01 / Why: The sign‑off date was in the plan. Your Subject Matter Expert (SME) agreed to it at kick‑off. Then a live incident lands on their desk. The review link sits unopened for a fortnight, and the build team waits. When the comments finally come, they come all at once, two days before launch.
02 / What: Your experts aren't the problem. Reviewing a course is the fourth job on their list. Nobody told them exactly what they're checking, or why it matters this week.
Here's the part that's easy to miss. The expert who agreed the date is often not the person who can make the call. They know the subject. The person who can say "yes, this goes live" sits one or two levels above them. So the expert checks the work, then waits for their own boss to look. That second wait never made it into your plan. It shows up as a slipped sign‑off, but it's really a hidden step.
Before the next review goes out, ask:
- Who can actually say yes, and have they agreed to do it?
- Does the reviewer know which screens to check, and which to skip?
- Is the review booked in their diary, or just sent to their inbox?
- What happens if they say nothing by the date?
- Who else will they show it to before they reply?
If you can't answer two of these, your sign‑off date is a guess.
03 / How:
IN THE NEWS //Training Journal's 21 October newsflash covers a 360Learning report on where learning teams struggle. Working with Subject Matter Experts was one of the weak spots it named. We're not surprised. Experts get the blame for being slow, when the review was set up in a way that could only slip.
Getting sign‑off back on track means changing how the review is set up, not chasing harder. The hard part is doing that halfway through a build, without upsetting the people you still need.
If your launch date is already at risk, book a 48‑Hour Tactical Triage and we'll show you where your sign‑off is stuck and how to free it.