Notes on: Accessibility Reports & Setting Targets for Your Program

Webinar by UsableNet, 12/07/2022

Presentation by Charlie Triplett, author of thebookonaccessibility.com

Orgs often profess to have compliance expectations

But the reality is that teams are often chasing down assessments/remediations after development. How do you integrate a11y compliance into the SDLC?

For this talk, some assumptions:

Assumption #1: Leadership is aligned with a11y policy

• Leaders need to support achievable policy targets that can be set, measured, reported

Assumption #2: Documented project management

• There is a process in place to manage a11y compliance measurements and reports

Assumption #3: Programs, not projects

• Projects have defined time frames and specific end points

• Programs are defined by outcomes measured over time with specific targets that evolve as needed

The a11y team's expert authority in the program:

Leadership's part:

Chances are leadership will also be the team with the authority to stress accountability in the process:

You'll have multiple programs over time

Program #1: Start with automated assessment programs

• Reports document code syntax defects by severity

• Use automated assessments to help focus manual testing efforts

Program #2: Manual assessments w prioritized remediation targets

• Combine the automated and manual results to create the set of issues to be addressed
  

• Collaborate with project management to set remediation resolution targets

• Also set achievable a11y score targets per quarter, depending on current conditions

Program #3: Training completion targets

• Though accessibility expertise is always being incremented, create a timetable for basic training to be completed so that it's measurable and teams are accountable

• Also create a process for upskilling new hires

Program #4: Acceptance criteria usage

• Keep the acceptance criteria simple with a pass/fail grade

• Write acceptance criteria into the user story itself. Nothing gets demo'd unless it meets the criteria

• You may have to write separate criteria (or even user stories) for different form factors and functionalities (keyboard, screen reader, touchscreen, voice control, etc)

• Sample criteria for keyboard usage on a home page:

• Sample criteria for a desktop screen reader on a home page:

• Sample criteria for a mobile screen reader on a home page:

• MegentaA11y.com is an open source resource that can help PMs create user stories w a11y criteria: https://www.magentaa11y.com/about/

Q&A portion

When do you integrate acceptance criteria?

• Easiest with new work and new stories (like inputting and validating a credit card number)

  • More atomized and easy to understand

• Much harder on an existing larger scale (like validating the entire checkout process)

How can you implement a11y acceptance criteria in a non-Agile process?

• Magenta does allow creation of tasks instead of stories

• Set up as checklists to define and measure success in other PM flows

How to streamline a11y acceptance criteria so you don't have to create 1000 criteria for waterfall projects?

• Break larger projects into smaller pieces (as in Agile)--but you can't avoid creating them in the end! This just makes it more manageable,

  • Maybe try using kanban

• Ideally, POs/PMs create criteria, then validate in collaboration w a11y designers and devs in refinement sessions

How to scale introducing a11y into acceptance criteria so teams aren't overwhelmed?

• Integration targets need to take the learning curve into consideration

• Limit the backlog of remediation work teams take on--maybe you don't touch pages created more than 1 year ago etc

What is an example of an a11y training curriculum?

• Train the entire org

• Baseline courses everyone takes for common language

  • Includes legal risk assessment

  • Introduces assisitive tech to everyone to better empathize w disabled users

• Specific training courses by role/team (content, design, dev/QA)

• Create a training program that's sustainable (including for new hires, new roles etc)

How to launch an accessibility practice in an organization?

• Start w creating an org-wide a11y statement to define goals, and current state shortcomings

• Publish the statement with contact info

• Also create an internal policy w expectations, future targets etcPolicy is internal w future targets etc;