Secrets to Successful SME Projects
Subject matter experts (SMEs) play a valuable role in any learning program, but working with them is not always easy. In “Secrets to Successful SME Projects,” Sarah Wakefield and Patty Murdock explain how training developers can cultivate a productive relationship with their SMEs.
This issue of TD at Work provides specific steps to follow before, during, and after the development of your learning program. The authors follow an instructional designer and a SME through the process, showing what each stage looks like and what the designer can do to ensure that the project runs smoothly.
In this issue, you will find:
- tips for choosing SMEs
- a step-by-step plan for a kickoff meeting
- advice on what to do when things go wrong
- a risk mitigation chart
- a discussion of prototyping versus detailed drafting
- dos and don’ts for successful debriefs.
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![sarah-wakefield.jpg]()
Full ProfileSarah Wakefield is a technical training supervisor for Schlumberger Limited in Houston. Her primary responsibility is managing the design and development of technical training courses for audiences in locations such as the United States, Europe, South America, the Middle East, Russia, China, and North Africa. Before this, Sarah worked as a curriculum designer for various organizations. Sarah also was an instructor of communication, writing, and life success courses at Ivy Tech State College and at Purdue University in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Sarah holds a master's degree in communication from Purdue, as well as a bachelor's degree from Purdue with a double major in professional writing and psychology.
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![Patty Murdock]()
Full ProfilePatty Murdock is technical training manager of instructional and media design for Schlumberger Limited. She has co-authored and co-presented technical papers on training methods for the Society of Petroleum Engineers and conducted workshops for the Society for Technical Communication and the Association for Talent Development.
