
Almost by accident.
I was working with a large insurance company when I was asked to incorporate their Certification Programme into my department. At the time it was completely different from anything else I had managed, but it offered some great opportunities. It was a chance to build something new and tackle problems I hadn’t faced before, so I said yes.
Very quickly I realised that assessment is an area where the stakes are constantly high. If things go well, people progress in their careers. If things go badly, the consequences can be real for both candidates and organisations. It made me realise how important education and credible assessment really are.
That sense of responsibility drew me in. Other than a short detour into management consultancy, I’ve stayed in the world of assessment ever since.
In your role at ICAS, what did a typical exam season look like for you on the ground?
Assessment seasons are always intense. There are lots of moving parts, lots of candidates and plenty of pressure, but that’s also what makes it exciting.
From the moment assessments begin until results are released, there are high-stakes activities happening every single day.
To be honest, I never truly relaxed until the results had been issued and the candidate feedback process had closed. That was the moment when, for me, the assessment diet was finally over and I could reward myself with a very large bag of crisps.
When you look back, was there a moment when you thought, “this is why good assessment design and delivery really matters”?
I realised quite early how critical assessment design and delivery were to the process. It’s something you don’t fully appreciate until you’re on this side of the fence.
I hadn’t been working in assessment very long when I was asked to manage the transition of a qualification from the UK to an overseas location. I hadn’t fully appreciated how different the context would be culturally, operationally and logistically.
At first it was honestly a bit of a shock, and I remember wondering what I had gotten myself into.
But with the support of a fantastic team we worked through the challenges. What became clear very quickly was that strong structure makes all the difference. Clear processes, good documentation and forensic monitoring are essential.
There were many moments when I had both my fingers and toes crossed, but ultimately it was designing and implementing that structure that carried us through.
When you meet assessment teams for the first time, what do you notice they worry about most?
Over the years I’ve had the privilege of working alongside assessment teams in many organisations. One concern appears again and again: people care deeply about getting things right for their candidates.
The specific worries often depend on where the team sits in terms of their development and the maturity of their assessment programme.
Most teams live in a near constant state of concern about things going wrong that might impact candidates, because they understand the consequences. The people closest to the process usually understand the potential weaknesses better than anyone else. They also understand what failure would mean. Some teams worry that people further up the organisation don’t always see those risks as clearly, or understand why mistakes can happen.
Many assessment programmes have grown gradually over the years. When you look under the bonnet, what kinds of complications do you usually find?
There isn’t one single answer, but generally speaking most processes in established organisations have been built up over decades.
We all tend to add layer upon layer as qualifications evolve and technology changes.
Temporary workarounds often become permanent parts of the process. Organisations sometimes adopt a piece of technology to solve a single problem without fully considering the wider implications.
The result can be that old paper processes from the 1990s are simply transferred into a digital environment, with lots of bridges built to make them work. Eventually the core processes start to buckle under the weight of everything that has been added on top. Often we don’t even realise the danger until something goes wrong.
How do you talk about risk and quality with teams who are already doing their best under pressure?
The first thing to recognise is that most assessment teams are already doing their best under very difficult circumstances.
Unless you’ve experienced the pressure of delivering assessments, it can be hard to understand the level of responsibility people feel.
Talking about risk and quality isn’t about pointing out mistakes. It’s about understanding how current processes evolved. In most cases the decisions that were made at the time were perfectly sensible.
The key is to create space for an honest conversation.
People on the front line almost always know where the pressure points are. They just don’t always get the opportunity to talk about them openly or explore alternative approaches.
Once those concerns are on the table, the conversation becomes much more constructive. Instead of asking “what’s broken?”, the discussion becomes “how can we make this safer and easier for the team and for the candidates?”
That shift changes the entire dynamic.
If you want to understand the health of an assessment process, the starting point is always the same: create the right environment and ask the team.
Cirrus has always supported clients beyond the software itself. With Assessment Services now more visible, how do they sit alongside the platform and Platform Services in your mind?
I think we’re simply putting a little more structure and visibility around something Cirrus has always done.
One of the things that attracted me to Cirrus in the first place was its attitude towards customers. The aim was never to be just a platform provider. There was always a willingness to get involved, whether that meant supporting on an assessment day or offering advice on best practice.
A lot of organisations talk about “partnership,” but with Cirrus it always felt genuine.
What we’re doing now is making that support more visible and structured, and extending it into areas like data analysis and psychometrics. But at its core the aim hasn’t changed: helping customers deliver assessments with confidence and building long-term relationships.
When you start working with an organisation for the first time, what are the first things you want to understand?
The first thing I want to understand is the story behind the assessments.
Every programme has its own history, pressures and expectations from regulators, candidates and stakeholders. Without that context it’s difficult to add meaningful value.
From there I look for three practical things: First, how the assessment process actually works day to day, not the official version, but the real one.
Second, where the team feels the pressure during an exam cycle. Those moments usually reveal most of the underlying risks.
And third, what success looks like. For some organisations success means growth. For others it means stability, improved candidate experience or greater credibility within their sector.
Once you understand those three things, you can start having a much more useful conversation about how to help.
Cirrus offers a free Assessment Process Check. What actually happens in that conversation?
The idea is very simple.
Assessment delivery today is more challenging than ever. Resources are tighter, candidates expect more, and organisations want better data and outcomes.
At the same time, many processes haven’t fundamentally changed for years.
Recent high-profile incidents in the media have highlighted how procedural weaknesses can have real consequences. That has understandably raised concerns for many organisations.
The conversation we offer is simply a safe space to talk through existing processes, workflows, challenges, or constraints with someone independent.
At the end, our team produces a short, practical report that provides clarity on the health of those processes.
It’s not a 100-page AI-generated document. It’s a concise summary written by humans for humans, highlighting strengths, potential risks and opportunities for improvement.
What are the signs that an organisation might benefit from more hands-on operational support?
There are usually a few warning signs.
The most obvious is when exam periods become more stressful each time rather than easier. The team is working harder but the process isn’t becoming smoother.
Another sign is when key knowledge sits with just one or two individuals. If those people are unavailable at a critical moment, the rest of the team may struggle to manage unusual cases. Sometimes it’s simply a capacity issue. The assessment programme has grown but the operational team hasn’t. In some cases teams are actually shrinking, while experienced people in the sector are becoming harder to find.
In those situations additional support isn’t about replacing the team. It’s about giving them breathing space so they can focus on the parts of the process where their expertise matters most.
For organisations nervous about outsourcing, how do you reassure them they remain in control?
That’s a brilliant question.
Having spent a long time in the assessment world, I know how important control is. The person responsible for delivering exams has to feel confident in the process and the people supporting it.
Our aim isn’t to sit outside the client’s team. We become part of it.
That means providing the same status updates and communication that their internal teams would expect. It also means being accessible. Clients can speak directly to the people supporting them when they need to.
Ultimately the goal is simple: the client remains firmly in control of their assessment programme. We’re simply there to strengthen the team and share the operational load when it matters most.
For people who don’t live in the psychometrics world, how would you explain what a psychometric review actually is?
First, I should say I’m not a psychometrician, although we’re lucky to have an exceptionally talented one on our team.
In simple terms, a psychometric review is a health check for an assessment.
We analyse the data behind the exam to see whether the questions are working as intended. That includes looking at whether the exam measures the knowledge or skills it’s supposed to measure, whether questions are too easy or too difficult and whether any items behave unexpectedly.
The aim is to ensure the assessment is fair, reliable and aligned with the intended standard.
When looking at exam data, what are some simple indicators you check first?
One of the first things we look at is how individual questions perform.
We examine how difficult each question is and whether stronger candidates answer it correctly more often than weaker candidates. That helps us identify questions that might be ambiguous or misleading.
We also look at overall reliability to ensure the exam consistently measures the intended level of ability.
These checks help identify questions that may need revision or removal.
For someone reading this and wondering whether a review might be useful, what signs should they look for?
If you are close to the day-to-day processes, you probably already see the signs.
You might notice stressed or frustrated team members during exam cycles. You might hear colleagues talking about risks they’ve identified. You might see patterns in candidate complaints or in performance data.
If you’re further removed from the operational work, the signals might be more instinctive. You might simply have a feeling that things are becoming more fragile.
During exam cycles, do things feel more chaotic than they used to? Are you receiving information closer and closer to the deadline? Are errors becoming more common?
Deep down most of us have a sense of how robust our processes really are. Sometimes the warning signs come from what people feel rather than what they can clearly see.
If an assessment lead wanted to take one small step after reading this, what would you suggest?
Ask your team one simple question: “Which part of our exam process worries you the most?”
The answer is often incredibly revealing.
The people closest to the work usually know exactly where the pressure points are. Starting that conversation and genuinely listening to the answers can be the first step towards making the process safer and easier for everyone involved.
Interested in taking a closer look at your assessment processes?
Cirrus offers a free Assessment Process Check (APC): a short conversation with an assessment specialist to review how your current processes are working and where there may be opportunities to reduce risk or improve efficiency.
After the discussion, you’ll receive a concise summary highlighting key strengths, potential pressure points, and practical suggestions.
