Who's who on the team
It’s useful to know the other people and their roles on your project team. Roles and responsibilities might vary from project to project, but those listed in the following table reflect the people who’ll usually be involved in a project. It’s important to note that for some roles, such as the SME Writer, it’s common to have more than one person fulfilling the role.
| Role name | Abbreviation | General responsibilities |
|---|---|---|
| Project Manager | PjM | The PjM ensures projects deliver on time and within the scope of a project’s Statement of Work (SOW). The PjM owns the project’s communication (internal and external) throughout the project lifecycle, and they’re responsible for managing risks and issues, creating change requests, and ensuring all team members complete their tasks. They’re the captain of the ship and ensure we meet all critical project deadlines and milestones. |
| Lead SME | SME | The Lead SME is on-call to support development teams as needed during all phases, and especially for newcomers to the form factor. They can review all documentation and offer guidance, as well as be available for private consultation. |
| SME Writer | SME | The SME Writer is responsible for a module’s design and development. They collaborate with the instructional designer (ID) or microlearning specialist (MLS) and media production (MP) team. They attend all design and development meetings. They lead the Design Charrette, in which they present the module design document to customers in a live session. They also provide the MP with mock-up graphics or screenshots for inclusion in a module. They offer clarity during review cycles if content isn’t clear. |
| Instructional Designer | ID | The ID provides initial reviews of a module’s design and content. They ensure that both documents align to Microsoft Learn guidelines and determine the content’s quality, particularly with respect to clarity and flow. The ID incorporates suggestions and corrections from all reviewers after their first review, called a pass. |
| Microlearning Specialist | MLS | The MLS role is unique to certain microlearning projects. These individuals are cross-trained and perform most of the tasks that comprise the ID, CS, and PS roles. |
| Media Production | MP | An MP typically is a graphic designer, and they adapt existing graphics and screenshots for a course or module. They also create new ones in close consultation with SME Writers, who typically provide mock-up graphics that the MP recreates in the file types necessary for the course or module’s form factor. During development, the MPs work is reviewed for accessibility compliance. |
| Copy Editor | CE | The CE reviews a module’s design document and the module. They review the content and graphics to ensure they meet strict style guidelines set forth by the applicable client and Waypoint. They focus on grammar, writing style, inclusive language, clarity, and flow. They use line edits and specific tools to ensure content is clean, to style, and polished before publication. The CE also reviews alternative text to ensure it meets standards and is correct. |
| Compliance Specialist | CS | The CS tests module content adherence to customer and federal accessibility standards and requirements. They assess content in several target areas, including for accessibility, geopolitical and global issues, licensing, and privacy. They interact closely with the PjM if they discover serious issues and provide guidance about compliance matters throughout a project lifecycle. |
| Publishing Specialist | PS | The PS conducts a final review of content to ensure it’s correct, complete, and does what it says it should. In the Learn environment, they review build-validation results to certify that there are no outstanding issues. For all content, they conduct a thorough proof pass to ensure nothing’s incorrect or missing (including badges and titles) and that links resolve to the proper location. |