A Checklist of Best Practices for Working with Content Developers

When subject matter experts are working with content developers and designers for training, marketing, sales, promotion and public relations, what you know is the most important part of the process. It is the job of the content developer or instructional designer to assemble questions, propose an interview and review schedule, and ask you to fill in information gaps.

However, you can have some control of the process itself from your end to help the content developer/writer/instructional designer/trainer to capture your knowledge.

Control can be a wonderful thing. Here are a few tips to make sure you have some leverage on the process.

1. Organization – Feel free to correct and amend! If the steps or flow of the information that the writer has outlined for you do not make sense to you, put them in a logical sequence for them. Nobody understands the context of the material better than you and that includes the content developer.
2. Timeliness – Be in control of the schedule. Be available for interviews and do reviews on the time you’ve both agreed. If they constantly reschedule or are late, escalate to your manager or theirs because it is impacting not only you, but the whole project timeline.
3. Scheduling Conflicts – Anticipate and avoid scheduling conflicts. You are in demand so you will find that sometimes your regular work may directly conflict with meeting your SME obligation. If you are in a job where this can occur, plan for this contingency. For example, ask the writer if you can work ahead on your deadline for your review, comments and sign-offs. In addition to the content developer, the schedule may also involve a graphic designer, computer programmer, project manager and an editor, and their work is scheduled around your deadline, too. Time is money all the way around. People’s deadlines and budgets are affected by your ability to fit this obligation into your schedule.
4. Accuracy – Provide the information requested and double-check to make sure it is correct when you get drafts of the program (and yes, you may receive more than one!). This seems simple enough and may even seem insulting to mention, but it wouldn’t be here if information isn’t regularly misinterpreted by content developers and failure to check information by subject matter experts didn’t happen.
5. Sign-Offs – Sign off at pre-agreed checkpoints, and make sure you have checked the accuracy of the information when you do. If you are working with a writer from outside your company, there is probably a contract in place between the contractor and your company that makes your company responsible for content after you affix your signature to it. If you sign off on incorrect information, it will cost your company when the project goes into overruns for corrections or scope creep. Internally, your sign-off means the information is going to be finalized, packaged and used in training, sales or public materials. Your sign-off not only is the hallmark of your credibility, but it affects the performance of other people in your organization and the impression of the organization to external audiences, as well.
6. Blind Spots – We all have them. Frequently, we develop blind spots as a result of our success. Because you are the SME, let’s assume you’ve met with a lot of success in your life, and that makes you vulnerable to blind spots. Think through the eyes of a novice when you are explaining details to your content developer. What seems obvious to you may be completely unfamiliar to someone who doesn’t walk in your shoes.

#LectureOff

As I write this, I think it sounds preach-y and I apologize if it does. On the other hand, sometimes when you are in the role of a subject matter expert, it is because you are 100% focused on your skill, ability, craft and knowledge. That is the great thing that makes you valuable.

In this blog in a few hundred words, I ask you to walk in your content developer’s shoes and see the world through their eyes. Without you, we’d be writing about ????

As a subject matter expert, what kinds of tips and best practices work for you when you are talking to writers, trainers and other content developers?

3 Things To Expect From Your Content Developer

Your content developer’s job is to conceptualize and plan a well-orchestrated document, whether that takes the shape of a training program, an article, a video or some other type of communication. It is your job as the subject matter expert to fill in the blanks.

If you find that you are having trouble whittling down what you know to fill in the blanks, or you can’t fill in the blanks as requested, the training or content developer needs to come up with a better plan. A well-designed document will make it fairly obvious to you exactly what the learner or reader/viewer will be consuming. A good plan will also make it obvious what is being requested of you.

When your understanding of the pathway set out by the content designer is different than the execution of the process, communicate your concerns immediately. No use wasting time chasing rabbits down the proverbial rabbit hole.

You will need a few things from a content developer or, in the case of a training program the instructional designer, to know if you have a good working plan.

The ID should be able to tell you three things:

• Objectives and goals of the document you are working on
• Information needed from you to achieve the objectives
• Process and timetable for the project

The Plan

You didn’t get where you are without learning to expect the unexpected and adjust to it. For those of you who like to be prepared, here is a common sense guide as you plan your work with the content designer.

Plan A: Plan your work and work your plan.

Plan B: The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry; midcourse correction.

Plan C: When all else fails, experience has shown that true subject matter experts will get the job done no matter the circumstances.

So while Plan A is preferred and Plan B has been known to occur, many strong training programs and other content have emerged from the fact that you are, indeed, the expert and you got there by dint of hard work and tenacity.

It’s good to have a plan. It’s even better to have a true SME.