Breaking silosAll bad things must come to an end

Henny Swan and Ian PounceyThe Paciello Group

CSUN 2016

Part 1: Silos

“a system, process, department, etc. that operates in isolation from others”

Defining Silos by Discipline• Developers

• UX/Designers

• QA

• Product Managers

• Business Managers

We missed two…

Discipline Silos• Developers

• UX/Designers

• QA

• Product Managers

• Business Managers

• Accessibility Specialist

• Accessibility Consultant

How does being siloed affect accessibility?

Developers• How does being siloed affect accessibility?

• Only visual designs provided

• 3rd party dependencies

• Insufficient training

• Accessibility is considered a technical challenge

User Experience and Design

How does being siloed affect accessibility?

• Development challenges not identified

• Inconsistent design decisions between products

• User experience research not shared

• Teams isolated from the end results

QA

How does being siloed affect accessibility?

• UX not shared with QA

• Accessibility standards not mandated

• 3rd party dependencies

• Test techniques not shared

• Lack of understanding of severity

• Lack of training in using assistive technologies

Product Managers

How does being siloed affect accessibility?

• Not aware of design or development challenges

• Accessibility challenges not shared

• Accessibility standards not mandated

• Customer feedback not shared

Business Managers

How does being siloed affect accessibility?

• Inefficient feedback loops

• Unclear governance structure

• Procurement of inaccessible software

• Signing off on ideas before being tested for feasibility

Accessibility Specialists

How does being siloed affect accessibility?

• Becomes the person responsible for accessibility

• Lack of influence

• Lack of support

Accessibility Consultants

How does being siloed affect accessibility?

• Focus on remediation

• Focus on a product rather than process

• Lack of organisational understanding

• Lack of transfer of skills

Where are the silos in your organisation?

Part 2: Process

Integrated Accessibility • Governance

• Culture

• Standards

• Documentation

• Training

• Continuous improvement

How does integrated accessibility fix the silos?

Governance

How do we address the silos?

• Establish a company wide sponsor

• Define responsibility

• Resourcing

Culture

How do we address the silos?

• Culture must come from the top

• Encourage communication and collaboration

• Empowerment to challenge decisions

• Empowerment to take the necessary time

Standards

How do we address the silos?

• Beyond WCAG

• Beyond compliance

• Adapted

• Integrated into process

Documentation

How do we address the silos?

• Documentation should be living

• Appropriate format

• Integrated

• Accessible design patterns / libraries

• Visual design language

• Text alternative libraries

• Manual and automated tests

• User research repository

• Annotated UX

Training

How do we address the silos?

• Training program not a one off workshop

• Convenient

• Provides a reference, allows for refreshing knowledge

• All new starters receive training

• Encouraged beyond basic training

• Role based training available to all

Continuous improvement

How do we address the silos?

• Usability studies - regular and revisited

• Share metrics, statistics, customer feedback

• Keep documentation and training up to date

Part 3: Action plan

What can you do next?

Developers

Discuss the next design you receive with it’s designer; indicate where you think there may be problems, or where there is missing documentation or information.

User Experience and Design

Collaborate with developers when designing and document the accessibility features and requirements of your next design

QA

Ask what accessibility / user experience tests are required for the next product you are testing.

Product Managers

Make sure your team has the right training and resources; let company management know what you need.

Business Managers

Formalise accessibility into practice - put together a plan, assign tasks and set objectives.

Accessibility Specialists

Get accessibility written in to your objectives or job description so that you are empowered to spend time on accessibility and share your knowledge.

Accessibility Consultants

Spend time to understand the organisation you work with and don’t be afraid to recommend they don't do an audit but do something else.

What are you going to do?

Thank you@iheni and @IanPouncey