By Scott Abel
Scott: Stuart, thanks for allowing me to interview you for my column, “Meet the Change Agents.” Before we dive into the interview, can you tell our audience a little about your history and how you came to technical writing as a career?
Stuart: I’m originally from England but have spent my entire working life in France. My first job was with a French software start-up near Paris. I discovered my affinity for technical writing and later went on to complete a professional certificate in technical communication at the American University of Paris.
In my 25-plus years as a technical writer, I’ve worked for several French and international software companies. Over that time, I’ve gradually moved away from software documentation to more general internal communication and training development roles.
I served for many years on the board of the STC France chapter, and since I first learned to code HTML back in 1994, I’ve been creating and managing websites for a variety of nonprofit organizations.
Scott: Your career trajectory landed you in an exciting place during these challenging times. I stumbled across your work with a group in which many of our readers will be interested. Tell us a little about Tech Writers Without Borders [TWWB]. Who was involved in its creation, and what were your original goals for the organization?
Stuart: The idea for TWWB first took shape back in 2015, when a friend and former colleague moved from Silicon Valley to Mali, a French-speaking country located in sub-Saharan Africa, to help run science and technology summer camps for kids. Aware of my previous work with nonprofits and my involvement with STC France, he reached out to translate their lesson plans into French.
Someone in our community suggested reaching out to Translators Without Borders [TWB], a global collective of volunteer translators that help nonprofits with their translation needs. Reaching out to TWB, we were able to get everything translated in time for the first summer camp.
Inspired by the TWB concept, I began to formulate the idea of doing something similar for technical writers.
Scott: Was there a specific aha moment that led you to recognize the need for an organization like Tech Writers Without Borders?
Stuart: Yes, this came a couple of months later, when my friend in Mali reached out once more to share some of the challenges he was facing getting their summer camp program off the ground. It turned out that, while the lesson plans had been well translated, many of the local teachers, for whom French is already a second language, had struggled to understand the guidance.
That was when the light bulb went off. We set about forming a pilot project to help rewrite and adapt the curriculum materials to the teaching team’s needs ahead of the following year’s summer camp. We suspected that there must be many nonprofits out there struggling with similar content issues that impact their ability to do great work. If we could bring together enough like-minded technical communicators, we felt we could make a difference while offering engaging hands-on learning opportunities and showcasing the profession’s value.
The concept inspired my former STC France board members, Toni Ressaire and Nancy Larbi, so the three of us cofounded Tech Writers Without Borders as a stand-alone nonprofit association in October 2016.
Scott: What challenges did you face (if any) attempting to get the organization off the ground?
Stuart: If anything, we somewhat underestimated the complexity of managing technical writing projects with groups of remote volunteers. Since many volunteers work or study full time, they can only fit so much volunteer work around their day jobs and family life.
Because translation work differs in significant ways from documentation projects, we had to invest some time in rethinking how we might make a volunteer-based technical writing program work. Before we could divide up the work among the team and begin writing, we had to figure out how we were going to handle all of the issues you might expect in a traditional documentation project and agree on a project methodology.
We also worked to ensure that we left the staff of the nonprofit organizations we serve with the ability to update and easily edit the content we created for them. As a result, we had to rule out any sophisticated content management system that one might encounter in a corporate setting to simplify the collaborative authoring process.
Scott: We often learn lessons only after we attempt to implement our ideas. What lessons did you later learn about your original ideas, and what types of changes have you had to make as a result of learning those lessons?
Stuart: We spent far too much effort exploring how to scale our operations by considering various potential project management approaches, authoring platforms, and governance models. As a result, we got tied up in these issues and hesitated to take on any significant new projects. In 2019, the team hit the pause button and took a step back to reevaluate our approach.
I continued working with several organizations, one of which was Professionals Doing Good [PDG], a social enterprise based in Cambodia that, in a similar way to TWWB, works to connect skilled professionals with local nonprofits. Luisa Gentile, PDG’s founder and a former corporate HR professional, was kind enough to share her advice for managing successful volunteer engagements in return for my help in making improvements to her website. PDG is now partnering with TWWB to identify new virtual volunteering opportunities suitable for TWWB members among the organizations that PDG serves in Cambodia.
Scott: While an organization like TWWB could provide a variety of services, what is the current mission of the organization, and who are you attempting to serve, specifically?
Stuart: Our primary focus is on boosting grassroots organizations’ capacity by developing communication and training assets to help them streamline their operations and improve the skills of their staff and volunteers. This focus includes nonprofits and social enterprises based in developing countries and those in our communities.
The types of requests for assistance we receive vary considerably. Organizations ask us to assist them with things like transferring classroom training materials to an online learning platform, scripting a video for a crowdfunding campaign, creating documentation for an open-source software project, or developing or proofreading grant proposals.
Scott: Is your most significant challenge getting volunteers to work on projects, or finding the projects in need of volunteers, or something else?
Stuart: We’ve certainly not had any problem finding willing volunteers. We currently have over 800 people in our LinkedIn community, and this number continues to grow daily. These members are based worldwide and represent a wide range of skills from across the field of technical communication.
We need help in identifying projects in need of volunteers. We’ve started working with partners such as Professionals Doing Good to help identify new projects, but we’re always looking for new opportunities.
Scott: University technical communication programs seem like potential partners for TWWB because students need practical experience and real-world examples to fill their portfolios before entering the labor force. Have you seen any interest from college and university programs?
Stuart: Absolutely. Providing a real-world experience for students and recent graduates of technical communication programs has been part of our mission. We’ve helped several students find internships with our nonprofit partners and have recently developed ties with several academic institutions in Europe interested in integrating charitable project work into their course curriculum. We’ll be working on this initiative over the summer, intending to roll out a pilot project this fall.
Scott: What type of projects would volunteers have worked on before the COVID-19 crisis interrupted life as usual? Has the coronavirus pandemic created an influx of requests for help, and if so, what types of projects are you seeing as a result?
Stuart: In many ways, the coronavirus pandemic has been instrumental in kick-starting our activities again after a long period of reflection.
Back in March of this year, when the speed and scale of the virus’s impact first overwhelmed healthcare authorities across the globe, numerous grassroots initiatives sprung up to address the urgent need for personal protective equipment [PPE]. A project to develop documentation and specifications to help gain regulatory approval for a low-cost ventilator came to the attention of TWWB co-founder Toni Ressaire while working with Technically Write IT [TWi], a documentation services company based in Ireland. Toni’s relationship with TWi led us to develop a coordinated effort to fulfill similar requests for help coming in from those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
We sprang into action by putting out a call for volunteers. Toni and her colleagues set up a data-gathering chatbot that allowed both nonprofit representatives and tech writers to register for volunteer services. TWi supplied project management and technology services to coordinate the work effort. Within two weeks, we had almost 200 volunteers registered.
At the time of this interview, we’ve placed 50 or so of those volunteers on a wide range of projects. With the pandemic raging, we continue to receive requests for assistance. Our volunteers are transforming hand-sketched equipment designs into technical specifications, documenting engineering processes, producing web and social media content, and writing and editing regulatory compliance documents, safety notices, signage, and user instructions.
One group in Ireland, called Comfort4Covid, provided digital tablets to the elderly and isolated persons in long-term healthcare facilities like nursing homes. Volunteers developed simple, clear instructions to help residents use messaging services such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Skype to communicate with their families.
Given the urgency of the situation, there was no time to plan. As with many things over the past few months, much of this work was improvised, and yet the results have been substantial. Without the rapid intervention and hard work of our volunteers, many of these initiatives would have struggled to get off the ground quickly.
These are excellent examples of how reliable content processes and the skills and dedication of technical communicators can bridge the gap between good intention and real impact.
Scott: Running a nonprofit with good intentions is a great thing, but it’s sometimes hard to determine the best strategy for moving forward. What do you need today to help you meet—or exceed—your goals for the organization?
Stuart: That’s certainly something with which we struggle. Our recent experience with the COVID-19 pandemic has caused us to rethink our original approach. We are now moving forward with several new initiatives and partnerships without overthinking things. Our new strategy: “Just do things!”
We’re actively seeking to recruit a larger group of core volunteers to help drive these new initiatives, drawing from the vast pool of talent that we’ve built up over the last couple of years.
One urgent question that we now need to address is revenue generation. We’ve not had many expenses until now. Still, as we ramp up our activities, we will need to generate revenue to cover growing expenses and ensure we can become sustainable in the long term. We’re looking into various options in this area.
Scott: Would a software platform (like a project management system) or a customized interface of a proprietary tool be useful to your organization as it grows?
Stuart: Yes, we would certainly be interested in exploring project management and collaborative editing platforms that could assist with project execution.
Scott: Leadership is often one of the main stumbling blocks to the growth of nonprofits. Have you a need to have leaders join the group who might have relevant experience and adequate time to dedicate?
Stuart: Yes, we’re actively seeking to expand our leadership team. Having access to an advisory board would undoubtedly help us grow and scale our operations.
Scott: Women in Localization has a robust mentoring program to create future women leaders. They assign members who participate in the program with an experienced mentor, then they put them in charge of leading real-world projects that they can tout on their LinkedIn profiles and their resumes. Can you see value in mimicking their approach?
Stuart: Yes, this is an excellent initiative. Mentoring is a critical component of the academic collaboration project that we are currently developing. I can see us developing other mentoring efforts in the future to help build future project leaders.
Scott: If you could speak directly to a community of technical communication professionals, like the readers of the STC Intercom magazine, what would you like to say to them about TWWB?
Stuart: Join us! Use your professional skills for good. Volunteering is a great way to gain experience in a related field—something that you might not get a chance to do as part of your day job—and can help boost your career potential.
If, like many others during these challenging times, you find yourself “on the bench” or otherwise without work, volunteering can be a great way to maintain and develop your skills while also improving your network, all of which can lead to new opportunities.
One of the reasons I find the “Without Borders” moniker so appropriate for our profession is that, as tech writers, we can use our core skills in a variety of related disciplines. If you’ve hesitated or not found an opportunity to do so in the past, then volunteering with TWWB could be an excellent way to expand your professional horizons.
Scott: If our readers want to get involved, what’s the best way to do that?
Stuart: Start by joining our LinkedIn group. You’ll be able to network with a great crowd of like-minded professionals, and you will be the first to learn of new volunteer opportunities. If you already work or volunteer for a nonprofit or know of any organizations in your community that could benefit from more help, introduce them to TWWB.
Scott: Stuart, I’m afraid we’ve run out of time. Thank you so much for your volunteer efforts and for making time to share with our readers the story of Tech Writers Without Borders.
Stuart: Thank you, Scott, for everything you do to promote the discipline of technical communication and for the personal interest you have taken in Tech Writers Without Borders and our goal to provide opportunities for tech writers to use their skills for good.
STUART CULSHAW (stuart.culshaw@twwb.org) is Communications and Enablement Lead for IBM’s Chief Privacy Office and Cofounder of Tech Writers Without Borders. Based in Grenoble, France, Culshaw holds a bachelor’s degree in European business studies from Groupe ESC Bordeaux/the University of Humberside. He also holds a Professional Certificate in Technical Writing from the American University of Paris. Connect with Stuart on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/stuartculshaw/
