In this instructional video, Andy Campbell addresses the common challenge instructional designers face when subject‑matter experts (SMEs) overwhelm them with extensive slide decks, policy manuals, and assorted documents. Rather than attempting to condense every page, Campbell advocates a focused, conversational approach: call the SME back and probe for concrete, on‑the‑job examples where new employees typically stumble. He stresses the importance of uncovering decision points, exceptions, and the subtle cues that seasoned staff notice but novices miss. Campbell also recommends clarifying what information truly needs to be memorized versus what can be looked up, especially when policies are likely to change. By presenting a small, realistic scenario to the SME for feedback, designers can validate whether the distilled guidance feels right, ensuring the final training material targets the most critical, hard‑to‑handle moments rather than a bulk of generic content.
Chapters
You know what's fun? Asking somebody for a little background information and getting 80 slides back, plus a policy manual and another document they found that might be helpful. So now you've got homework, and I get it. You ask the expert what people need to know, and they told you all of it. They're trying to help, but now you're sitting there thinking, okay, what am I supposed to do with all this stuff? I wouldn't even start cutting slides yet. I'd get them back on a call and say, okay, help me out. When somebody actually does this job, where do they get stuck? Because that's the part I'm interested in. Let's say we're talking about customer complaints. You've got the policy, you've got the process and escalation paths, and you've got 12 slides about being professional. Fine. But tell me about a complaint a new person would struggle with. What would the customer say? What would make you stop and think, where would somebody be likely to mess it up? Now we've got something to talk about. The expert might say, well, in that situation, I'd send it to my manager. And I'd probably stop them there and say, wait, why that one? What made that different from the complaint you handled yourself? Because they might have noticed one little thing in detail that changed everything. They've been doing this for years, so to them it's obvious. The new person is still trying to remember which system to open. That's why I think asking people to walk me through an actual situation— if I just read their slides, I might never find out what they're paying attention to. I'll know the procedure, but I might completely miss the part where they decide the procedure doesn't cover what just happened. And when people say, people just need common sense, I'd ask them to help me understand what that looks like here. What would you notice? What would make you nervous? What would somebody new probably miss? I'm not trying to make the conversation difficult. I'm trying to get past the answer that's obvious to them and invisible to everyone else. I'd also ask what people can look up. Do they really need to remember every exception, or do they need to know where the current guidance lives? Because if we're going to change the policy in 3 months, I'd rather not spend this month making everybody memorize the old one. Then I'd bring the expert a small sample or example of what I'm thinking. Here's the situation, here's the decision I'm asking somebody to make. Does this feel right? That's a much easier thing to react to than a whole course full of guesses we've already made. You can still use the slides, there may be good stuff in there, you just don't need to have to treat every page like it came with a legal obligation to appear in the finished product. I'd much rather leave that conversation understanding one difficult moment In the job than leave with another 30 slides. Although knowing how these things go, I might get those too.
