SME (Subject Matter Expert)

A Subject Matter Expert (SME, commonly pronounced 'smee') is a person with deep, authoritative knowledge of a specific domain, process, or system, whose expertise is essential input for creating accurate training content. In L&D practice, SMEs are typically experienced practitioners — engineers, compliance officers, senior salespeople, product managers — who partner with instructional designers: the SME supplies correct and current knowledge, while the designer shapes it into effective learning. This collaboration is one of the classic friction points in training development. SMEs tend to overestimate what learners need to know (the 'curse of knowledge'), push for exhaustive detail, and have limited time, while designers must advocate for what the audience actually needs to perform. Successful SME collaboration therefore relies on clear roles, structured knowledge-extraction interviews, defined review cycles, and respect for the SME's time — recording a one-hour conversation often yields more usable material than asking an expert to write content. Modern platforms also enable SMEs to create content directly through simple authoring and video tools (user-generated content), with L&D providing templates and light editorial oversight. Note the abbreviation collision: outside L&D and consulting, SME more commonly means small and medium-sized enterprise.