How to Break Into Product Management

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Head of Accesibility

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Jonathan Hassell
T O N I G H T ’ S S P E A K E R

Inclusive design for
Product Managers
Jonathan Hassell
CEO, Hassell Inclusion
@hassellinc
Product School
7/11/19

8
How I woke up to accessibility
© Hassell Inclusion Limited 2019

9
Where it took me…

1
0

1
1
“Do you want to avoid losing?
Or do you want to win?”

1
2
“Make it like a stick of rock
– embed it through
your whole organisation”

1
3
“You need to fix the problem
in the process not the product
to prevent it re-occurring
A Process. Not a Checklist”

1
4
“It’s not the work you do, it’s the
effect it has that matters…
If you don’t measure your
effects, you’ll stop doing it”

1
5
“This is where thinking
differently has got us…”

1
6

1
7
LinkedIn’s Big ideas for 2019

1
8

19© Hassell Inclusion Limited 2019
Of the large number of business benefits,
which matter most for your organisation?
Financial LegalEthical Innovation
7 18 1

2
0

2
1

2
2
22
Any
Questions?
(best question wins
a print copy of my second book)

2
3

2
4
What failure looks like…
Case study: digital agency in the Far East
“We’re now in month 9 of a 3 month project,
all because of accessibility
– we need you to help us make sure
this never happens again…”

2
5
What success looks like…
Case study: Scope, zero to BIMA Inclusive Design 2019
The brief:
• Scope have campaigned for over 50
years to change attitudes and opinions
about disabled people. In 2018, they
set a mission to become a truly digital
organisation.
• They knew they needed help to fill in
the gaps and train newer members of
the team so they could tackle the
project with confidence. They asked us
to provide expert digital accessibility
support throughout the project.
“Because of Hassell Inclusion’s
comprehensive accessibility training, we
now have a team who are far more
confident on how to deliver accessible
digital experiences. Our new in-house
expertise means in future we can test the
accessibility of all of Scope’s digital
platforms without having to pay for
outside help.”
Ceri Balston, Head of Digital, Scope

2
6
Embedding accessibility into your process, so you can
consistently, repeatedly embed it in your products

2
7
Moulding the way you do accessibility around your existing
software development lifecycle practices & products

2
8
2
8
Ensuring everyone in your team knows what to do & when
through the product lifecycle

29
How the cost
of fixing defects
depends on when
you find them
(Bill Graham)
It’s cheaper and easier
if you get it right from the beginning

30
So we plan in sprints, and create test plans…

31
… using different types of testing, at different times

32
Efficient
accessibility:
What usually
happens:
(total effort =
1.4 x efficient,
estimated)
However, for accessibility we often under-plan…

33
Lab-based
user-testing
Cost
Reliability
of findings
Automated
testing against guidelines
Testing with
assistive technologies
Remote
testing
‘Guerilla’
testing
Cognitive walkthrough
by expert
Exclusion audit by
untrained team
Testing against heuristics or
guidelines (e.g. WCAG)
Estimated
cost vs. reliability
of findings
And we only use 1 or 2 accessibility testing
methodologies from those available…

3
4
We need to get rid of the unnecessary pain this causes…

3
5
Here’s our recommended map to success
- 4 strategic accessibility project management meetings
1
Getting the
accessibility
requirements
right
2
Planning
accessibility in
sprints & testing
effectively
3
Prioritising
accessibility
fixes
4
Launch &
post-launch
planning

363
6
Meeting 1
Getting the
requirements right
for your product
(Sprint 0)

37
If WCAG is always the answer
that would assume that all digital products are the same
– Desktop browser
– Smartphone browser
– Tablet browser
– Hybrid mobile app
– Native mobile app
– eBook reader
– Wearable (watch, glasses)
– Smart speaker
– Games console
– In-flight/car entertainment system
– Kiosk
– ATM
– Electronic Point of Sale System

38
… and have the same audiences

39
So which product-specific accessibility
requirements is it most important to consider early?

404
0
Meeting 2
How to embed
accessibility in
implementation
and test planning
(Sprint 0)

41
Scenario: You’re planning your project’s
implementation & testing… what do you do?
Efficient
accessibility:
What usually
happens:
(total effort =
1.4 x efficient)
or

42
Efficient planning from the start
Backlog planning:
• Putting accessibility requirements into jira,
epics & definitions of done
Sprint planning:
• Finding the most challenging elements and
putting them first
• Estimating the time (overhead) for
delivering each element’s accessibility
Test planning:
• Planning the most appropriate
methodologies & points to test with them
• Planning in time to fix problems

43
If you are going to rely on your team’s competence
We would strongly recommend you assess whether they need training…

44
Invitation to Tender/
Request for Proposals
Contract
Include accessibility requirements
in key procurement documents
Check you got
what you paid for
Test it yourself or
Require proof from supplier
Check your supplier’s
accessibility competence
Assessment of
their competence
If you are going to rely on your digital supplier
If you don’t ask, you don’t get. If you don’t check, you don’t know if you got it.

454
5
Meeting 3
How to handle
accessibility
test results and
prioritise fixes
(6 weeks from launch)

46
Scenario: You’re in mid-development, and your
audit has found 60 accessibility issues… what do you do?

“you can’t do
everything
for everyone
all of the
time”
The issue
with issues…

“all we have
to decide is
what to do with
the time that’s
given to us”
So priority is
everything…

49
The problem with audit reports
• Standard audit reports
are:
• for developers,
designers or
content authors
• to understand the
detail of
individual issues
and find fixes
• Okay at:
• giving project and product
managers a high-level view
on the number and severity
of issues
• Not so good at:
• guiding on how to prioritise
between fixing different
issues

50
What you really need
• While high-medium-low is useful, it is
a crude measure for:
• how much benefit would come
from fixing an issue
• And it completely misses any
understanding of:
• how much resource it would take
to fix it (the cost)

51
A better way
• Accessibility Issue Prioritisation Matrix is:
• for project and product managers
• to get a clear high-level view on
the number and severity of issues
• for each issue (with link to detail):
• how much benefit would come from fixing it,
• a cost estimate of how long it would take to fix it
• and how to prioritise between them
based on those cost-benefits

5
2
5
2
Meeting 4
How do you know that
your product’s
accessibility is good
enough for launch?
(1 week from launch)

53
Scenario: You’re 1 week from launch, and
you still have open accessibility issues… what do you do?
53

54
Readiness for launch
Minimal viable product:
• Not perfect yet…
• But with enough of the
core unique selling points
to test in public while you
evolve it
Is accessibility
a needed USP?
54

5
5
How to balance the risks of launching with accessibility
deficiencies with the risks of holding back your launch

5
6
Using an accessibility statement to inform disabled users
about any accessibility deficiencies and minimise risk

5
7
57
Help for the next steps
in your journey
• Free place on our next
‘Benefits of Accessibility’ workshop
• 15% off our next
‘Delivering Accessible Products’ training
• Free electronic copy of my second book
– Inclusive Design for Products
text product to 01886 211040
jonathan@hassellinclusion.com
These slides are for general information purposes only.
They are not intended and should not be used as a substitute for specific legal advice.
Specific legal advice should be taken before acting on any of the topics covered.

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