Stronger Together: Developing an Organizational Strategy for Accessible Design (UXPA BOS 2024)

UXPA Boston presentation by Leigh Ann Caulfield and Caitlin Gebhard, BORN Group.

1. Stronger Together Developing an Organizational Strategy for Accessible Design Caitlin Gebhard and Leigh Ann Caulfield

2. Who are we?

3. Caitlin Gebhard Senior Content Strategist Pronouns: They/Them IAAP CPACC

4. Leigh Ann Caulfield Senior Experience Researcher Pronouns: She/Her IAAP CPACC

5. A little about BORN BORN is a global design agency. At BORN, we are humans first, researchers, designers, and strategists second. Together, we are motivated by a shared goal — improving people’s lives through strategic design. Our Legacy Mad*Pow → BORN XDS → BORN Group → BORN by Tech Mahindra Americas

6. BORN: What we do Experience Strategy Content Strategy Data Science Behavior Change Design Transformation User Experience Design Visual Design Branding Strategy Consulting Research and Testing Content Production Digital Marketing Implementation Post - Production SEO / SEM Strategy Creative Content

7. What are we talking about today?

8. To me, my AX-men! 01 Accessibility, UX, and You Now it’s your turn! Strategies! Yay! Agenda A case study of BORN’s accessibility team Organizational accessibility maturity levels Intro to cross-functional accessibility teams Lessons learned by doing the work 03 02 04 Our Accessibility Era: BORN’s Version

9. Learning outcomes What can people expect to learn from this presentation? Understand the basics of organizational accessibility maturity models Arguments for building a cross-functional accessibility team Practical strategies for starting an accessibility team 1 2 3

10. Accessibility, UX, and You 01

11. What do we mean when we say Accessibility ? Accessibility is how well a person can engage with an equivalent experience of a product, service, or interaction regardless of their physical, cognitive, emotional, and social abilities .

12. It’s more than digital accessibility. It’s experience accessibility. MEANINGFUL Evokes feeling of success, delight, and trust USABLE Generally usable, functions as expected COMPLIANT Technically meets legal requirements

13. Why Accessibility? More reach Bigger audience More conversions More impact / revenue Build trust Yay community Improve lives For real. Better UX Improves UX for everyone DEIA Intersects with DEI work Avoid lawsuits It’s the law, my dude Better tech Robust code A11y

14. Where does Accessibility happen? Everywhere, everyone. Accessibility plays a role at every stage of the UX process, from research to development and beyond. It’s what you do and how you do it. And that means accessibility is everyone’s responsibility. Personas and Scoping requirements User research with people with disabilities Accessible development Accessible UX and visual design Testing with assistive tech users

15. That sounds great! But it’s not happening.

16. We can use maturity models to describe an organization’s location along a spectrum of what it means to support accessibility.

17. Where are we? Accessibility work is ad hoc, not documented, or driven by grassroots efforts Your organization has committed to accessibility and is focusing on establishing its policy, processes, training, and key partnerships. Repeatable practices are in place and the focus on scaling and continuing to up-level the practice. Initiating Establishing Scaling Deque’s Accessibility Maturity Model

18. Fostering a culture that’s ready for change Leadership buy-in Staff education and skill development Repeatable processes . . . Building an accessibility team can help you do all of this, and more! How do we level up? Focused effort, incremental change.

19. To me, my AX-Men! 02

20. What do we mean when we say Cross-functional Team ? A group of people (3+) with different roles and responsibilities in your organization working together.

21. Why cross-functional teams? The more champions the better. Allows for greater buy-in & participation Ability to divide and conquer accessibility tasks Supports sustainability - helps protect the team from staff attrition, such as layoffs or resignations

22. Why cross-functional teams? Different angles, more solutions. Leads to greater innovation and problem-solving. Integrates accessibility throughout the development process, rather during a single design phase Allows for resource sharing, such as tools or guidelines

23. Cross-functional teams are critical for effective & sustainable organizational change.

24. Our Accessibility Era: BORN’s Version 03

25. In the beginning… Accessibility is dead, long live Accessibility! Winter is coming… A ccessibility at our organization had laxed over time (our champions left). Changing leadership and a looming integration with a larger design agency, with unknown accessibility chops and resources. We had dreams! And we were going to make them a reality. But how? Long time champions, first time organizers.

26. Part 1: Where are we now? We need to learn : What are the current processes and cultures around accessibility? What knowledge and skills are present among staff? Problem to solve: We don’t know our current accessibility maturity.

27. What did we do? Grounded our planning with research Conducted a survey & informal interviews with staff across the organization. Captured a baseline understanding of interest and future ideas. Determined our maturity level Aligned our organization with accessibility maturity models and determined our positioning. Part 1: Where are we now? Example survey questions How familiar are you with accessibility topics and practices? How confident are you integrating accessibility into your own work? What parts of the design process does accessibility typical show up? In what ways would you like to bring accessibility into our work that’s not currently happening?

28. What happened? Part 1: Where are we now? Uncovered opportunities for growth Seeded interest Identified individual interest and understanding, accessibility practice gaps, and key barriers to integrating accessibility across the organization. Started gaining initial buy-in for the accessibility team and found some champions to join our quest!

29. Accessibility work is ad hoc, not documented, or driven by grassroots efforts Your organization has committed to accessibility and is focusing on establishing its policy, processes, training, and key partnerships. Repeatable practices are in place and the focus on scaling and continuing to up-level the practice. Initiating Establishing Scaling BORN’s Initial Accessibility Maturity Part 1: Where are we now?

30. What did we learn? Part 1: Where are we now? We’re not alone! Mixed methods was a great idea. More people are interested / know about accessibility than we thought. Mixed methods research yielded rich perspectives and understanding Reach more than the usual suspects. Talking to leadership AND practitioners was good! And sales! Not just the folks who you think might already touch accessibility.

31. Part 2: Pull the team together Known challenges: Large, multi-faceted organization Silos within the organization Participation capacity Problem to solve: It can’t be just Leigh Ann and Caitlin!

32. What did we do? Shared our vision Hosted a “lunch and learn” to share our research findings and introduce the idea of an accessibility team. Kept the conversation going Revived an accessibility Slack channel for communication, collaboration, and resource sharing. Part 2: Pull the team together Took the steering wheel Created a steering committee that meet weekly (i.e. Leigh Ann & Caitlin) Invited people to the party Initiated a full group monthly meeting, across agencies, open to any and all

33. The steering committee Part 2: Pull the team together Don’t do it alone. Coordinates team meetings and activities Sees and shapes the big picture Provides leadership for decision making Liaisons between teams, leadership, and points of contact Keeps the momentum going

34. BORN Accessibility Team Part 2: Pull the team together Teamwork makes the dream work . Researchers UX and Visual Designers Content Strategists Frontend Developers Sales/Business Development Practitioners and managers 3 agencies represented 4-12 participants in any given meeting Meetings included updates, shared learning discussions, project reviews, pep talks

35. The first team meeting Part 2: Pull the team together Shape the team, as a team Invited people from different departments across multiple channels Asked about accommodations / preferences before the meetings Used Miro board activities to learn: What do you know/your skills What are our team goals

36. What happened? Part 2: Pull the team together Launched the accessibility team Set a tone of collaboration and openness Identified the team’s strengths, participation capacity, and goals for ourselves and our organization. Balanced leadership from the steering committee with collaboration and direction from the larger group, bringing in voices across the agency. Found more champions Identified more people across the organization with skills – or at least interest – in accessibility; increased awareness of accessibility “initiative”.

37. What did we learn? Part 2: Pull the team together Participation will ebb and flow. Start with your reach. Understanding how much people can participate grounds expectations. Starting with our sphere of influence made for more manageable, yet still diverse, team size. Reaching “middle management” (but not leadership) was still effective. People want to learn. People want to help. Even if someone didn’t have knowledge or skills, interest in learning was a big driver for participation. We didn’t encounter any enemies (at this point).

38. Part 3: Create a roadmap Known challenges: Need to change the way we work and the way we think. Resources will vary. Making changes won’t happen overnight. Problem to solve: We have big dreams! How do we get there?

39. What did we do? Create a plan. Organized several collaborative workshop sessions with our new accessibility team to identify goals and activities for our roadmap. Part 3: Create a roadmap

40. Workshop Leverage your team Defined goals from previous research, initial team meeting Prioritized outcomes Identified activities to reach those goals Part 3: Create a roadmap

41. Refine Keep it focused Steering committee refined and organized Full team gave final polish and priorities Part 3: Create a roadmap

42. What does this look like? Part 3: Create a roadmap Learning is ad hoc amongst individuals. Resources are unorganized, siloed, and/or out of date. Current State What are we doing now? Coordinate group learning events Develop a resource library Activities What will we do? We have a structure to support continual learning and foster development of accessibility expertise Goal What will have changed? North Star: We stand out as an expert in integrating accessibility into strategic design, research strategies, and product development.

43. What happened? Part 3: Create a roadmap Plotted our route. Created a living document. Identified bite-sized, tangible activities of work for people to tackle -and how each activity fits into the overall goal. Created a document that we would refer to and revise throughout our first year.

44. What did we learn? Part 3: Create a roadmap Prepare for change. Share our roadmap with leadership earlier. We encountered new requests and new perspectives that shifted our roadmap activities and priorities. (A more centralized, easily editable document type would have been GREAT). In hindsight, sharing our roadmap with top leadership earlier would have helped make future activities and requests smoother.

45. Part 4: Take action Known challenges: Everyone is busy Other organizational changes and shifting priorities Unknown level of agency Problem to solve: How can we get people to do the things?

46. What did we do? Part 4: Take action Created working groups. Invited ourselves to the table and sat down. Initialized during team meetings, provided structure for team members to volunteer and collaborate on prioritized activities in mini groups.. Took any opportunity to involve an accessibility perspective, from sales pitches to internal projects, whether we were invited or not. We volunteered!

47. What happened? We did things! Between working groups and steering committee, some activities on our roadmap got accomplished. Part 4: Take action Ripple effect As we started to involve ourselves and spread awareness, we were asked to be more involved in more projects. Cross-team bonding Created connections between teams, and between agencies. Confidence boost Practitioners felt more empowered to speak up and confident in their work as they put accessibility into practice.

48. What did we learn? Working groups worked! Mini cross-functional teams provided diverse skills, accountability, and momentum to get things done. Part 4: Take action Not everyone is going to lead. Some tasks and activities require the steering committee to tackle. Pivot. Organizational changes mean that priorities, process, and landscape change. You may need to put something down to tackle later. Socializing is hard! It’s challenging to know who to share outputs with and when.

49. Epilogue: Is it working?

50. Accessibility work is ad hoc, not documented, or driven by grassroots efforts Your organization has committed to accessibility and is focusing on establishing its policy, processes, training, and key partnerships. Repeatable practices are in place and the focus on scaling and continuing to up-level the practice. Initiating Establishing Scaling BORN’s Current Accessibility Maturity Epilogue : Is it working?

51. What did we accomplish? Epilogue: Is it working? Formalized messaging Mission Statement, Accessibility Policy, Capability/Offerings decks Accessibility on the menu Accessibility services included in new sales pitches to prospective clients. Accessibility in practice In scope, accessible design consulting/reviews and web/mobile accessibility audits for internal and client projects Shared resources Figma annotated design files, BORN-wide accessibility resource library

52. We conducted a brief survey to understand impact of the Accessibility Initiative since its inception. N=16 of 24; 67% response rate Mid-analysis, but we have some early findings What changed? Epilogue: Is it working?

53. “I have seen major needs on the client side and the BORN teams advocating for and implementing best practices (to the extent clients will allow).” (P3) “Because of [the Accessibility Initiative], I've dedicated substantial time to learning about accessible design principles and their application.” (P16) “It's one thing to be aware, it's another to have to be accountable. This has forced us to really test and understand things.” (P12) All respondents said their overall awareness of accessibility increased over the last 12 months. Epilogue: Is it working?

54. What’s working well? Greater learning across the organization Expanded service offerings and an ability to showcase our accessibility expertise Advocating for human-centered design Thoughtfulness and energy brought to the team “How you've handled the initiative, all the planning and thoughtfulness… the strategy behind it, the roadmap, the level of detail, how you brought everybody in, the challenge of integration after integration. Every time we integrate, it's like starting over again, but the fact that you keep going and still have momentum, and that you have buy-in.” (P5) Epilogue: Is it working?

55. Challenges Fighting against competing project priorities Need greater buy-in with top-leadership Upskilling requires more resources Missing collaboration with people with disabilities “Clients often have business driven pressure to get things done quickly and this can lead to them taking a ‘let's do the minimum that is required of us’ approach, deferring some meaningful improvements indefinitely.” (P3) “Having the time built into extremely tight timelines to ensure accessibility is a part of the process for a typical client experience build.” (P14) Epilogue: Is it working?

56. Hold conversations with top leadership for funding of training programs and tools Build partnerships/work with people with disabilities. Where do we go from here? Epilogue: Is it working? Updated roadmap for 2024 Continue to integrate into client projects and pitches Share progress with the organization

57. Now it’s your turn! Strategies! Yay! 04

58. Figure out where you are now Ground in research — Use mixed methods to capture a baseline understanding of your current organizational maturity. Captive diverse insights — Talk to people with different roles and responsibilities – including leadership – to get different perspectives on the problem and how others might want to change the organization. Share back what you learn. 1 2 3

59. Pull a team together Find a buddy — Create a small, dedicated steering committee with diverse perspectives. Aim for diversity – Involve people with different roles, responsibilities, backgrounds, and abilities, no matter the skill or experience with accessibility. Start within your sphere of influence – Awareness and involvement will ripple out 1 2 3 Meet people where they’re at – Work with your team to build a team structure that works for everyone (meeting cadence, tools, etc.). 4

60. Create a Roadmap Step by step – Work as a team to define manageable goals with measurable outcomes. Prepare to pivot – Be flexible with changing priorities within your team and your organization. Show and tell – Share your roadmap with leadership earlier than you may think. 1 2 3

61. Take action Get yourself involved – Invite yourself to the table and sit down. K eep steering, but let others lead – Create smaller working groups to tackle roadmap activities. Take a breath – Be prepared to pivot and don’t get discouraged. 1 2 3 Take time to reflect – Review and measure accomplishments and look forward to where you’re going next. 4

62. In closing…. You don’t have to be alone! You don't have to do it all! Building a team of champions takes time, but it makes a difference. It might feel chaotic, but you’re likely still progressing You (and your cross-functional team) can do it! :)

63. Questions Leigh Ann Mesiti Caulfield Senior Experience Researcher [email protected] Caitlin Gebhard Senior Content Strategist [email protected]

64. View our slides later