You Don't Have to Be a Subject Matter Expert to Excel at Technical Writing

Many people believe that, to be a good Technical Writer, you must be a subject matter expert. And while this is a common misconception, it’s no surprise that people hold this belief. After all, your job as a technical writer is to communicate complex, technical information to an audience in a way that is easy to digest. Of course, people expect you to be deeply familiar with the subject matter.

Thankfully, the reality is you don’t have to be an SME to write a world-class technical article. What you do need is curiosity, structure, and the willingness to ask a subject matter expert the right questions. And that’s the beauty of technical writing: asking the right questions is more important than having all the answers.

The Non-SME Guide to a Great Technical Story

1. Brandish Your Lack of Expertise like the Weapon It is

Great technical writing starts with a learner’s mindset. That lack of expertise that you worry so much about gives you an interesting edge—the opportunity to approach the subject matter with the same greenness and curiosity that your potential readers would. You ask the questions that experts forget to ask (the ones your readers are quietly asking too), interrogate every concept, break down jargon to plain language, and by filling your own knowledge gap, give the reader the best experience. In fact, research at the University of Arizona shows that once we know something, it becomes difficult to imagine what it’s like not to know it. It’s called the “curse of knowledge.

https://ucatt.arizona.edu/news/curse-knowledge?embedable=true

2. Build a Relationship with a Subject Matter Expert

We’ve established that you don’t need to be an SME to write a great technical story, but someone has to be. And you need to build a relationship with that person (or resource). You need a connection with the brains behind the Technical project/subject you’re writing about. Someone who knows everything there is to know about the subject matter.

Your job is then to be a bridge between this person’s insights and your readers.

But here’s the thing about SMEs: they often live deep inside the complexity of their own systems. You’re there to pull those insights out and translate them into something that travels. But to do that well, you have to build trust. Trust that you’ll represent their work accurately, ask thoughtful questions, and handle their time with respect.

How to Communicate with SMEs

• Do your homework first. Don’t show up to an SME meeting blank. Read, research, and come prepared with specific, intelligent questions.
• Ask “why” more than “what.” The “what” tells you what was built; the “why” tells you who it’s for and why it matters. When you uncover the “why,” you uncover real-world context, which is what your readers care about anyway.
• Clarify terminology immediately. Don’t fake understanding. Misused terms in a technical piece can ruin credibility.
• Summarize after every call. Send a short follow-up with what you understood and make sure you’re on the same page. It’ll save you from costly rewrites later on.

3. Translate, Don’t Transcribe

When you’re ready to put pen to paper, you must remember that your job isn’t to dump an expert’s jargon on the page. Anyone can do that; your value lies in how well you can interpret it for the reader.

In practice, this means stripping jargon down to plain language. Focusing your work more on how the reader will be affected by the product/service rather than all the interesting tech that powers it.

So instead of saying, “Product XYZ is great because it’s built with cutting-edge, first-of-its-kind blah blah,” \n say,“Product XYZ, built with cutting-edge blah blah, is great because it helps you do ABC.”

See the difference? The first line flatters the tech. The second one serves the reader.

At the end of the day, you’re building a bridge between expert knowledge and everyday understanding. The clearer the bridge, the more people can cross it.

4. Fact-Check Like Your Life Depends on It

This is not optional, especially for non-SMEs. Technical stories hinge on accuracy. Unlike prose, your facts need to be 100% true and verifiable, your code MUST work, and your examples MUST be reproducible. Run everything— screenshots, code snippets, and statistics—back to your expert for confirmation. You’re playing a game of trust, and nothing erodes it faster than an error that could’ve been caught with one email.

5. Tell the Story (Keyword, “Story”)

Once you’ve verified the facts, build the story.

At the end of the day, technical writing is still writing.

And that means it needs structure, flow, and payoff. Anchor your piece in a why (the problem or goal), unfold the how (your process or discovery), and close with the what next (insight or action).

To make things easier, we’ve built a practical guide based on this exact 3-Act Structure.

:::tip Get started with it here: Technical Storytelling Writing Template.

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In closing: Ask good questions. Write like you’re explaining it to a friend. And if you ever forget where to start, remember that clarity beats complexity every single time.

We hope this has offered you some clarity (and assuaged your fears) about navigating the Technical Writing industry without subject matter expertise.

Until next time!