Subject Matter Expert · SME
Subject Matter Expert
What is a subject matter expert?
- A practitioner with deep knowledge in a specific field
- The core source of training content
- 'Knowing' and 'teaching' are two different things
Naming an SME means putting in writing who has the 'final responsibility for the content' in training development. Without an SME, the training team builds course materials from scraps gathered here and there, and when someone on the floor later says 'we don’t do it that way anymore,' no one is accountable. Once an SME is named, only content with a review sign-off goes into training, and there is someone to contact when the materials are revised a year later.
In practice, SMEs play one of three roles: the source who gives interviews and shares knowledge, the reviewer who checks the facts in draft course materials, and the instructor who teaches in person. One person rarely covers all three, and each demands different effort. Per hour of finished training, plan on 2–3 hours of interviews and 2 review rounds, for a total of 8–10 hours. As for selection, don't pick 'the top performer'; look for someone with 5+ years in the job who has done the work directly within the last 2 years and can explain their work in plain words. Setting learning objectives and sequence is always the instructional designer's job; the SME is responsible for one question: 'Is this content right in the field?'
The most common mistake is drafting SMEs on a department head’s recommendation without freeing up their time. The SME then hands over one PowerPoint file from their folder and calls it done, and the training team writes the materials from it and loses three weeks. It is also common for an SME to appear for the first time at the review stage and overturn the whole draft, which is the fault of the designer who brought them in late. Making an SME the instructor by default is risky too. A 20-year veteran filling 40 minutes of a 90-minute session with war stories really happens. If they will teach, set aside a separate 1–2 days of train-the-trainer (TT) and a demo rehearsal.
Anna ChoExpert in organizational culture, coaching, emotion management, and CS consulting
John KimInstructor John Kim, CEO of Nanum Consulting and author of B2B Marketing DesignA term from educational technology and instructional design practice for the 'content expert,' established in the collaborative workflow of content development.
Consider a hypothetical case. Company A, a machine-parts manufacturer with 1,200 employees, had 7 veterans on its equipment maintenance team reaching retirement age within 3 years. Every fix for every type of breakdown lived in personal notebooks and in their heads, so whenever a new hire was sent to an overnight breakdown, they had to wake a senior colleague with a phone call. The training team launched a 6-month project to build an in-house standard curriculum.
- When requesting three SMEs from the maintenance team lead, Manager Kim of the training team added a clause to the official memo asking that 'two hours a week for six months count as work time' and got the plant manager’s sign-off, which gave the assignment a formal basis.
- In the first interview, Mr. Lee, a 30-year veteran foreman, would only say, 'I just know it when I hear it.' The instructional designer printed 12 actual breakdown records and asked, 'Why did you check the bearings first this time?' That drew out his reasoning in full sentences.
- The know-how they drew out was reorganized into 24 failure symptoms and a checklist of inspection steps. In the second review, Foreman Lee added 4 safety measures himself, saying, 'Follow this order and you'll hurt your hand.'
- Of the 3 SMEs, they decided to make only Mr. Park, whose explanations were the most consistent, an instructor. He went through a 2-day TT and two rehearsals of a 90-minute demo session. The other 2 took part only through 5-minute video interview clips.
- Six months later, the number of items that eight new hires could handle alone on night shifts rose from 5 to 19, and calls to senior staff fell from an average of 23 per month to 7. The materials are still revised twice a year after an SME review.