Subject Matter Expert

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A Subject Matter Expert (SME) is a person who is an expert in a particular area. In software engineering environments, the term is used to describe professionals with expertise in the field of application but without technical project knowledge.

It also has a broader definition in engineering and high tech as one who has the greatest expertise in a technical topic. SME's are often asked to review, improve and approve technical work, to guide others, and to teach. According to Six Sigma, a Subject Matter Expert "exhibits the highest level of expertise in performing a specialized job, task, or skill."

Sometimes the acronym is voiced ("smee") and other times spelled ("S-M-E").

In software development, as in the development of "complex computer systems" (e.g. artificial intelligence, expert systems, control, simulation, or business software) a SME is a person who is knowledgeable about the domain being represented (but often not knowledgeable about the programming technology used to represent it in the system). The SME tells the software developers what needs to be done by the computer system, and how the SME intends to use it. The SME may interact directly with the system, possibly through a simplified interface, or may codify domain knowledge for use by knowledge engineers or ontologists. A SME is also involved in validating the resulting system. SME has formal meaning in certain contexts such as CMM.

Certification tests are often created by a team of psychometricians and a team of subject matter experts. The psychometricians understand how to engineer a test while the subject matter experts understand the actual content of the exam.

Technical writers typically use the term SME to describe any individual with expertise in the subject matter to be documented. Technical communicators interview SMEs to extract information and convert it into a form suitable for the audience.