This is the second post in a four-part series by Diane Valenti on working with SMEs in the development of training.

ADDIE? SAM? ID? SME? Our alphabet soup of acronyms is as confusing to our subject matter experts (SMEs) as their acronyms are to us. So how do you explain the instructional design (ID) process to the SMEs with whom you work?

My recommendation is to forget about ADDIE and SAM. They both fall into the category of too much information (TMI). Rather, you can explain ID within the context of the typical problem-solving process of Plan, Do, Check, Act (P-D-C-A).

When you talk to SMEs, be sure to use problem-solving language to describe the ID process. This will help them avoid becoming tangled in instructional design acronyms so they can better understand what comes next and how they can contribute.

The table below compares the traditional instructional design methods with problem solving.