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Thread: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
Number of posts in this thread: 25 (In chronological order)
From: Julius Charles Serrano
Date: Wed, Sep 18 2013 9:46PM
Subject: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
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Hello, everyone.
I'd like to know your thoughts on web accessibility as it relates to the
job of a project manager.
I believe that in addition to the designers and developers, project
managers have an important role in integrating and implementing
accessibility in a website or a web application.
I have found some truly excellent articles on this topic:
Accessibility for Project Managers (by Henny Swan)
http://www.spotlessinteractive.com/articles/accessibility/accessibility-for-project-managers.php
Project management - WCAG 2.0 - An introductory guide for Web developers
http://www.gaates.org/aICwebdev/s4y5.php
In addition to these, may I ask if you have any idea or pragmatic
approach that is helpful in terms of web accessibility from a project
management point of view?
Thank you very much.
Julius
From: Karl Groves
Date: Thu, Sep 19 2013 6:54AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Julius,
It really depends on your project management methodology. Henny's article
is an excellent one: Understand your requirements, make accessibility part
of requirements, make sure the requirements are met, etc.. Its sort of
"Project Management 101", so to speak, right? This is exactly the sort of
thing you'd find in the PMBOK guide and isn't really unique to
accessibility.
If anything, that should really be the takeaway: accessibility isn't
unique. I remember one time I was training a bunch of developers in an
Agile shop. One team's Scrumaster said "Just put it in the Definition of
Done and it'll get done". He was right. Accessibility isn't any
different than any other requirement. In an Agile environment whatever is
in the DOD is what must be met before you can call a story "Done".
The same goes for Waterfall, RUP, or whatever other methodology is in
place. As long as the requirements are understood, a good PM will make it
happen.
On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 11:46 PM, Julius Charles Serrano <
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Hello, everyone.
>
> I'd like to know your thoughts on web accessibility as it relates to the
> job of a project manager.
>
> I believe that in addition to the designers and developers, project
> managers have an important role in integrating and implementing
> accessibility in a website or a web application.
>
> I have found some truly excellent articles on this topic:
>
> Accessibility for Project Managers (by Henny Swan)
>
> http://www.spotlessinteractive.com/articles/accessibility/accessibility-for-project-managers.php
>
> Project management - WCAG 2.0 - An introductory guide for Web developers
> http://www.gaates.org/aICwebdev/s4y5.php
>
> In addition to these, may I ask if you have any idea or pragmatic
> approach that is helpful in terms of web accessibility from a project
> management point of view?
>
> Thank you very much.
>
> Julius
>
>
> > > >
--
Karl Groves
www.karlgroves.com
@karlgroves
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karlgroves
Phone: +1 410.541.6829
From: Cameron Cundiff
Date: Thu, Sep 19 2013 7:10AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
A slight spin on what Karl said: if you have very specific requirements, be
very specific in the feature description. For instance, if you know a
particular WCAG guideline will apply to a feature, put that criteria in the
acceptance/done criteria. Do not just say "it should be accessible" or "it
should be WCAG2 compliant". The latter statements will create frustration
and confusion for devs. In an Agile environment, devs thrive on
specificity, and its the PMs job to narrow the feature to that point.
To this point also, you should not be adding "it should have alt text".
Universal best practices and issues of craftsmanship are not requirements,
they're Things You Just Do. You'll certainly see gaps in these areas at
first, as you may occasionally see gaps fidelity to designs. If you're
working on a Rails project, you can circumvent oversight of best practices
to some extent by building accessibility "linting" into CI with
capybara-accessible. I'm a maintainer of that project and I'm happy to
answer questions.
On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 8:54 AM, Karl Groves < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Julius,
>
> It really depends on your project management methodology. Henny's article
> is an excellent one: Understand your requirements, make accessibility part
> of requirements, make sure the requirements are met, etc.. Its sort of
> "Project Management 101", so to speak, right? This is exactly the sort of
> thing you'd find in the PMBOK guide and isn't really unique to
> accessibility.
>
> If anything, that should really be the takeaway: accessibility isn't
> unique. I remember one time I was training a bunch of developers in an
> Agile shop. One team's Scrumaster said "Just put it in the Definition of
> Done and it'll get done". He was right. Accessibility isn't any
> different than any other requirement. In an Agile environment whatever is
> in the DOD is what must be met before you can call a story "Done".
>
> The same goes for Waterfall, RUP, or whatever other methodology is in
> place. As long as the requirements are understood, a good PM will make it
> happen.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 11:46 PM, Julius Charles Serrano <
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> > Hello, everyone.
> >
> > I'd like to know your thoughts on web accessibility as it relates to the
> > job of a project manager.
> >
> > I believe that in addition to the designers and developers, project
> > managers have an important role in integrating and implementing
> > accessibility in a website or a web application.
> >
> > I have found some truly excellent articles on this topic:
> >
> > Accessibility for Project Managers (by Henny Swan)
> >
> >
> http://www.spotlessinteractive.com/articles/accessibility/accessibility-for-project-managers.php
> >
> > Project management - WCAG 2.0 - An introductory guide for Web developers
> > http://www.gaates.org/aICwebdev/s4y5.php
> >
> > In addition to these, may I ask if you have any idea or pragmatic
> > approach that is helpful in terms of web accessibility from a project
> > management point of view?
> >
> > Thank you very much.
> >
> > Julius
> >
> >
> > > > > > > >
>
>
>
> --
>
> Karl Groves
> www.karlgroves.com
> @karlgroves
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/karlgroves
> Phone: +1 410.541.6829
> > > >
From: Karl Groves
Date: Thu, Sep 19 2013 8:45AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
+1 to what Cameron said. That level of specificity is important,
especially when the dev team is new to accessibility.
One hugely useful asset to have, at the organization level, is a Style
Guide and even a component library. I recall a presentation on LeanUX from
Jeff Gothelf. Lean/ Agile isn't about doing stuff in a hurry, but rather
doing stuff efficiently. Existing resources such as a coding style
guide, visual design & branding style guide and code libraries go a long
way toward ensuring quality and agility. When generating these things,
bake accessibility into them. For instance, in the visual design style
guide, make sure the fonts, font colors, font sizes, component designs &
colors, etc. all ensure proper contrast and so on. Make sure tables are
designed so that headers exist. If the headers are sortable, make sure the
design makes the sort affordances obvious, etcl. When creating a coding
style guide, make sure it talks about binding keypress events as well as
click events on controls.
Then, instead of having to constantly talk about accessibility
requirements, etc. you can point to these assets.
On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 9:10 AM, Cameron Cundiff < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> A slight spin on what Karl said: if you have very specific requirements, be
> very specific in the feature description. For instance, if you know a
> particular WCAG guideline will apply to a feature, put that criteria in the
> acceptance/done criteria. Do not just say "it should be accessible" or "it
> should be WCAG2 compliant". The latter statements will create frustration
> and confusion for devs. In an Agile environment, devs thrive on
> specificity, and its the PMs job to narrow the feature to that point.
>
> To this point also, you should not be adding "it should have alt text".
> Universal best practices and issues of craftsmanship are not requirements,
> they're Things You Just Doâ¢. You'll certainly see gaps in these areas at
> first, as you may occasionally see gaps fidelity to designs. If you're
> working on a Rails project, you can circumvent oversight of best practices
> to some extent by building accessibility "linting" into CI with
> capybara-accessible. I'm a maintainer of that project and I'm happy to
> answer questions.
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 8:54 AM, Karl Groves < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> > Julius,
> >
> > It really depends on your project management methodology. Henny's
> article
> > is an excellent one: Understand your requirements, make accessibility
> part
> > of requirements, make sure the requirements are met, etc.. Its sort of
> > "Project Management 101", so to speak, right? This is exactly the sort
> of
> > thing you'd find in the PMBOK guide and isn't really unique to
> > accessibility.
> >
> > If anything, that should really be the takeaway: accessibility isn't
> > unique. I remember one time I was training a bunch of developers in an
> > Agile shop. One team's Scrumaster said "Just put it in the Definition of
> > Done and it'll get done". He was right. Accessibility isn't any
> > different than any other requirement. In an Agile environment whatever
> is
> > in the DOD is what must be met before you can call a story "Done".
> >
> > The same goes for Waterfall, RUP, or whatever other methodology is in
> > place. As long as the requirements are understood, a good PM will make it
> > happen.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 11:46 PM, Julius Charles Serrano <
> > = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> >
> > > Hello, everyone.
> > >
> > > I'd like to know your thoughts on web accessibility as it relates to
> the
> > > job of a project manager.
> > >
> > > I believe that in addition to the designers and developers, project
> > > managers have an important role in integrating and implementing
> > > accessibility in a website or a web application.
> > >
> > > I have found some truly excellent articles on this topic:
> > >
> > > Accessibility for Project Managers (by Henny Swan)
> > >
> > >
> >
> http://www.spotlessinteractive.com/articles/accessibility/accessibility-for-project-managers.php
> > >
> > > Project management - WCAG 2.0 - An introductory guide for Web
> developers
> > > http://www.gaates.org/aICwebdev/s4y5.php
> > >
> > > In addition to these, may I ask if you have any idea or pragmatic
> > > approach that is helpful in terms of web accessibility from a project
> > > management point of view?
> > >
> > > Thank you very much.
> > >
> > > Julius
> > >
> > >
> > > > > > > > > > > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Karl Groves
> > www.karlgroves.com
> > @karlgroves
> > http://www.linkedin.com/in/karlgroves
> > Phone: +1 410.541.6829
> > > > > > > >
> > > >
--
Karl Groves
www.karlgroves.com
@karlgroves
http://www.linkedin.com/in/karlgroves
Phone: +1 410.541.6829
From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Thu, Sep 19 2013 9:52AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Excellent advice from Cameron and Karl.
Thanks. This thread is a keeper!
âBevi Chagnon
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From: Julius Charles Serrano
Date: Thu, Sep 19 2013 6:21PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Thank you so much for all your responses.
Some of the very helpful points I have learned and will practice:
Accessibility isn't any different from any requirement in the project.
It is very important therefore, that the entire group understands the
requirements.
if the group has very specific requirements, the PM should be very
specific in the feature description.
Have accessibility baked into style guides and component libraries.
I agree with Bevi Chagnon. All your responses have made this a valuable
thread.
Thanks again.
Julius
From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Thu, Sep 19 2013 8:24PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
I had the great fortune last CSUN to get a couple additional colleagues to attend the conference. Afterwards, the PM who had come along suggested that it would be really great if we could get people together and have some sessions that focused on these types of topics. In fact, this thread reminds me that I was going to e-mail all those people to see if they want to pull together something for this CSUN.
Anyone else interested in this topic?
Thanks,
Tim
From: Elle
Date: Thu, Sep 19 2013 10:02PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Tim:
I'm very interested in this topic, and I think that the participants on
this thread would be a great place on where to start to get the right
voices. :)
Cheers,
Elle
If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the people to gather wood,
divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast
and endless sea.
- Antoine De Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 10:24 PM, Tim Harshbarger <
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> I had the great fortune last CSUN to get a couple additional colleagues to
> attend the conference. Afterwards, the PM who had come along suggested
> that it would be really great if we could get people together and have some
> sessions that focused on these types of topics. In fact, this thread
> reminds me that I was going to e-mail all those people to see if they want
> to pull together something for this CSUN.
>
> Anyone else interested in this topic?
>
> Thanks,
> Tim
> > > >
From: Denis Boudreau
Date: Thu, Sep 19 2013 10:32PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Hey,
I am definitely interested in this as well.
While it's not much, I have started thinking about this as well, and would be happy to contribute to the effort: http://www.w3.org/community/wai-engage/wiki/Accessibility_Responsibility_Breakdown#Project_management
/Denis
On 2013-09-20, at 12:02 AM, Elle < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Tim:
>
> I'm very interested in this topic, and I think that the participants on
> this thread would be a great place on where to start to get the right
> voices. :)
>
>
> Cheers,
> Elle
>
>
> If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the people to gather wood,
> divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast
> and endless sea.
> - Antoine De Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 10:24 PM, Tim Harshbarger <
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
>> I had the great fortune last CSUN to get a couple additional colleagues to
>> attend the conference. Afterwards, the PM who had come along suggested
>> that it would be really great if we could get people together and have some
>> sessions that focused on these types of topics. In fact, this thread
>> reminds me that I was going to e-mail all those people to see if they want
>> to pull together something for this CSUN.
>>
>> Anyone else interested in this topic?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Tim
>> >> >> >>
> > >
From: Don Mauck
Date: Fri, Sep 20 2013 10:04AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Interesting topic for sure, be interesting to see where this goes.
From: Sarah Horton
Date: Fri, Sep 20 2013 10:10AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Tim, I'm interested in pursing this topic as well. Thanks, everyone, for all the great discussion!
Sarah
On Sep 19, 2013, at 10:24 PM, Tim Harshbarger < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> I had the great fortune last CSUN to get a couple additional colleagues to attend the conference. Afterwards, the PM who had come along suggested that it would be really great if we could get people together and have some sessions that focused on these types of topics. In fact, this thread reminds me that I was going to e-mail all those people to see if they want to pull together something for this CSUN.
>
> Anyone else interested in this topic?
>
> Thanks,
> Tim
> > >
From: Wyant, Jay (MNIT)
Date: Fri, Sep 20 2013 12:23PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
I'd like the goal of such a CSUN presentation to be some sort of reference product, whether a short white paper, checklist, or slide deck, that can be shared with project managers.
Jay
From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Sat, Sep 21 2013 2:35AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
I'll be glad to work with others on such a thing, but I will mention that I think that one of the problems I find with checklists is that they tend only to be useful to people who understand the items on the checklist.
For example, people often state that following WCAG 2.0 can still lead to an application being inaccessible. I agree with this to some degree, but not totally.
I have previously done some work with relationship to usability...and when we create style guides, we would often say that one can follow the style guide and still end up with an unusable site.
However, whether you are following a style guide or WCAG 2.0, a failure to make something either usable or accessible based on those things tends to be less an issue of the style guide or standards and more a problem of the implementers level of knowledge or skill on the topic.
So, I think it is valuable in any kind of presentation to provide people with a take away, one of the drawbacks of a checklists is that you need to ensure they walk away with enough knowledge to make proper use of that checklist.
Thinking about it, I suppose you share similar thoughts--and perhaps I'm overly sensitive to the issue because I've dealt with some people who either think checklists are evil or people who really want a checklist to be a cure all--and I expect a checklist isn't really any different than a hammer--a great tool when in the hands of a skilled carpenter and a really bad idea when placed in the hands of a 2 year old. At least, I've not met any toddlers to whom I want to hand a hammer--even if I wanted to use it as an illustration for accessibility purposes.
And for those of you who know me..please, if I ever look like I'm going to hand a hammer to a 2 year old because I have some crazy idea that it might make for a good illustration for a presentation, I beg of you to save me from my own creativity. While I have no fear of my own creativity, it is probably a good idea if others do.
Thanks,
Tim
From: Will Anderson
Date: Sat, Sep 21 2013 12:12PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Hi everyone,
Based on my experiences in the past year introducing accessibility to a
large legacy project, I was thinking about writing something I've
tentatively titled
"A practical guide to introducing accessibility to legacy projects"
Here's the rough outline I've got so far:
1. Introduction to the guide and links to everything it's not
1. *It is* meant to give practical advice for renovating existing
applications and incorporating accessibility thinking into your
process in
a prioritized step-wise fashion.
2. *It is *based on my experience introducing accessibility into one
project so some lessons may not apply in other contexts.
3. *It is not *an argument for incorporating accessibility into
products
4. *It is not* an argument for what counts as accessible. Each
product needs to determine that for itself when it comes to the details.
2. Background on the project these learnings came from
1. Small-medium sized team (roughly 25 developers, 6-8
product/project managers, 3 qa, 2 help desk, 4 designers)
2. Required to meet 508 standards but want to be accessible to all to
increase usability
3. Agile and test driven development development processes
4. Ruby on Rails and open source friendly
3. Steps
1. Gain executive buy in to begin aligning resources toward building
accessibility and ensure the rest of the team
2. Identify key stakeholders from different business units to be
local champions
3. Identify your application's a11y successes and failures. If you
can't do this, figure out a learning plan so that you can identify the
successes and failures.
4. Prioritize the failures in a way that makes sense for your
application and impact on your users
5. With stakeholders and execs, write a plan to spread knowledge
across all relevant business units
6. Start spreading knowledge
7. Reinforce executive buy-in
8. Prioritize spreading practical knowledge in your development
process. For example, we focused heavily on our developers to prevent
releasing more inacessible implementations and, once good there, went up
the design chain to product managers and design.
9. Create and begin tracking progress toward better accessibility
10. As you gain practical experience, identify tools which help
identifying a11y issues or prevent them from occurring again
1. Example for identifying issues: a11y users testing and
capybara-accessible or other automated testing for really
basic alerts
2. Example for preventing them from occurring again: centralize
design patterns in a live style guide that is continuously human and
machine audited
11. Celebrate major milestones in accessibility
4. Processes/ideas that really worked
5. Processes/ideas that didn't
For each of the above steps, I was thinking about breaking down what you
should expect each role in a team to be doing. Throughout, project/product
managers would be gluing the effort together and pushing it forward while
other roles would drop in and provide different skill sets.
What do folks think - useful? Any topics seem off base or missing from the
outline?
Regards,
Will
On Sat, Sep 21, 2013 at 4:35 AM, Tim Harshbarger <
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> I'll be glad to work with others on such a thing, but I will mention that
> I think that one of the problems I find with checklists is that they tend
> only to be useful to people who understand the items on the checklist.
>
>
> For example, people often state that following WCAG 2.0 can still lead to
> an application being inaccessible. I agree with this to some degree, but
> not totally.
>
> I have previously done some work with relationship to usability...and when
> we create style guides, we would often say that one can follow the style
> guide and still end up with an unusable site.
>
> However, whether you are following a style guide or WCAG 2.0, a failure to
> make something either usable or accessible based on those things tends to
> be less an issue of the style guide or standards and more a problem of the
> implementers level of knowledge or skill on the topic.
>
> So, I think it is valuable in any kind of presentation to provide people
> with a take away, one of the drawbacks of a checklists is that you need to
> ensure they walk away with enough knowledge to make proper use of that
> checklist.
>
> Thinking about it, I suppose you share similar thoughts--and perhaps I'm
> overly sensitive to the issue because I've dealt with some people who
> either think checklists are evil or people who really want a checklist to
> be a cure all--and I expect a checklist isn't really any different than a
> hammer--a great tool when in the hands of a skilled carpenter and a really
> bad idea when placed in the hands of a 2 year old. At least, I've not met
> any toddlers to whom I want to hand a hammer--even if I wanted to use it as
> an illustration for accessibility purposes.
>
> And for those of you who know me..please, if I ever look like I'm going to
> hand a hammer to a 2 year old because I have some crazy idea that it might
> make for a good illustration for a presentation, I beg of you to save me
> from my own creativity. While I have no fear of my own creativity, it is
> probably a good idea if others do.
>
> Thanks,
> Tim
> > > >
--
Mobile: 917-330-9016
From: Julie Romanowski
Date: Sat, Sep 21 2013 6:13PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Thanks for the laugh, Tim! :D
From: Julius Charles Serrano
Date: Sun, Sep 22 2013 5:34PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Hi Tim, I am interested in this topic. I think sessions about
accessibility for PMs are a good idea.
Hi Denis. Thanks for sharing your wai-engage resource on the
accessibility responsibilities breakdown.
From: Cameron Cundiff
Date: Mon, Sep 23 2013 7:36AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
I've worked with Will on the project he's describing, and they've had a
successful effort at accessibility remediation, training, and cultural
integration. The strategies he outlined are effective and based on
experience, and the open source tooling they've pioneering
(capybara-accessible included) is creative. Keep your eyes peeled for his
comments, they're the real deal.
Cameron
On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 7:34 PM, Julius Charles Serrano <
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Hi Tim, I am interested in this topic. I think sessions about
> accessibility for PMs are a good idea.
>
> Hi Denis. Thanks for sharing your wai-engage resource on the
> accessibility responsibilities breakdown.
>
>
> > > >
From: Wyant, Jay (MNIT)
Date: Mon, Sep 23 2013 8:09AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Tim,
Just make sure the hammer (maul?) is too heavy for the 2-year old to pick up, and you've got a good illustration. There's always photoshop!
I get your concern with lists. Caveats are critical. My request is based on the reality that 99.5% of the project managers out there don't attend CSUN or accessibility webinars. We need tools to raise their awareness and point them in the right direction.
Jay
From: Shawn Henry
Date: Mon, Sep 23 2013 5:06PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Julius Charles Serrano wrote:
> In addition to these, may I ask if you have any idea or pragmatic
> approach that is helpful in terms of web accessibility from a project
> management point of view?
Hi Julius & all,
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has several resources specifically for project managers, including:
* Implementation Plan for Web Accessibility <http://www.w3.org/WAI/impl/>;
* Improving the Accessibility of Your Website <http://www.w3.org/WAI/impl/improving>;
* Involving Users in Web Projects for Better, Easier Accessibility <http://www.w3.org/WAI/users/involving>;
WAI will soon start revising some of these resources to provide updated guidance for project managers, which we plan to complete within the next year. As always, we'd love help! If you might be interested in contributing to that through a WAI Working Group, let's chat.
Chagnon | PubCom wrote:
> Thanks. This thread is a keeper!
Is anyone interested in *sharing your wisdom, experience, tips, etc.* in a format that's a easier to bookmark than e-mail threads? To get going on that now, we started a *Managing Accessibility wiki page* on WAI-Engage at:
<http://www.w3.org/community/wai-engage/wiki/Managing_Accessibility>;
Anyone can read it, and anyone can sign up to edit it. (Instructions at <http://www.w3.org/community/wai-engage/wiki/About_WAI-Engage>;)
Wyant, Jay (MNIT) wrote:
> My request is based on the reality that 99.5% of the project managers out there don't attend CSUN or accessibility webinars. We need tools to raise their awareness and point them in the right direction.
The wiki page is an opportunity to share guidance beyond an accessibility mailing list. It'd be great if folks would contribute to it. :)
Best,
~Shawn
-----
Shawn Lawton Henry
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
e-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
phone: +1.617.395.7664
about: http://www.w3.org/People/Shawn/
From: Jennifer Sutton
Date: Mon, Sep 23 2013 5:22PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Greetings, all:
This discussion has been a timely and valuable one for me.
Stand-alone Checklists, without preparatory background training, make
me nervous. I wonder if other fields look for checklists/quick fixes
as often as some do in the accessibility field. This is more of a
rhetorical question and isn't meant to spark debate -- not at all!
But I wonder whether a project manager who was working with a team of
Agile programmers would expect to be given a checklist, and that
would be good enough.
At any rate, in an effort to add something, aside from idle
ponderings, to the discussion, I'm wondering whether anyone has read
this book, and whether it might have tips for project managers in it.
Strategic IT Accessibility: Enabling the Organization
http://www.strategicaccessibility.com/
Please note that I haven't read it, and I have no affiliation with
Mr. Kline, so I'm not mentioning it in an effort to encourage
everyone to rush out and buy the book.
But it is the main accessibility-related resource I've heard of (in
recent years, anyway) that talks specifically about strategy. If I've
missed something else, I'd be glad to know of it.
I look forward to further discussions on this subject, and I hope
some of you (as I aim to do), will find time to help Denis with the
Accessibility Responsibility Breakdown. That document would be *so*
helpful in my world.
Best,
Jennifer
From: Julius Charles Serrano
Date: Mon, Sep 23 2013 5:49PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Thank you for these WAI resources, Shawn.
On 9/24/2013 11:06 AM, Shawn Henry wrote:
> Julius Charles Serrano wrote:
>> In addition to these, may I ask if you have any idea or pragmatic
>> approach that is helpful in terms of web accessibility from a project
>> management point of view?
>
> Hi Julius & all,
>
> W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has several resources
> specifically for project managers, including:
> * Implementation Plan for Web Accessibility <http://www.w3.org/WAI/impl/>;
> * Improving the Accessibility of Your Website
> <http://www.w3.org/WAI/impl/improving>;
> * Involving Users in Web Projects for Better, Easier Accessibility
> <http://www.w3.org/WAI/users/involving>;
>
> WAI will soon start revising some of these resources to provide
> updated guidance for project managers, which we plan to complete
> within the next year. As always, we'd love help! If you might be
> interested in contributing to that through a WAI Working Group, let's
> chat.
>
> Chagnon | PubCom wrote:
>> Thanks. This thread is a keeper!
>
> Is anyone interested in *sharing your wisdom, experience, tips, etc.*
> in a format that's a easier to bookmark than e-mail threads? To get
> going on that now, we started a *Managing Accessibility wiki page* on
> WAI-Engage at:
> <http://www.w3.org/community/wai-engage/wiki/Managing_Accessibility>;
> Anyone can read it, and anyone can sign up to edit it. (Instructions
> at <http://www.w3.org/community/wai-engage/wiki/About_WAI-Engage>;)
>
> Wyant, Jay (MNIT) wrote:
>> My request is based on the reality that 99.5% of the project managers
>> out there don't attend CSUN or accessibility webinars. We need tools
>> to raise their awareness and point them in the right direction.
>
> The wiki page is an opportunity to share guidance beyond an
> accessibility mailing list. It'd be great if folks would contribute to
> it. :)
>
> Best,
> ~Shawn
>
>
> -----
> Shawn Lawton Henry
> W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
> Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
> e-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> phone: +1.617.395.7664
> about: http://www.w3.org/People/Shawn/
--
Julius Charles Serrano
Accessibility Specialist
Catalyst IT Ltd
http://www.catalyst.net.nz
Mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Phone: +64 (4) 803-2436
From: Jennison Asuncion
Date: Mon, Sep 23 2013 6:43PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Hi,
Apologies if these points have already been raised (lots of good conversation on this thread). Here's what I think needs to be considered for any PM accessibility resource. Full disclosure, I'm a recovering PM.
1. The one question that IT PMs I've spoken to all want an answer for is how to budget for accessibility. Ultimately, they need to understand time, cost, and resources necessary. They don't have time to read through lots of material to determine this either and telling them that the cost is minimal if you integrate accessibility from the start isn't that useful when they are facing having to complete a budget/resourcing plan.
2. Many IT projects today are using/moving toward an agile model (and away from the waterfall model). Any PM accessibility resource needs to address itself to this reality.
3. Not to overstate the obvious, before going down too far the path and putting out a resource for PMs, it would be really good to do a smoke test with IT PMs in the field to see if anything is being missed.
Jennison
Jennison Mark Asuncion
Co-Director, Adaptech Research Network http://www.adaptech.org
LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennison
Follow me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/jennison
Accessibility Camp Toronto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeP5Kl4GDgA
From: Morin, Gary (NIH/OD) [E]
Date: Tue, Sep 24 2013 1:02PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Don't have my copy of this book with me, but I do back in my office and it's worth a read. Will have to pick it up again and give it another read - it's been a while. I'm surrounded by Project Managers in the government OCIO where I work - hmmm
At any rate, in an effort to add something, aside from idle ponderings, to the discussion, I'm wondering whether anyone has read this book, and whether it might have tips for project managers in it. Strategic IT Accessibility: Enabling the Organization http://www.strategicaccessibility.com/
From: Jennifer Sutton [ = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2013 07:22 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
Greetings, all:
This discussion has been a timely and valuable one for me.
Stand-alone Checklists, without preparatory background training, make
me nervous. I wonder if other fields look for checklists/quick fixes
as often as some do in the accessibility field. This is more of a
rhetorical question and isn't meant to spark debate -- not at all!
But I wonder whether a project manager who was working with a team of
Agile programmers would expect to be given a checklist, and that
would be good enough.
At any rate, in an effort to add something, aside from idle
ponderings, to the discussion, I'm wondering whether anyone has read
this book, and whether it might have tips for project managers in it.
Strategic IT Accessibility: Enabling the Organization
http://www.strategicaccessibility.com/
Please note that I haven't read it, and I have no affiliation with
Mr. Kline, so I'm not mentioning it in an effort to encourage
everyone to rush out and buy the book.
But it is the main accessibility-related resource I've heard of (in
recent years, anyway) that talks specifically about strategy. If I've
missed something else, I'd be glad to know of it.
I look forward to further discussions on this subject, and I hope
some of you (as I aim to do), will find time to help Denis with the
Accessibility Responsibility Breakdown. That document would be *so*
helpful in my world.
Best,
Jennifer
From: Dr Jonathan Hassell
Date: Wed, Sep 25 2013 3:49PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | Next message →
Hopefully this is something I can help everyone with...
I know Jeff Kline well and have read his book and discussed it with him often. It is definitely a great book for anyone looking at strategic aspects of web accessibility, and it's main strength is around how to situate the person responsible for accessibility within large organisations (like IBM, which Jeff draws most of his experience from).
You can find my captioned video interview with Jeff, discussing his book and comparing it with the British Standards for Accessibility Strategy BS 8878, which I was lead-author of, at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg3TA3WtEwc
You might also be interested in BS 8878 itself - it's one of the only accessibility Standards in the world that looks at accessibility from a strategic perspective. At its heart is a 16 step process identifying the key steps in a website or app's development lifecycle which most impact its accessibility. I've used this to train many product and project managers in how to effectively manage accessibility. It goes into detail on such issues as: estimating and managing the cost-benefits and challenge of making different types of website (informational, transactional, Software as a Service/Cloud, multimedia etc.) accessible; how to capture accessibility requirements (both quality requirements and specific accessibility functionality) and place them in an Agile backlog; how to plan testing through the project; how to ensure each member of the development team knows what their responsibility is for ensuring their decisions don't unnecessarily exclude disabled or older users (I miss
ed Denis' email but I guess this is the Accessibility Responsibility Breakdown he's after); and how project managers can handle the multiple pressures on a development project, balancing launch deadlines and resource availability with accessibility aims and risk.
It's the most comprehensive guide to accessibility for project managers that I know, and I've trained organisations in countries all round the world in its application... so much so that I'm just finishing writing a book about it at the moment, which should be published in the next 6 months.
For now, you can find more info at: http://www.hassellinclusion.com/bs8878/
Check it out and let me know what you think.
Best regards
Jonathan
--
Prof Jonathan Hassell
Director, Hassell Inclusion
Blog: http://hassellinclusion.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jonhassell
From: "Morin, Gary (NIH/OD) [E]" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
Date: 24 September 2013 21:02:00 CEST
To: WebAIM Discussion List < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Reply-To: WebAIM Discussion List < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Don't have my copy of this book with me, but I do back in my office and it's worth a read. Will have to pick it up again and give it another read - it's been a while. I'm surrounded by Project Managers in the government OCIO where I work - hmmm
At any rate, in an effort to add something, aside from idle ponderings, to the discussion, I'm wondering whether anyone has read this book, and whether it might have tips for project managers in it. Strategic IT Accessibility: Enabling the Organization http://www.strategicaccessibility.com/
From: Jennifer Sutton [ = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2013 07:22 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
Greetings, all:
This discussion has been a timely and valuable one for me.
Stand-alone Checklists, without preparatory background training, make
me nervous. I wonder if other fields look for checklists/quick fixes
as often as some do in the accessibility field. This is more of a
rhetorical question and isn't meant to spark debate -- not at all!
But I wonder whether a project manager who was working with a team of
Agile programmers would expect to be given a checklist, and that
would be good enough.
At any rate, in an effort to add something, aside from idle
ponderings, to the discussion, I'm wondering whether anyone has read
this book, and whether it might have tips for project managers in it.
Strategic IT Accessibility: Enabling the Organization
http://www.strategicaccessibility.com/
Please note that I haven't read it, and I have no affiliation with
Mr. Kline, so I'm not mentioning it in an effort to encourage
everyone to rush out and buy the book.
But it is the main accessibility-related resource I've heard of (in
recent years, anyway) that talks specifically about strategy. If I've
missed something else, I'd be glad to know of it.
I look forward to further discussions on this subject, and I hope
some of you (as I aim to do), will find time to help Denis with the
Accessibility Responsibility Breakdown. That document would be *so*
helpful in my world.
Best,
Jennifer
From: Antoinette Fennell CFIT
Date: Fri, Sep 27 2013 1:55AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
← Previous message | No next message
Hello all,
The National Disability Authority's Centre for Excellence in Universal Design (Ireland) offer guidance for the procurement stage of a design project which can be found at the following link:
http://www.universaldesign.ie/useandapply/ict/itprocurementtoolkit
While this doesn't cover project management as a whole, it does provide useful information around procurement.
Kind regards,
Antoinette
Dr Antoinette Fennell
Universal Design and Digital Inclusion Researcher
Centre for Inclusive Technology (CFIT)
NCBI: Working for People with Sight Loss
Whitworth Road
Drumcondra
Dublin 9
Tel: 01 8821 988
Tel (from outside Ireland): +353 1 8821 988
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Web: www.cfit.ie
On 26 Sep 2013, at 19:00, = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = wrote:
>
> From: Dr Jonathan Hassell < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> Date: 25 September 2013 22:49:39 GMT+01:00
> To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
> Reply-To: WebAIM Discussion List < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>
>
> Hopefully this is something I can help everyone with...
>
> I know Jeff Kline well and have read his book and discussed it with him often. It is definitely a great book for anyone looking at strategic aspects of web accessibility, and it's main strength is around how to situate the person responsible for accessibility within large organisations (like IBM, which Jeff draws most of his experience from).
>
> You can find my captioned video interview with Jeff, discussing his book and comparing it with the British Standards for Accessibility Strategy BS 8878, which I was lead-author of, at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg3TA3WtEwc
>
> You might also be interested in BS 8878 itself - it's one of the only accessibility Standards in the world that looks at accessibility from a strategic perspective. At its heart is a 16 step process identifying the key steps in a website or app's development lifecycle which most impact its accessibility. I've used this to train many product and project managers in how to effectively manage accessibility. It goes into detail on such issues as: estimating and managing the cost-benefits and challenge of making different types of website (informational, transactional, Software as a Service/Cloud, multimedia etc.) accessible; how to capture accessibility requirements (both quality requirements and specific accessibility functionality) and place them in an Agile backlog; how to plan testing through the project; how to ensure each member of the development team knows what their responsibility is for ensuring their decisions don't unnecessarily exclude disabled or older users (I mi
ssed Denis' email but I guess this is the Accessibility Responsibility Breakdown he's after); and how project managers can handle the multiple pressures on a development project, balancing launch deadlines and resource availability with accessibility aims and risk.
>
> It's the most comprehensive guide to accessibility for project managers that I know, and I've trained organisations in countries all round the world in its application... so much so that I'm just finishing writing a book about it at the moment, which should be published in the next 6 months.
>
> For now, you can find more info at: http://www.hassellinclusion.com/bs8878/
>
> Check it out and let me know what you think.
>
> Best regards
>
> Jonathan
>
> --
>
> Prof Jonathan Hassell
> Director, Hassell Inclusion
>
> Blog: http://hassellinclusion.com
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/jonhassell
>
> From: "Morin, Gary (NIH/OD) [E]" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
> Date: 24 September 2013 21:02:00 CEST
> To: WebAIM Discussion List < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> Reply-To: WebAIM Discussion List < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>
>
> Don't have my copy of this book with me, but I do back in my office and it's worth a read. Will have to pick it up again and give it another read - it's been a while. I'm surrounded by Project Managers in the government OCIO where I work - hmmm
>
> At any rate, in an effort to add something, aside from idle ponderings, to the discussion, I'm wondering whether anyone has read this book, and whether it might have tips for project managers in it. Strategic IT Accessibility: Enabling the Organization http://www.strategicaccessibility.com/
> > From: Jennifer Sutton [ = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
> Sent: Monday, September 23, 2013 07:22 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility for Project Managers - your thoughts?
>
> Greetings, all:
>
>
> This discussion has been a timely and valuable one for me.
>
> Stand-alone Checklists, without preparatory background training, make
> me nervous. I wonder if other fields look for checklists/quick fixes
> as often as some do in the accessibility field. This is more of a
> rhetorical question and isn't meant to spark debate -- not at all!
> But I wonder whether a project manager who was working with a team of
> Agile programmers would expect to be given a checklist, and that
> would be good enough.
>
> At any rate, in an effort to add something, aside from idle
> ponderings, to the discussion, I'm wondering whether anyone has read
> this book, and whether it might have tips for project managers in it.
>
> Strategic IT Accessibility: Enabling the Organization
> http://www.strategicaccessibility.com/
>
>
> Please note that I haven't read it, and I have no affiliation with
> Mr. Kline, so I'm not mentioning it in an effort to encourage
> everyone to rush out and buy the book.
>
> But it is the main accessibility-related resource I've heard of (in
> recent years, anyway) that talks specifically about strategy. If I've
> missed something else, I'd be glad to know of it.
>
> I look forward to further discussions on this subject, and I hope
> some of you (as I aim to do), will find time to help Denis with the
> Accessibility Responsibility Breakdown. That document would be *so*
> helpful in my world.
>
> Best,
> Jennifer
>
>
>
>
> > > Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ncbiworkingforpeoplewithsightloss
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ncbi_sightloss
Check-out NCBI's Micheal O Muircheartaigh appeal on the following link.
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