I recently found an article titled, “Instructional Design for Unfamiliar Topics“.  It really helps explain how instructional designers (IDs) are able to do what they do.  Almost every piece of content I am asked to develop into training or documentation is information I am unfamiliar with.  The key to success is to do your due diligence by exploring any documentation, website or other materials that exist to learn what they heck “they are talking about”!  During my discovery phase, I look at websites, employee surveys, site visits, documents, tools and meetings with management.  Once I have reviewed all the above resources, I usually assemble an employee meeting of about 15-20 people that have various roles in the organization, as well as, varying levels of tenure.  Viewpoints from a veteran are certainly different from a newbie!

I then assemble and ask great questions.  Everyone I meet, either one-on-one or in group meetings are asked lots of questions.  From there, emergent themes usually evolve and then I can put together an initial instructional plan (IP). From this IP, I meet with SMEs to see if I have hit all the important points.  Finally at this point, I have a firm grasp on the content and can move forward with developing materials.

What are your tried and true tactics to writing about something you are not familiar with?