How to Handle an Unresponsive SME
A technical writing job supposes to communicate with members of other teams, for example, with developers, designers, SMEs, and the like; and all of them are just people. They can be busy, they can forget something or they even can dislike you because of some subjective reasons. So, today I want to talk about how to handle unresponsive SMEs if you need to interview them.
First of all, let’s make it clear who SME is because novices may read this article and not know who SMEs are.
SME stands for subject-matter expert and also known as a domain expert.
It’s a person who has deep knowledge of a particular topic, function, process, machine, technology and so on. Technical writers develop manuals, documents, books with assistance from subject-matter experts. SMEs help to convert information into a suitable form for the target audience, check written materials for technical accuracy and so on.
In order to create effective documentation, you will need to interview these people to learn the product better. However, how to handle a subject-matter expert if they don’t have the time or desire to meet with you? Here are some tips.
If you’ve emailed SMEs but they have not held a meeting yet, send a reminder email. You should not be shy and think that you’re importunate — if you wait and don’t remind about yourself, SMEs can forget about you at all and you will not complete your tasks.
However, your reminder email should not be like “Hey, I want to meet you and discuss something”. As I’ve said, SMEs may not have enough time to meet with you, that’s why you should set a deadline — suggest the date that is suitable for you and ask whether it’s suitable for them or not. Moreover, describe some points that you’re going to discuss, it will help SMEs estimate how much time your meeting will take. When you’ve sent an email, arm yourself with patience and give SMEs time to answer. If emails didn’t help you, visit their office and ask if they’ve got a minute to talk scheduling.
If these methods didn’t work, it’s time to forget about devices and use your soft skills, especially, communication skills.
You should not be faceless to SMEs, show them that you’re a person but not another team member — invite an SME for a lunch, talk about your families, hobbies, hometowns but not about work. Keep in mind, it’s not a business meeting, it’s just lunch to build friendly relations. It will help you not only get a business meeting in the future but also improve the office environment and make it more pleasant.
When you set a date for a business meeting, keep in mind the following tips:
- Do your homework — prepare relevant questions, the answers to those questions should not be easily found elsewhere. You should use questions as a base for discussion, don’t ask questions just one by one but discuss with them good and bad ideas, and suggest what you can improve.
- Think about ways of communication that SME prefers. Maybe, it will be more suitable for them to communicate via phone, email, slack and so on.
- Help SMEs with their tasks, it can be something like consulting about a presentation, proofreading a report for them, etc. You’ll show that you’re not just another team member and they will memorize you.
Conclusion
Nowadays, because of devices, we forget about the power of interpersonal communication but all people still value it. So, use this powerful skill that definitely will help you archive the desired results.
Have you ever communicated with unresponsive SMEs? What helped you?
How did I become a technical writer? What skills do you need? Read FAQ on Technical Writing.
