I've mixed feelings about a booklet I recently read that proposed to provide advice on Designer-SME Collaboration, primarily to designers. It was developed by the ASTD, an industry organization for professionals involved in developing training materials. I expected it would be skewed to that septic task, but might contain some information that's useful to user experience designers working with business SMEs.
On the positive side, it was in there: a basic process of defining roles, setting expectations, and managing the working relationship. It was perhaps a little too basic for anyone with much work experience, but a little refresher on the fundamentals is useful. And I suspect it is probably of greater value for someone who is just entering the profession from academia, who could benefit from a bit of practical advice.
But the drawback was that the author seemed entirely disdainful of subject matter experts. In defining "five types of SME," he covered the ones who are belligerent, feckless, disorganized, myopic, and self-serving. Not one example was provided of a sane and functional SME (and many do exist), though perhaps it's assumed that a person needs no training in working with people who are competent and right-minded.
However, the disdain didn't stop at that: the entire process of dealing with an SME was condescending and even at times plainly disingenuous, combining flattery with manipulation to herd an uneducated person with pedestrian experience into accepting the guidance and control of a more educated training professional.
This likely caters to the petty narcissism of the training professional, who is a pseudo-academic that likely finds himself resentful of the way he is marginalized in a corporate environment, but it does cast a pall over what might otherwise be accepted as sensible advice.
No comments:
Post a Comment