Working with Subject Matter Experts

Subject-matter experts (SMEs) are the people from whom we technical writers get our information. We rely on SMEs to verify our facts and check our figures, thus providing the stamp of approval before we ship our documents.

One of the myths in technical writing is that SMEs are difficult to work with. While this may be true in some cases, it's an unfair condemnation of every SME. The working relationship you form with SMEs is dependant not only on how they interact with and react to you, but how you interact with them and react to them. The key is to form a good relationship with your SMEs and there are a few things you can keep in mind to form such a relationship.

SMEs are people too

Yes, SMEs are people. They have feelings. They're individuals. They're not just sources of information. This may seem obvious, but it might be so obvious that you easily forget it. Treating SMEs like people by being nice, friendly, and honest can go a long way. Take your SMEs to lunch. Get to know them. The more you learn about your SMEs, the better your relationship with them will become. You might even make a new friend.

SMEs have jobs too

Even if the job description of your SMEs includes working with technical writers, you have to be fair about it. You need to understand that their work load may make it difficult for them to talk with you when you want. Accept that. If you need to spend time with your SMEs, make an appointment with them and let them know how much of their time you need. That will allow them to rearrange their schedule to accommodate you.

You're not the only one

One thing that I must remind myself of is that in many instances, I am not the only one vying for time with my SMEs. It's something you should keep in mind too. There are other people who want a piece of them. There are other commitments your SMEs have. So, you might get the brush off once in a while. Don't immediately assume such a brush off is a personal attack.

Make it worth their time

Look, we are all more willing to help someone when there is some benefit to us, right? Well, the same goes for some SMEs. If you can demonstrate how SMEs will benefit from putting aside their own duties to help you, they will be more willing to do that. What those benefits are is something you'll have to figure out on your own, because it will vary between individuals. It's a sure bet, though, that if you can demonstrate that their job will somehow be made easier by talking with you, they'll be beating down your door. Whether you can do this will depend on the kind of work you're doing and the kind of work they're doing.

Research first

Don't bug your SMEs with questions you could have answered yourself with a little research. Yep, I've been guilty of this, and sometimes it just can't be helped. But work hard to find out as much as you can on your own before you start firing off email to or calling up your SMEs. There's nothing more irritating than being asked a slew of questions that the questioner could have answered on their own if they had just done a little research. It'll make you look lazy and your SMEs will start to lose respect for you.

Ask good questions

As a corollary to the previous point, I think of this as "Don't be stupid." Sure, you're supposed to play user-advocate and ask questions that SMEs may not have considered, but that doesn't mean your questions have to be so elementary that a third grader would know the answer. Make sure you plan the questions you want to ask. Make your questions specific, but tailor them to match the communications style of the SME you're working with. If you ask bad (or worse, dumb) questions you'll find your SMEs losing respect for you.

Save your questions

You should save up your questions and get them answered all at once. It's less time consuming for your SMEs, and it's just a nicer way to handle things. Think about it, which would you rather have: a dozen emails with a single question or one email with 12 questions? Of course, your SME may not mind getting the dozen emails. That's why you need to know how to communicate with each of your SMEs. The only way to do that is to get to know them.

Wrap up

This article provided some tips on working with a majority of SMEs. While doing some or all of these things will help form good working relationships with your SMEs, there are some people that will just be difficult to work with. For those people, you need to find specific solutions that I can't really help you with. There are several books that you can read that explain ways of dealing with difficult people, and you should take a look at those.