Understand the role of an SME

SMEs play a specialist role. They bring deep subject knowledge and often work across multiple stakeholders and priorities.

Because of this, SMEs are not always the everyday users of a service or product.

Content designers help bridge this gap by shaping specialist knowledge into content that works for end users.

Take advantage of an SME’s experience, while retaining responsibility for content design and user advocacy.

Commit to the right attitudes and mindsets

Focus on building ongoing, collaborative relationships with your SMEs.

• See the interaction as a relationship more than a transaction — get to know each other.
• Use active listening to understand strongly held perspectives or resistance to change.
• Balance content design best practice with SMEs’ need for accurate, industry aligned content.
• Let your SME know how their input will be used and the impact it will have.
• Give SMEs credit where possible. This helps them feel their expertise is valued.

Prepare well before meeting your SME

Before meeting the SME, it’s important to do a bit of homework about them and their area of expertise. This ensures you can:

• build trust by showing you’re genuinely interested in them and their work
• understand any jargon or technical terms they use
• address critical questions, rather than easily accessible information
• demonstrate you respect and value their time
• have a clear understanding of what you need from them.

Provide a clear list of questions ahead of time. This helps the SME both stay on task and share freely without feeling unprepared.

Explain your role as content designer

Tell the SME about the benefits of having a content designer. Make sure they understand your roles are equally important.

A content designer will:

• structure content so it’s easy to navigate and scan on the web medium
• act as the ‘average reader’ and ask questions users might have
• format content for disabled people or users who find other tasks difficult
• use plain language that matches the knowledge level of the audience
• accurately represent the SME’s ideas while ensuring the content is engaging.

Content design guidance

Clarify the purpose and audience of your content

You and your SME should have a shared understanding of why you’re writing and who you’re writing for.

If you do not take the time to understand this, you may end up creating content that:

• fails to help users achieve their goals
• confuses or frustrates them
• wastes their time and resources.

Consider where users are on their journey with the topic — from beginners to experts — rather than defaulting to highly technical content.

To ensure your content is user-focused, clarify the purpose and audience during a kick-off meeting with your SME.

Kick-off meeting — Content design process

Agree on who’s responsible for what

Before you begin any new content it’s important to be clear if you’ll be:

• the main author of the content
• writing with the SME (pair-writing), or
• leaving most of the writing to your SME.

This can significantly change the dynamic of how you work together and who the owner of the content is.

It takes 2: how we use pair writing — UK Government

Decide the tools and ways of working together

It’s important to agree on how you’ll work together and what tools you’ll use throughout the duration of the project.

Ask your SME:

• their preferred method of communication — ideally in-person for your kick-off meeting
• their preferred collaboration tools — track and manage changes on a common platform
• to agree on review cycles and deadlines — ensure you can deliver the content on time
• who the stakeholders are — this may affect content changes and who signs it off
• to engage with the content design process — this may include pair-writing or other methods.

Content design process

Resolving disagreements about content

There may be times when you disagree about how the content is written — for example, the use of specialist words versus plain language.

Specialist words

Approach these discussions thoughtfully and explain your reasoning using evidence such as:

• web analytics and search data
• user research
• relevant standards and guidance.

In an ideal arrangement:

• SMEs — own the meaning, accuracy and key messages in the content
• Content designers — own how the content is expressed, presented and works in an online context.

Regardless, work together towards the goal of improving the service or product for your users. Prioritise the relationship and find healthy ways to resolve differences.

Commit to the right attitudes and mindsets