/budget-constrained-design

name: budget-constrained-design
description: Optimize experiment design under compute and time budget constraints
version: 1.0.0
category: experiment-execution
type: tactic
orchestrates:
- factor-identification
- level-specification
- design-matrix-construction
dependencies:
  sops:
  - design-matrix-construction
  - factor-identification
  - level-specification

Tactic: Budget-Constrained Design

Orchestration Pattern

1. **Assess Budget** → Determine available GPU-hours, wall-clock time, and cost ceiling 2. **factor-identification** → Identify all candidate factors 3. **Estimate Cost Per Run** → Calculate time/compute for a single experiment run 4. **Compute Maximum Runs** → budget / cost_per_run = max feasible runs 5. **level-specification** → Constrain levels to fit within run budget 6. **Select Design Type** → Choose most information-efficient design for the budget 7. **design-matrix-construction** → Build the constrained design matrix

Decision Criteria

| Available Runs | Recommended Approach | |---------------|---------------------| | < 10 | One-factor-at-a-time or Plackett-Burman screening | | 10-30 | Fractional factorial (Resolution III-IV) | | 30-60 | Fractional factorial (Resolution V) or Taguchi | | 60-120 | Full factorial on top factors + screening on rest | | 120+ | Full factorial or RSM with replication |

Optimization Strategies

• **Sequential Design**: Run screening first, then detailed study on important factors
• **Adaptive Allocation**: Allocate more runs to high-variance conditions
• **Early Stopping**: Define stopping criteria for clearly dominated configurations
• **Transfer from Pilot**: Use pilot study results to inform main study design
• **Shared Controls**: Reuse control/baseline runs across multiple comparisons

Quality Checks

• Does the design have sufficient power for the primary hypothesis?
• Are the most important factors given priority in the allocation?
• Is there a contingency plan if budget is cut mid-experiment?
• Are early stopping criteria pre-defined (not post-hoc)?
• Is the design balanced despite budget constraints?

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Available SOPs

Optional, no fixed order; the final leaf is always a sop.

| SOP | When to use | | --- | --- | | design-matrix-construction | Build the experiment design matrix with proper orthogonality and balance | | factor-identification | Identify independent, dependent, and control variables for an experiment | | level-specification | Determine appropriate levels for each experimental factor |

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