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Marc My Words: End User- and SME-created Content—Good Strategy, but Risky
There’s a huge push these days to move content development down the lineto end users or over to subject matter experts (SMEs). Seems reasonable, right?After all, aren’t end users closer to where the real work gets done, and whoknows more than SMEs?
This would seem like a highly cost-effective move. Not so fast. Maybeit’s a good idea, but it’s not without big risks.
The disaster factor
Just giving people some development tools and telling them to “go forthand create content” will, more than likely, result in chaos. If you are goingto move content development out to the field, make sure you are doing it right.Here are 11 disastrous content failures to avoid.
The content is inaccurate
Who says the end user or SME knows what he/she is talking about? Have youvetted them? Lots of people out there know a lot of stuff, but what they knowis not always right. And if you let inaccurate content out, without review,people will follow it, perhaps to disastrous ends.
The content is incomplete
This is not exactly the same as being inaccurate. Even though the contentis right on, it’s just not finished. Content consumers can get only so far,then stumble when they find out there is information that’s missing. “Comingsoon” is not a notice people in the field want to see when they need the information right now.
The content is not authentic
Sometimes content is accurate and relevant, but not authentic. In otherwords, it just doesn’t ring real or true for the content consumer. “Sure, itmay be right,” they would say, “but we don’t do it this way in the ‘real world.’”To avoid this, field-test your content with real users and/or customers, notjust SMEs.
The content is trivial
Is this information that people really need to know? For example, whenlearning about occupational health and safety, do you need to learn thatRichard Nixon signed the original OSHA law (bet you didn’t know that)? Whilethere can be legitimate debate on whether content is “need to know” vs. “niceto know,” watch out for content creeping in that’s “completely unnecessary toknow.”
The content is redundant
When the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, you havewaste. Before assigning a content development project, ask if someone hasalready done this or if someone currently is working on this. Collaboration oncontent development most often results in a better overall product.
There is conflicting information
Sometimes one piece of content directly contradictsanother. This is not necessarily a bad thing; when you find this, you have agreat opportunity to correct and clarify, which does a great service to contentintegrity as a whole. Of course, if you just ignore the contradictions, well,let’s just say that you wouldn’t want to be around when two people try to dothe same thing two different ways.
There is too much or too little content
This is tricky, because while the content may be right for some users, itmay be too much, too little, or too detailed for others. Think of a manager whojust wants an overview of a new technology and gets everything there is. Or thetechnical professional who wants a deep dive, but all she or he can find is anoverview. In such cases the content isn’t bad; it’s just frustratingly notuseful.
The content has sourcing issues
The more critical the content, the more important it is to be able topoint to reliable sources for the information. This doesn’t mean you have toexhaustively cite materials, but it does mean you should have adequate andaccurate back up for what you are distributing. Plus, managing your sourceswell enables a much easier time when it comes to updating.
Introduction of bias
Everyone has bias in some way, and sometimes a biased approach isvaluable, especially when advocating for a position. But in most cases, thedevelopment of good content ought to reflect the needs and interests of theorganizations and users, not just the perspective of content developers. Introducingdevelopment collaboration and peer review can mitigate the problems ofindividual bias.
Bad communication
Sometimes people simply can’t communicate. They can’t write or puttogether a coherent presentation or they have trouble clearly articulating thecontent they are developing. Teaching experts to be better communicators maysometimes be too much of a hurdle. Initially screening for those who show somecommunication skill and savvy may be a better way to go.
Loss of control
If everyone is developing content, how do you know who is doing what andhow it all fits together? This can be a management nightmare. Ask yourself howmuch control you want of end user and SME developers. Too much and they mayrebel or avoid this kind of work. Too little and you may experience many of thefactors above, perhaps all at once! And it’s not just managing the developmentprocess; you also have to consider archiving, distributing, and refreshing thecontent over the long term.
