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Your company's Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) hold the keys to creating truly helpful documentation. Yet, we often make it incredibly difficult for them to share what they know. We ask our technical subject matter experts to learn complex authoring software or follow convoluted review cycles. The result is predictable: they disengage, or we get feedback that creates hours of extra work. Instead of forcing experts to adapt to our process, we should adopt a subject matter experts tool that adapts to them. This approach respects their time and makes getting quality subject matter expert content simple.
Too often, tools present an obstacle to collaboration rather than a solution. Training SMEs on a software tool that’s primarily used for technical communication is costly, time-consuming, and difficult. This problem only increases with the breadth and complexity of your organization and products. Yet that’s exactly when you most need collaboration to occur.
We’ve outlined some of the temptations writers experience when working with SMEs and how the right tools can alleviate some of these pain points. We’re committed to improving this process so your team can maximize both efficiency and quality by making it easy for SMEs and writers to collaborate when it comes to documentation.
Why You Shouldn't Write Documentation Alone
Don’t try to turn yourself into an engineer. Taking an SME completely out of the documentation process is a bad idea. And if you don’t have a clear idea of how to use the product or service, neither will your users who are relying on your documentation. Customer support calls can typically cost your company anywhere from $25-$65 per hour. To ensure that you’re documenting your product or service correctly, you need an SME to provide the technical details. For that reason, we recommend that you try to make it easier for SMEs to contribute to your documentation.
Poor tool choices can create a barrier for SME contributions, particularly for organizations using a structured authoring environment or software programs that SMEs are not familiar with. All of our customers use DITA to develop their content, but most available tools for DITA authoring are complex and require too much training effort to get SMEs to use them effectively.
Many organizations simply work in PDF when SMEs are involved. But this creates additional overhead. When you have SMEs work in PDF, then the writers have to transfer edits into the source content. Additionally, if you have multiple contributors or revisions, you now have multiple versions of the content to manage. Using different tools for technical communicators and SMEs may remove the tools problem, but it creates additional and inefficient work along the way.
Fortunately, this additional work is unnecessary. Heretto’s New Topic Editor has all the power of structured authoring, with the ease of use and collaboration features we’ve all come to expect and rely upon in tools like Google Docs. You no longer need a contrived workaround to get an SME’s direct input because Heretto’s editor is as easy to use as any word processor.
If you’ve used Heretto, you’re already familiar with our What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) interface that makes it easy for SMEs to author content, edit, or add suggestions. In the New Topic Editor, we’ve improved the WYSIWYG interface to make it more intuitive, and also added full-blown collaboration features. You can now have multiple authors or contributors work on a document simultaneously and see real-time edits as you collaborate. SMEs can also easily add tracked changes when working in Suggesting mode, making it easy for the writer to accept or reject their changes in the source content. There’s no need to go it alone or struggle to find middle ground when it comes to tools.
What is a Subject Matter Expert (SME)?
The Definition and Roles of a Subject Matter Expert
A Subject Matter Expert, or SME, is your go-to authority on a specific topic or field. This expertise isn't accidental; it's built through years of hands-on work, advanced degrees, or professional certifications that establish them as a credible source. For technical writers, SMEs are indispensable partners. They hold the keys to the technical accuracy of the content you create. Whether you're developing user manuals, training guides, or in-depth knowledge base articles, their input ensures the information is correct, complete, and trustworthy. They are the bridge between complex technical realities and the clear, usable documentation your audience needs.
How SMEs Contribute Across Different Industries
The need for SMEs isn't unique to software or hardware; they are critical players in nearly every industry. In manufacturing, an SME might verify that a complex piece of machinery is assembled correctly. In the legal world, a specialized lawyer serves as an SME, providing expert testimony that can shape the outcome of a case. Their deep knowledge provides the foundation for critical decisions and processes. For technical documentation teams, the SME's role is just as vital. They supply the core information—the diagrams, the data, the procedural steps—that forms the backbone of your content. They are also your final line of defense, reviewing documents to catch any inaccuracies before publication. This final check is a crucial part of content governance, ensuring that what reaches the customer is nothing but the truth.
Should Your Technical SMEs Write All the Docs?
You can’t rely solely on SMEs to write good documentation for your product, just as you can’t rely on your writers to understand the engineering that went into a product. Yes, a developer might know the software best, but chances are they won’t adhere to your organization’s style guide and writing requirements. In the software world, “a useful rule of thumb is that programmers should produce documentation that's ‘good enough’ -- and no more.” While this is better than contributing nothing to the documentation, “good enough” is probably not what you want your customers to see, which is why it’s imperative that SMEs work with technical writers to produce the final documentation.
Many organizations struggle with the desire to have SMEs contribute more to the documentation, though, especially when deadlines are tight. If you have a tool that unifies all contributors, having SMEs write some of the documentation directly can be a huge time-saver. Heretto’s New Topic Editor enables both SMEs and technical writers to contribute to the documentation. In this new environment, they can both add information, leave comments, and have complete visibility to the other’s work and changes in real time.
How to Find and Identify Subject Matter Experts
Finding the right Subject Matter Expert is the first, and arguably most important, step in creating accurate technical content. Your SMEs are the bridge between complex product details and user-friendly documentation. They can be found both inside and outside your organization, and knowing where to look can save you a lot of time and effort. The key is to identify individuals who not only possess deep knowledge but also have the right disposition for collaboration. Think of it as casting for a role; you need both talent and a willingness to work with the rest of the team to create a great final product.
Finding External Experts
Sometimes the deepest expertise lies outside your company walls. External SMEs can bring a fresh perspective, industry-wide context, or specialized knowledge that your internal team may not have. This is particularly useful for content that needs to address broader industry standards or competitive landscapes. Tapping into this external pool requires a bit of proactive searching, but the payoff in content quality and authority can be significant. These experts often have established credibility, which can lend extra weight to your documentation and support materials.
Professional Associations and Niche Job Boards
Professional associations are goldmines for finding credible experts. These organizations are built around specific industries or disciplines, and their members are often leaders in the field. You can explore their directories, attend their webinars, or even post on their career websites to find people who are already vetted experts. Niche job boards that cater to specific professions are also excellent resources. Posting a short-term contract or consultant role can attract highly qualified candidates who are actively looking to share their knowledge.
Industry Publications and Universities
Thought leaders often share their insights through industry blogs, articles, and academic papers. A quick online search for top blogs or publications in your subject area can reveal key voices. Don't hesitate to reach out to these authors directly; many are passionate about their field and open to consulting opportunities. Similarly, universities and colleges are hubs of expertise. Contacting professors or researchers in relevant departments can connect you with individuals who have dedicated their careers to the very subject you're writing about.
Identifying Internal Experts
Often, the best SMEs are already on your company’s payroll. Your internal experts live and breathe your products every day. The engineering and development teams are the most obvious choice, as they build the product and understand its technical architecture inside and out. But don't stop there. Your customer support team is on the front lines, hearing directly from users about their pain points and questions. Product managers hold the strategic vision, and the sales engineering team knows how to frame the product’s value to solve real-world problems. Creating a map of these internal knowledge holders is a crucial step in building a robust process for managing content.
What to Look for in a Good SME
Technical knowledge is just one piece of the puzzle. A truly great SME is also an effective communicator and a willing collaborator. Look for individuals who are genuinely passionate about their subject and eager to share what they know. The best SMEs are patient teachers, open to feedback, and understand that their goal is to help you make complex information accessible to a non-expert audience. They see documentation not as a chore, but as an essential part of the product experience. This collaborative spirit is what transforms a simple knowledge transfer into the creation of truly exceptional content.
Practical Strategies for Working with Busy SMEs
Once you’ve identified your SMEs, the next challenge is getting their valuable knowledge out of their heads and into your documentation. The biggest hurdle is almost always their packed schedule. SMEs are experts because they are critical to other business functions, which means their time is a scarce resource. The key to successful collaboration is to make the contribution process as frictionless as possible. By respecting their time and streamlining your workflow, you can build a strong, productive partnership that benefits everyone—especially your end-users. This is where having a unified platform for managing content can make a world of difference.
Make Contributing as Easy as Possible
Lowering the barrier to contribution is the single most effective thing you can do. Avoid asking SMEs to learn complex new software or follow a convoluted review process. Instead, meet them where they are and integrate the documentation process into their existing workflows. The easier you make it for them to provide input, the more likely they are to do it consistently and thoroughly. Your goal is to make sharing information feel like a quick conversation, not a formal assignment that adds to their already heavy workload.
Conduct Short Interviews
Instead of sending a long document for review, schedule a quick 15 or 30-minute chat. A brief, focused conversation can be far more efficient than a long email chain. Come prepared with specific questions and use the time to record their answers. You can ask about recent customer problems they’ve solved or interesting technical challenges they’ve overcome. This interview-based approach allows you to capture their expertise in their own words, which you can then refine into polished documentation on your own time.
Use Internal Chat Tools
Leverage the communication tools your company already uses, like Slack or Microsoft Teams. Create a dedicated channel where technical writers can post questions as they come up. SMEs can then jump in and answer quickly in the chat when they have a spare moment, without needing to context-switch into a different application. This method captures knowledge organically and creates a searchable archive of questions and answers that can be referenced later, turning everyday conversations into a valuable documentation resource.
Show Them the Impact of Their Contributions
SMEs are more likely to stay engaged when they can see that their effort is making a real difference. Don’t let their contributions disappear into a black box. When a piece of documentation they helped with gets positive feedback or a knowledge base article they reviewed helps close support tickets, share that success with them. Forward customer quotes or share metrics showing a reduction in support calls for a feature they helped document. This positive feedback loop validates their effort and reinforces the value of their role in the content creation process, making them feel like a valued partner.
Start with Small, Incremental Contributions
Asking a busy engineer to write an entire document from scratch is a tall order. A better approach is to start small. Ask them to simply review a short paragraph for technical accuracy or to add a few bullet points to an outline you’ve already created. You can also encourage them to just comment on existing drafts rather than creating new content. Once they become comfortable with these small, low-effort contributions, they will be more willing to take on slightly larger tasks over time. This incremental approach builds momentum and makes the process feel much less intimidating.
When Good Content Gets Lost
When working with SMEs, writers often obtain a lot of information that then needs to be organized to be usable. If that information gets stuck with an individual or lost in the shuffle, it’s no longer useful. Having a robust component content management system (CCMS), like Heretto, enables you to store all documentation in a central location that both SMEs and writers can access. Use of proper file naming, central storage, and descriptive tags makes finding content easier. Since an SME’s time is often short and in demand, it’s important to organize the information you receive from them.
According to a recent survey by the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM), 85% of organizations surveyed spend extensive time searching for content. Time spent looking for information is often a time when you could be doing something productive. It’s estimated that high-skill knowledge workers, such as tech writers, spend as much as 19% of their day searching for existing internal information. Based on average salary information, companies lose approximately $10k per writer annually on these types of tasks.
Having a CCMS that enables both SMEs and documentation teams to easily store and label information makes your content more accessible internally and also opens up new opportunities for collaboration. If SMEs and writers both contribute content to the same repository, it makes that information easy to search for, reuse, and update for publication.
Is Your Documentation Keeping Pace with Updates?
Don’t settle for lagging communication between you and your SMEs. Most SMEs won’t regularly use the tools the technical communication team does, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep SMEs in the documentation loop. For example, in Heretto, you can tag an individual in a comment to generate an email notification to them. This lets the SME know that you need their input and links them directly to the part of the document that needs their attention.
Every feature of your product needs to be reflected in two places: in the product itself and in the documentation. Documentation can easily get out of sync with the product and become incomplete, outdated, or just plain wrong as the product evolves and changes. And, if your documentation and SME teams and the tools they use are siloed, information updates can be delayed or even lost. This can result in frustrated support calls and negative word-of-mouth feedback. But worst of all: you could lose customers. Keeping information relevant can increase an organization’s revenue by 70% above the average enterprise.
Heretto’s collaboration features can also loop in others throughout your organization, such as your customer support team. Imagine if your customer support agents could use the powerful search in your CMS to find and easily flag, right in the source, content that needs to be updated.
Using SMEs for Marketing and Business Growth
The value of your Subject Matter Experts extends far beyond internal documentation. Their deep knowledge is one of your most powerful assets for attracting new customers and driving business growth. In a world where buyers are more informed than ever, generic marketing messages fall flat. Instead, companies are turning to their internal experts to establish thought leadership and create genuinely helpful content. This approach shifts your SMEs from being purely technical resources to becoming central figures in your company's voice, building credibility and trust long before a potential customer ever speaks to a salesperson.
Establish Thought Leadership to Attract Customers
The old marketing playbook is losing its effectiveness. As one industry report notes, "Using thought leadership and creating helpful content is becoming a main way for professional service companies to grow." This means moving beyond simply listing product features and instead sharing your unique expertise to solve real problems for your audience. Your SMEs are the source of this insight. By empowering them to share their knowledge through articles, webinars, or conference talks, you position your company as a trusted authority. This strategy attracts customers who are actively seeking solutions, building a relationship based on value rather than a sales pitch.
Create Lead-Generating Content
Tapping into your company's experts is a direct path to creating content that generates high-quality leads. Think about the kind of in-depth material that requires true expertise to produce: detailed white papers, original research reports, or technical how-to guides. This is content that your audience is often willing to exchange their contact information for. By featuring SMEs as the authors and presenters of this material, you not only increase its credibility but also "turn experts into business development stars." Their knowledge becomes a magnet for potential customers, filling your sales pipeline with leads who are already engaged with your company's expertise.
Join and Contribute to Online Communities
Your target audience is already gathered in online communities, discussing their challenges and seeking advice. While a marketer might feel out of place in a highly technical Reddit or LinkedIn group, your SMEs can engage authentically. They can "naturally talk about your products in developer groups...where marketers might feel out of place." By answering complex questions and offering helpful insights without a hard sell, they build goodwill and establish your company as a helpful resource. This kind of genuine participation fosters trust and brand loyalty in a way that traditional advertising simply can't replicate, creating organic connections with potential users and advocates.
Integrating AI with Your Subject Matter Experts
The rise of Artificial Intelligence isn't a threat to your SMEs; it's a massive opportunity to amplify their impact. The future of content creation involves a powerful partnership between human expertise and AI tools. This modern workflow allows you to produce higher-quality content more efficiently than ever before. By pairing the unique insights and deep knowledge of your SMEs with the speed and scale of AI, you can streamline tedious tasks and free up your experts to focus on what they do best: providing the critical analysis and innovative ideas that no machine can replicate.
A Modern Workflow for Expert Content
Businesses are constantly seeking better ways to create content that resonates, and "two big trends are changing how content is made: using Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools." A modern workflow combines these two forces. It starts with the SME providing the core concepts, proprietary data, and unique perspective. From there, AI can assist with drafting initial sections, structuring the narrative, refining language for clarity, or even generating summaries. This symbiotic process allows you to scale your content operations without sacrificing the quality and authenticity that only a human expert can provide.
The Value of Human Expertise in an AI World
While AI can generate text, it cannot create genuine expertise. Your SMEs provide the critical insights, real-world experience, and novel ideas that make your content truly valuable. Expert-led content is more accurate, builds more trust, and "performs better in search engines because it offers unique insights." This human element is essential for satisfying search engine quality standards like Google's guidelines to create helpful content, which emphasize experience and expertise. AI can assemble information that already exists, but your experts can create new knowledge, which is the ultimate differentiator in a crowded content landscape.
A Note on AI and Content Copyright
As you integrate AI into your content workflows, it's important to proceed with awareness. The legal landscape surrounding AI-generated content is still evolving. According to legal experts, "The laws around AI-generated content and copyright are still developing and can be complicated." Because of this uncertainty, it's wise to consult with legal counsel, especially when using AI to create content for commercial purposes. This proactive step helps you understand the potential risks and ensures you can continue to leverage these powerful tools responsibly and without future complications.
Finding the Right Tool for Your Subject Matter Experts
We’ve summed up four major temptations you can face while working with SMEs and the corresponding impact on your organization. If you have even one of these problems, it’s not sustainable to keep going without solving it.
We’ve been hard at work developing a tool that makes collaboration easy, not just among the technical communication group, but throughout an organization. While tools are only one piece of the equation, Heretto brings your documentation and SME teams together by providing an option that enables and encourages collaboration throughout your organization.
Would any of these tools make it easier for you to work with SMEs? If so, we’d love to show you how our Heretto has all of these!
- WYSIWYG editor to make it easy for SMEs to contribute to content without the need for tools training
- Change tracking with complete revision history
- Easy implementation of edits with “Accept” and “Reject” buttons
- Comments with collaboration features, so you can tag someone in a comment or reply to existing comments
- Configurable email notifications that let SMEs know when an assignment or comment needs their attention and provides a link to the document
- Component content management to make it easy to organize and tag content for findability
Ready to learn more? Ask for a personalized demo of Heretto and find out how your organization can use the tools for true collaboration.
Frequently Asked Questions
My SMEs are too busy to help with documentation. How can I get them to contribute without adding to their workload? The key is to make contributing as frictionless as possible. Instead of sending a whole document and asking for a review, try scheduling a quick 15-minute interview to ask specific questions. You can also use your company's internal chat tools to ask quick, one-off questions that they can answer in a spare moment. Starting with small, targeted requests, like asking them to verify a single paragraph or add a few bullet points to an outline, makes the process feel less like a major task and more like a quick conversation.
Should our developers and engineers just write the documentation themselves since they know the product best? While developers have unmatched technical knowledge, they often aren't trained in creating clear, user-focused content that follows a consistent style. A technical writer's expertise is in translating that complex information for the end-user. The most effective documentation comes from a partnership: the SME provides the technical accuracy, and the writer provides the structure, clarity, and voice. Relying on one without the other often results in content that is either technically correct but confusing, or well-written but inaccurate.
We currently send PDFs or Word documents to our SMEs for review. What's the real problem with that workflow? This common practice creates significant hidden work and risk. When SMEs mark up a separate file, the writer has to manually transfer every single edit back into the source content, which is time-consuming and introduces the potential for human error. This process also creates version control chaos. With multiple copies of a document being emailed around, it becomes difficult to track which feedback is the most current, increasing the chance that outdated information makes it into the final publication.
How can I find the right internal expert for a specific documentation project? Start with the obvious teams, like engineering and development, but don't stop there. Your customer support team is an excellent source, as they know exactly where users struggle and what questions they ask most often. Product managers can provide insight into the strategic purpose of a feature. The best SME isn't just the person with the most technical knowledge; they are also a good communicator who is willing to collaborate and help make complex topics understandable.
What key features should a tool have to make SME collaboration easier? Look for a tool that offers an intuitive editing experience, similar to a standard word processor, so SMEs can contribute without needing special training. Real-time collaboration is also critical, allowing multiple people to comment, suggest edits, and see changes as they happen. Finally, the tool should be part of a centralized content system. This ensures that all contributions are stored in one place, making information easy to find, reuse, and keep up to date.
Key Takeaways
- Adapt your process to your experts, not the other way around: Make it simple for SMEs to contribute by using methods they already know, like short interviews or internal chat, instead of forcing them to learn complex authoring tools.
- Unify writers and SMEs with a single collaborative tool: Eliminate inefficient workflows, such as passing PDFs back and forth, by using a platform where everyone can edit, comment, and track changes in real time.
- Leverage SME knowledge beyond technical docs: Your experts are your best resource for creating authentic marketing content and establishing thought leadership, turning their insights into a powerful tool for business growth.
