Episode 10 - Discovery and Knowledge Gathering

In this episode we explore how we, as Customer Educators tackle the source of the river of knowledge. How does one approach discovery and work with Subject Matter Experts to get the best material? Have a listen and we’ll explain our strategies.

Discovery depends on SMEs

There’s nothing worse than finding out that content is the blocker to building a Customer Education program. After all, instructional design relies on access to subject matter experts (SMEs).

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If you’re in a small organization or working on a brand-new product, chances are that you have nothing – Zip, Zero, Diddly Squat – to work with.  There’s no documentation, sparse notes, and very likely, an overworked Product Manager who’s way too busy to deal with you.

Using the traditional ADDIE content development process, the first thing you do before you design or develop content is an analysis phase. You collect existing knowledge and documentation, analyze performance gaps, and use all of it to inform your design. But that process won’t work for people working at startups or other organizations that move too fast for ADDIE.

In small organizations, knowledge usually isn’t documented thoroughly. It’s locked in the heads of busy people who are trying to do their day jobs. These are your product managers, your technical architects, your customer success managers. Getting them to document their knowledge or create training is like squeezing blood from a stone.

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