Wrong answer #1: Include the information because the SME says so. After all, they are the experts, right? Well, they are the experts about the subject matter, but YOU are the expert about training. You need to do your job and lobby/cajole/persuade/negotiate for what your students do and don’t need.
1. Just because the “SME says so”, is not a good reason for including unnecessary content in a course. You are the Instructional Designer and your job is to work with your SME to help them understand that only content that leads to improved performance is “Need to Know” information.
“Can you give me an example of when this would come up on the job?”
“Would there ever be a situation where they’ll need to rely on this information?”
“What would happen if someone DIDN’T learn this information?”