Subject Matter...Expertise?
My dear instructional designer and content writer friends, today
after long deliberations with my alter-ego and despite her advising
me otherwise, I take this big leap into the forbidding waters of
issues that plague sourcing and management of subject matter expertise!
The decision to write this article was not easy. What continued
to thwart my attempts to approach this concept, was not the depth
of this ocean, but the presence of sharks that quietly move under
the surface of these murky and still waters; allowing themselves
to be seen only when they were within striking distance…when
the instructional designer can do nothing but scamper for the non-existent
cover! “You are crazy, who wants to listen to gory tales,”
my alter ego tried to dissuade me.
But then, logic won! If I could share some survival techniques;
if I could meet those who were going into the ocean unawares and
tell them that there are ways and means to keep our heads above
water and steer clear of these issue-sharks, probably we could make
it back to the shores of project deadlines, safe and sound.
At the onset, I would like to say that this article does not imply
that there are always issues with Subject Matter Experts or the
SMEs, there are some who are a delight to work with; these rare
gems give us hope for future at the end of each project and at the
beginning of another. My own experience suggests that if an organization
manages to find the right SME for the job, then all that the ID
has to do is to manage the relationship well, and the experience
will be delightful, but if the selection is incorrect, the experience
may be straight out of hell; for the SME, the ID, the organization,
as well as the client.
To begin with…let us find out more about the SME and his
role in content creation.
Following is the definition of Subject Matter Expert (SME) from
the BrandonHall site:
“Subject Matter Expert who is an
expert in the domain of the course. Critical component in the success
of task analysis and content gathering.”
(http://www.brandonhall.com/public/glossary/glossary.html#SME)
By this definition, the subject matter expert should not only have
worked in exactly the same area (domain), in which content is to
be developed, but should be an expert at it. So for creating content
on how airplane engines work, the SME should be a person who has
expert level knowledge of how airplane engines work. This implies
that a professor or a working engineer with an aircraft company
will suit the requirement here. Here is another example. To create
content for a 2D animation course for undergraduate students, the
SME should be a person who has proven track record of doing 2D animation
for a considerable time.
The most important point, which is that the SME should be an “expert
in the domain of the course” is often “missed”
when our companies begin their quest for SMEs. The unfortunate outcome
of this seemingly innocuous miss is the bane of an instructional
designer’s life. The instructional designer passes through
very many projects in which he has to manage incorrectly selected
SMEs, before he reaches the position where he begins to select SMEs,
when again he finds himself in the same “Kaalchakra”
that lead to SME selection errors by his predecessors!
Our endeavor is to understand what goes wrong in the two processes,
namely selection and management, to figure out if there is a way
to correct the process.
Let us review the SME selection process from different viewpoints.
The three viewpoints that I would like to consider are:
- the client viewpoint,
- the top management viewpoint,
- the project management viewpoint.
The client viewpoint in out-sourcing
content development to India is strongly driven by the following
factor:
- Cost-advantages that India promises. (Assuming that there will
be no hidden costs.)
The top-management viewpoint
is usually made of the following factors:
- Offer cost advantages in form of quick delivery and low price
to client or client will find another supplier
- Act now – plan project execution later
The project management viewpoint,
of course, pertains to execution:
- Select remotely available/non-available SME within prescribed
time
- Ensure content development takes place within prescribed time
We all know that the above is true for most of our eLearning companies.
A closer inspection will reveal how these different objectives lead
to the selection of a SME who is not an SME in fact. When the client
out-sources content development to India at a low price, he forgets
to factor in the cost of quality. Everywhere in this world, quality
comes at a premium. When a company quotes low, it assumes that low
price will compensate for low quality.
Finally, when a project is handed over to the project manager,
he is given constricted deadlines and quality requirements (as per
client.) The monkey now happily sits on the project manager’s
shoulder and the project manager begins his quest for the ideal
SME.
In the Quest of SME…
As the quest for the right SME has to end even before the development
(design in some cases) begins, the project manager needs to hurry.
He taps his network and connects with everyone he knows. The budget
for the SME is usually low; the right SME would be expensive and
could lead to a cut on other important resources. Even if the project
manager is willing to convince the top-management for an increase
in budget, what is the possibility of getting a person who is a
domain expert, and willing to work extra-time? Extra-time, almost
non-existent in the over-worked Indian life-styles is for family
and friends. A domain expert would usually be earning a decent salary,
and would not like to barter his precious extra-time for money.
Finally, the project manager finds a Subject Matter Aware (SMA,
for the course of this discussion) person, who is aware of the domain
terminology, and is able to sufficiently impress the project manager
with his use of it. He needs the money (however small the amount
may be) and he is willing to undergo the ordeal of providing content
that he knows partially about. The monkey now shifts to…you
guessed it right – the instructional designer’s shoulders.
But then, is there anything that the project manager could do to
avoid this mistake?
I guess there are a few small things, which may help, but in my
humble opinion, you can’t look for orchids in desserts, and
for camels in hills. You need to look for the right person in the
right place, pay him the right money to do the right job. Nevertheless,
most of it is not in the hands of our dear project manager, who
is as pained by the whole affair as we are. Yet here are a few pointers
that may be of help.
- As an industry, we should try to differentiate between the
SMAs and SMEs. We can follow a model slightly different from the
regular SME+ID model. Instead, we could have:
- SME+ID for the design phase, and
- [(SMA+ID) for developing the content + SME for reviewing
the content]
for the development phase. These models could be customized
to project requirements; At least, we would be openly acknowledging
that this problem exists.
- It is a good idea to use another term to address the SMAs.
Calling them SMEs causes them to bear down upon the instructional
designers with a mistaken sense of being an “expert.”
This leads to higher stress levels in the development team.
- Try to recruit a domain expert for selecting your SMAs. I understand
that the domain expert will be expensive, but spending a few Dollars
or Rupees to buy his time for interviewing the SMAs, will save
you a lot of trouble and money later.
- Be assertive in interviewing the prospective SMAs. I agree
that you may not know much about the subject matter, but you know
a lot about life, about our institutes and universities, and also
about the good Indian organizations. Find out where he studied,
where he interned, and where he worked? Find out why he wants
to take on the assignment?
- After interview, do ask the prospective SMA to write some sample
content, put it through the plagiarism check, and send it to a
domain expert for review.
- Avoid recruiting individuals with no work-experience to take
on the work of SMAs. They know just the theory. More often than
not, they will be inept at managing their time.
- Try to project the risk of an inept SME over the lifetime of
the project. He will be bad for the morale of the team, will double
the instructional designer’s effort, lead to delayed deliveries,
and drive you crazy. Find out how much your management is willing
to pay for alleviating this risk.
The above could work to some extent, but I don’t think it
can take away our worries entirely. The only way our worries can
really go away is that Indian companies start quoting higher by
factoring in the cost of quality SMEs. Nevertheless, we live in
the present, and we, the instructional designers continue to battle
with the SMAs who wear the garb of SMEs.
Halt! Who goes there? SMA?
Here is what the instructional designer faces:
When the instructional designer meets the SMA, the monkey hops on
the instructional designer’s back.
Now it’s the instructional designer’s turn to squirm.
The delivery deadline is usually “tight” and it becomes
tighter with each tug…! If you are an instructional designer,
you know what it means. You wait for SME content to come in. It
doesn’t come in time. You can’t write a strong email
as in the “ID Dos and Don’ts” handbook it’s
clearly written in Bold – You shall not use strong language
with the SME as he is to be respected for his subject expertise.
“Where is the expertise? “ you may demand to know. So
demand…who listens?
The content comes in – 1.5 pages of short, crisp, single
line statements, that read more like objectives and 5 URLs that
are as vague as the content supplied along. You wail and complain…your
fellow instructional designer consoles you. “Your SME has
at least sent you something, my SME hasn’t responded yet,
and I need to upload the module tomorrow.”
The question is…what should you do. Your job requires you
to deliver content in time; what you have is the design document
(if you are lucky,) and time is running out. I think it will help
to delve into the psyche of the SMA.
Here’s a short profile of our omnipresent SMA:
- The SMA knows the domain terminology, but doesn’t have
the complete picture. For example, the SMA on 2D animation will
know that there is something called a walk cycle, he may be able
to create a passable walk cycle himself, but will not know how
by making a few changes, or shifting the key frames, he may be
able to change a normal walk into a swagger, which will be something
that an SME would be able to tell you in his sleep.
- The SMA mistakenly thinks that he is an SME, and the tainted
view that he has of his job responsibilities is to dump content
on you from different sources. He doesn’t think that he
has to “create’ anything!
- Very often the SMA feels that the Instructional Designer is
supposed to “assist” him rather than work “with”
him.
All the above elements in the SMA’s personality make him
a difficult person to work with. The point is, can we ease the pain
in this relationship, by doing something that is within our means.
I think if take our instructional design responsibilities seriously;
we can create acceptable content with the help of the SMA, but if
and only if we can convince the project manager to acquire a reviewer
who is an SME.
Here are a few pointers that may help:
- Find out all that you can about the person who is introduced
to you as the SME for your course. Determine his authenticity.
As you are the one who is expected to deliver the final content,
it is your prerogative to do the required amount of sleuthing.
If he is truly SME, which you can find out from his background,
your worries are over. If he turns out to be an SMA, your worries
are just beginning!
- If you’ve landed an SME, all you need to do is reconfirm
the timelines, and politely tell him or her that in the event
of any delay, you will send reminder emails. I don’t think
you will face many issues.
- As it happens most of the times, you will be working with an
SMA. If your detective work reveals that you are working with
an SMA, don’t panic. Every thing is normal. Now you need
to be your usual bright designer self. Quickly draw out a plan,
in which you take the lead. Tell the SMA that you will be sending
him a Question Answer Template that will help him orient his thoughts.
Also tell him hen you will send it to him, and keep your promise.
- When the SMA leaves (or your conference call comes to an end,)
apprise your project manager of your deductions. It is important!
Your project manager is your best ally in such difficult times.
It is also important that the project manager realizes that she
or he needs to find a SME who can review the content for accuracy.
Then get down to creating a template that will elicit information
from the SMA.
- This template should specify the chunks, for example,
- topic introduction – 12 lines,
- concept 1 – “Introduce the concept, provide
an example, explain the benefits and limitations, summarize
concept – 8 paragraphs (100-120) lines.
- concept 2 – “…” and so on.
Note: There are templates available for querying the SME,
but they seldom work with SMAs. Applying ideal solutions to
real problems doesn’t work in most cases. You should develop
your own query templates depending on your assessment of the
SMA.
- This template will help the SMA gather content and put it in
the right order, cutting your content development time down to
half. Do I see you smiling? Don’t…there are other
new activities that have sprung-up and that will take your time.
Take the final SME review by an entirely different person as an
example.
- Once you’ve worked on the content and consolidated it
as a whole, send it for a SME review. Speak to your project manager
so that it may be built into the CDLC. Remember, this has to be
a “SME” not a “SMA” review. There is not
way around it!
- In addition to all this, my tip is that you should not allow
SMAs to take the lead. Subtly let them know that they are not
experts; they know it, and they should know that now you know
it too. That will bring equality in the relationship.
Since each of us deals with many different SMAs during his or her
ID-lifetime, we all need to figure out how we can modify the process
of dealing with them, but what is true for all instructional designers
is the need to recognize the fact that an SMA cannot be an SME.
All of us, who work at the operational levels understand and feel
the acuteness of this problem; and can do only so much to improve
the quality of our work-lives. What we need to and should do is
make the problem more visible to our top management. We need to
tell them that the content development ocean needs to be made a
safe place for the developers, and that we need to trap the content
issue-sharks before they reach the client and chew away the growth
of our industry. We need talk about it, not just to share heartburns,
but also to find solutions!
We owe it not only to our families, our peers, and ourselves, but
also to our nation, whose image is tarnished every time a low quality,
low cost product is sent out in the international market.
Author: Shafali R. Anand
This work is licensed under a Creative
Commons License.
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