WORKING WITH SMES

WORKING WITH SMES

"One of the most difficult challenges I face is working efficiently with subject-matter experts (SMEs) to create online courses," says a reader. "I'm constantly trying to identify better ways to work with new SMEs, to motivate them, and to make their task of communicating the necessary content easier." Can others offer advice, insights, and/or tips regarding how to work effectively with SMEs?

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We ran responses to this query in previous issues (April 25 and May 9, 2006). Here's one more:

Lyn Maize (lyn.maize@ey.com) offers these tips, which are excerpted from her company's self-published white paper entitled "Working With SMEs."

When it comes to communication, the white paper says, the Intellinex team utilizes four interventions with SMEs to make the most of SME's available time and to achieve optimal learning results. These interventions include the following:
• Design Sessions: "We have found that intensive time spent with SMEs in a formal design session early in a project's life during the design phase pays significant dividends in the efficient and successful completion of the learning development initiative and accelerating the overall development process. A design session typically takes one to three days and requires some prior preparation time on the part of both the [learning] project team and all SMEs supporting the project. During the design session, the [learning project] team drives and facilitates the creative exchange of ideas between customer SMEs and instructional designers and documents the outcome of the exchange. The participating SMEs are pushed hard to provide a comprehensive view of the content in order to arrive at a content design that is appropriate for the learning audience, yet creative enough to accommodate their unique learning styles. The result of this interactive session is that the entire team leaves with content consensus, saving an enormous amount of time in what might otherwise be numerous iterations and review cycles. Also, the entire project team typically participates together -- customer SMEs and the [learning] project team -- building a solid collaborative foundation for the remaining work."
• Deliverable Reviews: "During each learning development initiative, a number of deliverables such as roadmaps, graphics, and draft online or classroom course materials are prepared, each of which requires careful SME review. The ... project team may send these materials to SMEs via e-mail, or they may be made available for SME access via a shared server. For each review, SMEs are provided checklists and forms to use to document their review comments and critique. These materials are returned to the [project] team to take any corrective action and continue progress toward project completion."
• Project Status Review/Milestones: "The [project] team conducts periodic project status reviews with customer SMEs. The frequency of these regularly scheduled sessions is determined by the amount of interaction the SME prefers in the creation of the deliverables. The [project] team primarily interacts with the customer project manager and/or sponsor, and the SME may choose to leave the status review at that level."
• Online Community: "All project materials are collected and stored in a Web-based online resource accessible to the entire project community -- the [learning] project team as well as customer stakeholders and SMEs. This easy-to-use resource is continuously available throughout each project as a ready reference. It promotes document version control and includes online facilities for discussion and exchange among the project team. Any SME may go online to do reviews and check project status at any time at his or her convenience."
Maize is director of market research and analysis at Intellinex LLC, a spin-off of Ernst & Young LLP in Irving, Texas. Intellinex recently announced that Affiliated Computer Services Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire the company.

Source: learning - VNU