Top 10 Pro Tips For A 3-Month Plan to Kickstart Your Accessibility

As you gear up to kickstart accessibility testing, you’re likely aiming for more than just planning, executing and incorporating it into the product’s workflow. Your goal is to ensure that your entire team is well informed and educated about accessibility. You understand the significance of not only implementing accessibility measures but also fostering a culture of awareness and understanding within your team.

However, you might be unsure about how to plan and estimate the duration of this endeavor. But worry not! I have the perfect solution for you. Based on my personal experience, I’ve crafted a comprehensive 3-month plan consisting of ten “must-know” professional tips. This guide will empower you to kickstart your accessibility testing journey for your software products, ensuring you begin on the right track.

Here’s a suggestive roadmap:

Week 1 — Week 2: Initiation and Education

In the first fortnight, concentrate on educating your team about the critical nature of digital accessibility. Familiarize them with the necessary terms, concepts, and legal and ethical implications of accessible software.

Consider incorporating the following methods to achieve this goal:

• Internal workshops — Use internal workshops where your team can learn about the critical nature of digital accessibility, including essential terms, concepts, and legal and ethical implications.
• Webinars — Consider hosting webinars during the initial weeks to provide your team with insights from industry experts, helping them understand the importance of digital accessibility and gain practical knowledge.
• Online courses —Encourage your team to explore online courses on platforms like Coursera and LinkedIn Learning, which offer comprehensive resources to familiarize themselves with digital accessibility principles, techniques, and implementation strategies.

Week 3 — Week 4: Diving into Accessibility Guidelines

Next, devote two weeks for your team to thoroughly understand the WCAG guidelines. This period is for translating these principles into practical considerations for your product’s design and functionalities.

Consider incorporating the following methods to achieve this goal:

• Self-study of WCAG documentation — Allocate time for self-study of WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) documentation, allowing team members to independently explore and familiarize themselves with the guidelines to ensure a solid understanding of accessibility requirements.
• Group discussion sessions to interpret and understand guidelines — Organize group discussion sessions where team members can collaboratively interpret and discuss the WCAG guidelines, enabling them to gain a collective understanding and address any questions or uncertainties that may arise.

Week 5: Resource Allocation and Design Considerations

By the fifth week, identify volunteers or dedicated team members who will take responsibility for overseeing and addressing any accessibility violations. Concurrently, start discussions of incorporating accessibility into your product’s designs.

Consider incorporating the following methods to achieve this goal:

• Team meetings to assign roles and responsibilities — Schedule team meetings to establish clear roles and responsibilities related to accessibility, ensuring that each team member understands their specific tasks and contributions towards achieving accessibility goals.
• Use of accessibility-focused design tools — Incorporate accessibility-focused design tools such as Stark, a plugin compatible with design software like Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD, to facilitate the creation of accessible designs, helping your team identify and address accessibility issues during the design process.

Week 6 — Week 7: Crafting the Testing Strategy

Spend the next two weeks crafting a comprehensive testing strategy. The strategy should detail what aspects will be tested, the methods of testing, and how to document and rectify issues.

Consider incorporating the following methods to achieve this goal:

• Brainstorming sessions -Conduct brainstorming sessions with your team to encourage creativity and generate innovative ideas for enhancing accessibility in your project, fostering collaboration and bringing diverse perspectives to the table.
• Use of project management tools — Utilize project management tools like JIRA to create and assign tasks related to accessibility, ensuring a streamlined workflow, efficient task management, and clear accountability throughout the accessibility testing and implementation process.

Week 8 — Week 10: Implementation of Testing Strategy

Over the following three weeks, execute your testing strategy. Start with automated testing (if possible), proceed to manual checks, and wrap up with user testing, always with a lens on real-world usability.

Consider incorporating the following methods to achieve this goal:

• Automated testing tools like aXe, WAVE, Lighthouse — Incorporate automated testing tools such as aXe, WAVE, and Lighthouse to scan and analyze your digital content for accessibility issues, providing quick feedback and identifying potential problems that can be addressed during the development process.
• Manual testing following WCAG checkpoints — Conduct manual testing following the guidelines provided by WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) checkpoints to thoroughly evaluate your digital content and ensure that it meets the necessary accessibility standards, addressing specific requirements that may not be easily detected by automated tools.
• User testing with people from diverse ability backgrounds — Engage in user testing by involving individuals from diverse ability backgrounds to gather valuable feedback and insights regarding the accessibility of your digital product. This firsthand user feedback can help identify barriers, usability issues, and areas of improvement to enhance the accessibility and usability of your product for all users.

Week 11: Issue Documentation and Prioritization

In the second-to-last week, document and prioritize the accessibility issues you’ve discovered based on their user experience impact.

Consider incorporating the following methods to achieve this goal:

• Use of bug tracking tools like JIRA, GitHub Issues — Utilize bug tracking tools like JIRA or GitHub Issues to efficiently track and manage accessibility-related issues discovered during testing, ensuring that they are documented, assigned to the appropriate team members, and tracked until resolution.
• Team meetings for discussing and prioritizing issues — Schedule regular team meetings to discuss and prioritize the accessibility-related issues identified through testing and bug tracking. These meetings provide an opportunity for team members to collaborate, share insights, and make informed decisions on issue resolution, ensuring that accessibility concerns are addressed effectively.

Week 12: Remediation and Retesting

The final week is for addressing the high-priority issues and retesting. Ensure all major functionalities of your software are accessible.

Consider incorporating the following methods to achieve this goal:

• Developers to work on fixing the issues — Assign developers to work on resolving the identified accessibility issues, ensuring that they have a clear understanding of the problems and collaborate closely with the design and testing teams to implement the necessary fixes.
• Retest using the same tools and methods as in Week 8 — Week 10 — Assign developers to work on resolving the identified accessibility issues, ensuring that they have a clear understanding of the problems and collaborate closely with the design and testing teams to implement the necessary fixes.

Week 13: Building an Accessibility Culture

Wrap up the three-month period by starting to build an accessibility-first culture within your team. This ongoing process will involve regular training, feedback, and updates to stay in sync with accessibility advancements.

Consider incorporating the following methods to achieve this goal:

• Regular team meetings to discuss new updates in accessibility standards — Schedule regular team meetings to keep everyone informed about the latest updates in accessibility standards, guidelines, and best practices, ensuring that your team stays up-to-date with industry developments and can incorporate the most current accessibility requirements into their work.
• Accessibility workshops and training sessions — Conduct accessibility workshops and training sessions to provide ongoing education and skill development opportunities for your team. These sessions can cover topics such as advanced accessibility techniques, emerging trends, and practical implementation strategies, enhancing the team’s expertise in creating accessible digital content.
• Inviting guest speakers who are accessibility experts to talk to your team — Organize guest speaker sessions where renowned accessibility experts can share their knowledge, experiences, and insights with your team. Inviting guest speakers can provide valuable perspectives, real-world examples, and best practices, further enriching your team’s understanding of accessibility and inspiring them to strive for higher accessibility standards.

Summing up

From experience, kickstarting accessibility testing within this three-month timeline is achievable, but it demands commitment and attention to detail. It’s, however, crucial to bear in mind that accessibility is not a short-lived endeavor; it’s a continuous journey that extends far beyond these initial months.

All the suggested methods for incorporating accessibility provided earlier are just a starting point. You have the flexibility to tailor the methods according to the unique requirements and capabilities of your team. Embrace the opportunity to adapt and refine the approaches to best suit your team’s needs.

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to follow me for more. Thanks!