RE: Uncooperative SMEs

[jbfoster <jb -dot- foster -at- shaw -dot- ca>]

After reading your email, and then noticing the address ... I at first
thought it said 'landmines.com.' ... would have sounded appropriate!

I believe that the first thing to do, is to be very careful, and not get
rapped-up in the politics surrounding you. When one's colleges are busy
covering paper-trails, looking over shoulders, and filling sandbags ... it's
safe to say that there are greater problems in the organization, than why
you're not being taken seriously. Then-again, sometimes the importance, of
what one is doing, will be seen differently by others in the organization.
It is very hard to change set-views of others ... if that's what your trying
to do; especially if it's a widely-held belief (within the organization)
that tech-writing is a waste of resources. If management sees no importance
in backing your objectives (as in the 'being seen, and not heard'), then it
might be time to brush up the resume. If you like a dynamic work
environment, it sounds like you found the exact opposite.

If it's a problem with getting information in a timely fashion, then you
need to find out why SME's are ignoring your requests. Maybe those SME's are
swamped with work, maybe they think your requests aren't important, maybe
there's some resentment? You, or whoever is the team-leader, needs to get
support from management over the importance of your department, and it's
work. Once everyone in management is in agreement, then you can move on to
getting the SME's to notice the importance of your requests. Basically,
management has to buy-in, in order for a project to get any recourses (SME's
time) from other departments.

I don't know if you are ... but putting effort into researching the
available written information, and putting your name down for relevant
meetings ... goes a long way in showing others that you're not a leach
'along for the ride.' The worst thing people hate, is request for
information that is freely available. I never interview SME's! Instead, I
read through available information, and then find cooperative sources that
will help out with the rest. Kind of sounds like what your mangers want out
of you're department?

Regards,

Bruce


tgr -at- lanminds -dot- com wrote:

> At my company, which shall remain nameless, there is almost no
> buy-in from
> department heads on the issue of SME cooperation. In fact, tech
> writers are
> expected to be seen but not heard from as much as possible.
> Everyone is too
> busy covering their ass to spend time with tech writers or review
> documentation.
>
> Any success dealing with SMEs must come on the basis of personal
> initiative, ingenuity, charm, back-scratching and arm-twisting.
> Does anyone
> else out there in tech writer land deal with a similar
> environment? If so,
> how do you stay productive, get the information you need, get
> reviews done
> in a timely fashion, and so forth? Would love to hear your suggestions.




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