Plan
Managers and team leads have three key tasks to consider for their sprints, all focusing around team preparation. They need to encourage designers and developers to adopt habits that lead to more accessible outcomes. They need to consider ways to better incorporate accessibility in processes. Finally, they need to consider how the information in this toolkit can best align with their team structures.
Encourage new habits in design and development
As discussed in Shift left for easier adoption, effort is reduced by moving more accessibility considerations into design. This toolkit provides specific guidance to achieve that. Team leads play a vital role in encouraging designers and developers to adopt changes in routine.
It’s vital to get designers in the habit of incorporating more accessibility into wireframes and other design deliverables. For content writers and visual designers in particular, there are new tasks outlined in this toolkit which will help establish more accessible products. Team leads can ensure this material is being incorporated by rethinking hand-off processes (discussed further below).
Much of the effort developers spent remediating accessibility can now be shifted to consistent unit testing that includes accessibility checks. Teams that generate accessible content already follow these habits, but teams newer to accessibility will need encouragement to adopt new habits.
Review deliverables and hand-off process
To help improve accessibility adoption, leads should consider incremental ways of improving deliverables and hand-off processes. This toolkit does not prescribe how wireframes should capture accessibility considerations. Every team will have their own preferred tools and notation styles. Likewise, every team has its own ways of communicating between the design, development, and test teams. Team leads can introduce more accessibility in a manageable, sustainable way. Areas to amplify accessibility include playbacks and hand-offs.
Align teams to toolkit guidance
Team leads should assign all targeted toolkit tasks to project team members. Within the design phase, the toolkit emphasizes three design disciplines: user experience, visual design, and content creation. Some teams may not have members whose roles match these disciplines.
Likewise, within a sprint, only certain accessibility tasks may be targeted. The topics within the Level one, Level two, and Level three categories are ordered in relative priority, providing a means of more granular targeting within a sprint.
Other considerations
Consider the following topics for products that face increased risk if they are not accessible.
- Assess the accessibility of pattern libraries
- Build accessibility into design prototyping
- Inject accessibility into fit and finish reviews
- Understand requirements beyond WCAG