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Tom: Your approach is fine, but I'd suggest not squeezing the SME's neck
too tightly. It is hard to understand what the SME has finally decided to
divulge.
>Under the heading of not all things work for everyone, I note the following
>snippet.
>
>--- Jo Baer <jbaer -at- mailbox1 -dot- tcfbank -dot- com> wrote:
>>
>> Actually, I don't interview SMEs in person all that often. I use a
question
>> and
>> answer template that I developed (took about ten minutes) and submit
written
>> questions along with any relevant written materials, such as a project
>> requirements document or a draft of a manual chapter. I make my written
>> questions as specific as possible, and often give a page (and sometimes
>> paragraph) reference so the SME can go back to the document in question.
>
>I'm not criticizing this method, especially if it works, but I've not had
>success submitting written questions to SMEs and getting responses (let
alone
>timely responses). My experience has been that SMEs resent the extra
assignment
>and think the writer is trying to get them to do the writer's work for the
>writer.
>
>I have a lot more success with the face-to-face. I try to limit the time
>involved to short bursts rather than having to clear a lot of time on
someone
>else's schedule. I prefer the 30 minute Q&A to the two hour, or half a day,
>meeting. And I do my leg work ahead of time by reading everything we have
on a
>product, feature, or process. That way I'm not asking basic questions the
SMEs
>have already answered in some preliminary document.
>
>FWIW, I find that I agree with the principles Jo mentions--being prepared,
>respecting the time of others, being focused, etc.--I just find that
different
>methods work better for me.
>
>=====
>Tom Murrell
>Lead Technical Writer
>Alliance Data Systems
>Columbus, Ohio
>mailto:trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com
>Personal Web Page - http://home.columbus.rr.com/murrell/
>
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