Shift Left, and Up

Scheduled at 3:00 pm in Mattie Silks on Wednesday, November 19.

Speaker(s)

• Rob Carr, Strategic Accessibility Coordinator, WebAIM

Session Details

• Length of Session: 1-hr
• Format: Lecture
• Expertise Level: All Levels
• Type of session: General Conference

Summary

As a community, we in the digital accessibility space must advance conversations about how organizations must approach their accessibility work holistically and broadly. In this session, we will use the “shift left” concept as a jumping off point for a larger discussion about the critical need for organizational leadership to provide active facilitation rather than only supplying passive support.

Abstract

The notion of “shift left” is not unique to the accessibility world. It generally refers to moving bug testing into the early design stages of a website or web application project. In web and digital accessibility, that means we examine design artifacts for accessibility barriers and make sure that our design team members have relevant accessibility knowledge and the organizational support to use it.

There is no question that shifting accessibility testing left is critical. The merits are well documented. While the amount of time saved with this approach is debatable, there is still plenty of anecdotal evidence suggesting that accounting for accessibility during design for a period of X corresponds with spending 4X to 5X to account for it after a product ships. In some cases, much of that extra time is spent justifying a needed fix to naysayers. The steps required to effectively “shift left” are often presented as if they will just happen within an organization. Many who have attempted to “shift left” with accessibility can confirm that there is a lot that needs to happen for accessibility to “shift left” where it needs to. One consideration is the vital role of supporting those responsible for shifting left in a variety of ways. We will review a few real-world examples of tools that organizations have put in place to be sure that developers and designers can effectively execute plans to share accessibility across more project team members.

Throughout the talk, examples will point to the need for senior leadership to provide active facilitation for the work. The final major point we will discuss is the challenge of making this happen. We will deliberate different methods to help form the right message to send for leadership to engage and work to see that changes to tools, processes, and skills happen. We will also highlight some common messages used in these conversations.

Keypoints

1. Understand the concept of “shift left” as it relates to accessibility by examining at least three "shifts".
2. Consider at least five roles within organizations that are key players in digital and therefore accessibility.
3. Examine at least three possible ways to get not just leadership buy-in, but vision and commitment from.

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

Other, Uncategorized

Speaker Bio(s)

Rob Carr

Rob Carr is the Strategic Accessibility Coordinator at WebAIM. Rob has been in the digital accessibility space since 2010. He has spent loads of time training, consulting, and learning about digital accessibility topics large and small. Rob has worked with thousands of individuals and dozens of organizations on everything from accessibility in a single PDF to integrating accessibility into organizations’ digital strategies. Rob presents at national conferences, organizes the occasional conference, and tries to be more active and less snarky on LinkedIn.