You don’t “just” need content: the roles and deliverables you need to understand before you hire anyone
This post was first published on my Medium blog—follow me there for the most up-to-date entries!
If your organization needs a clinical education course and you’re trying to hire someone to do the job, there’s some work you need to do first. Because creating a course isn’t just one job. If you’re not clear about what you’re seeking when you hire someone to create your course, you can wind up making expensive mistakes.
As a learning strategist, a word that often comes up in conversations with my clients or prospective clients is “content.” That’s the deliverable — just make the content! But “content” is a slippery word — one that lets everyone in the room keep nodding while talking about totally different expectations. What, exactly, are you expecting this content to be?
I’m writing this as a buyer’s guide because I’ve watched the same misunderstanding play out in organizations that genuinely care about results. They want nurses to be competent. They want fewer errors, fewer callbacks, fewer “I didn’t know what to do in that situation” moments. They hire someone like me for better learning outcomes — and then, at some moment, expectations drift toward the most visible artifact: slides. As if they’d hired me to do nothing but make a slide deck.
The moment usually arrives sometime after I submit the foundational work that comes first: competency statements, a course goal, measurable objectives, and often a post-test blueprint (or drafted multiple-choice items). I’m defining what success looks like and how we will verify it.
Then comes the question.
“So…when do we get the content?”
It’s a reasonable question for anyone who has never had to translate training jargon. It’s also the question that tells me we haven’t yet agreed on what the client is buying. If we don’t define “content,” the project defaults to production — and production is not the same thing as learning.
Before you hire someone to “do your course,” you need to name the job you’re actually buying and define the deliverables you expect to receive, because “content” is the trapdoor that makes everyone think they agree when they don’t. When that happens, organizations hire for production when they actually need learning architecture, and they end up with training that looks finished but doesn’t reliably change performance.
Content is not a deliverable. It’s a category.
In course projects, “content” can refer to several different things, and they do not belong to the same role by default.
Sometimes “content” means subject matter expertise: the clinical facts, policies, standards, protocols, and nuance that must be accurate.
Sometimes “content” means learner-facing writing: scripts, workbook text, job aids, and explanations written in teaching language.
Sometimes “content” means production assets: slides, videos, graphics, interactions, and modules built in the learning management system (LMS).
When you don’t specify which “content” you mean when you hire someone to create your course, the project slides (pun intended) toward the most visible form of progress: production. Pretty slides become the definition of “moving forward,” even when the real work needed is alignment, practice design, and assessment planning.
So let’s stop treating this like an academic distinction. This is a hiring and procurement issue. If you want performance outcomes, you need shared language for the roles — and the deliverables those roles typically produce.
Titles buyers should know (and what each role usually delivers)
Different organizations use different labels, but the work falls into a few predictable buckets. Here are the titles you should have handy before hiring someone to create your course.
1. Learning architect or instructional designer
- This role defines what learners should be able to do and designs the learning path that makes that performance likely.
- Typical deliverables include the course goal, measurable objectives, competency map, content-to-objectives alignment, scenario and activity designs, a learning assessment blueprint, and a storyboard or lesson flow.
2. Subject Matter Expert (SME), clinical lead, or content owner
- This role owns accuracy and “source of truth,” especially in clinical training.
- Typical deliverables include approved source materials, clarifications of nuance and edge cases, and review and sign-off on accuracy.
3. Learning content writer
- This role writes the learner-facing materials in teaching language, not just informational language.
- Typical deliverables include scripts, workbook text, job aids, case narratives, and other learner-facing copy.
4. Course developer, eLearning developer, or LMS builder
- This role builds the tangible course product and implements it in the chosen platform.
- Typical deliverables include LMS setup, module builds, interactions, knowledge check (“quiz”) implementation, packaging and publishing, and QA and troubleshooting.
5. Producer or multimedia and visual designer
- This role makes the experience look and sound professional and consistent.
- Typical deliverables include slide templates and visuals, graphics, audio and video production, and accessibility formatting.
You can already see why the term “content” causes trouble. Depending on what you mean, “content” might reasonably fall under several of these titles.
Yes, one person can do multiple roles. No, you should not assume they will.
I’m not telling you that you need to hire five different people. Real life is messy. Lines blur. Some people can design and write. Some can design and build. Some SMEs can write learner materials better than a professional writer because they know exactly what learners misunderstand. What I am telling you is that you need to be clear about which of those roles you need and communicate that expectation to the person you hire.
In some projects, I’m also the SME. In those situations, I can write a workbook in that topic better than anyone else I know, because I’ve done it hundreds of times and I know where the misconceptions live. I can also design knowledge checks that actually give feedback on what matters, not what’s easy — and definitely not what’s true/false.
But none of that automatically comes with the job title “instructional designer,” and it certainly doesn’t come free just because I’m capable of doing it.
A person can wear multiple hats. That does not mean you should assume they will wear all of them for the same scope, timeline, and price. If you want multiple deliverables, name them. Price them. Plan them.
Otherwise, you’re not managing a project — you’re hoping the vendor reads your mind.
How to plan deliverables without getting trapped by your own assumptions
Here’s the part most buyers miss, and it’s important.
Yes, you should make a list of the deliverables you think you need when you hire someone to create your course. That list is the starting point. It forces clarity.
But you also need to expect that a good instructional designer will challenge that list. The instructional designer will suggest adding deliverables that protect learning transfer and competence. Or they may suggest removing deliverables that add production work without improving outcomes.
That is not scope creep. That is the value of design thinking.
If you come in asking for slides, a competent designer may say, “We need a scenario set, a job aid, and an assessment blueprint before we worry about slides.”
If you come in asking for “content,” they may ask you to define whether you mean: SME sources, learner-facing writing, assessment items (e.g., post tests), production assets, or the full build.
This is the key move: you need to understand what is available and possible, then assign the right person in the right role to do the right work.
That’s how you avoid hiring a course developer when what you really needed was a learning architect.
And it’s how you avoid hiring a designer to “make a deck” when what you really wanted was competence.
A quick example of why deliverables map to roles
Even a single deliverable can involve more than one role. Take something as common as “a quiz” or “knowledge check.”
Someone needs to decide what it should measure and where it belongs in the learning flow. That’s design work.
Someone needs to draft items in language learners can interpret correctly. That might be design, writing, or SME work, depending on the team.
Someone needs to ensure accuracy and approve the clinical claims. That’s SME ownership.
Someone needs to implement it cleanly in the LMS and make sure it functions. That’s development.
The point is not that one person can’t do multiple parts. The point is that you should not assume one person will do all parts unless you’ve named that as the scope.
The bottom line
If you’re serious about competence, you cannot hire blindly. You need to hire deliberately, with deliverables that are defined in plain language.
If you are hiring someone to create your course, start by describing your bigger visions (e.g., create a competency-based learning program) and listing the deliverables you think you need. Then invite the designer to add to or subtract from that list based on what will actually drive performance. Once that list is clear, map each deliverable to the appropriate role, and only then assign the specific people who can do the work.
And if you’re tempted to say, “We just need you to develop the content,” pause and define the word — before you fall through the trapdoor again.
Need a little help to do what I’m suggesting? Download my 2-page guide you can hand to your team (or a vendor) “Instructional design vs course development: what happens first, what you get, and why it matters.” It gives a clear comparison of designers versus developers, and it includes the core distinction most projects blur: instructional design creates the plan — development builds the product. This PDF will help you name the work, define the deliverables, and hire the right role before you pay for the wrong one.
This post was first published on my Medium blog—follow me there for the most up-to-date entries!