How do you incorporate accessibility into your product management practice? In this webinar hosted by Denise Hemke, Workday Senior PM Divya Nagaraja and Sr Manager Pam Mayer will share a pragmatist’s guide to accessibility as a core part of product usability. You’ll explore the basics of accessibility, its impact on the bottom line, and the three most common areas that lead to accessibility issues. Learn about free tools to improve your approach, key metrics to measure your progress, and strategies for bringing your team along on the journey. Workday’s team lives by the motto “progress over perfection,” and this session will inspire you to do the same.
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Show Notes:
- Digital accessibility enables everyone to access, use, and obtain equal value from a digital experience.
- A pragmatist’s guide to accessibility benefits everyone, not just those with permanent disabilities.
- Lawsuits and the high cost of fixing accessibility issues in production make it a critical business concern.
- Accessibility opens the door to a large market of users with disabilities and improves overall usability.
- Start by taking stock of your product’s accessibility, remediating critical issues, and including accessibility in new features.
- Progress over perfection – focus on meaningful steps rather than trying to do everything at once.
- Ensure keyboard support, with clear focus indication and the ability to close modals.
- Associate form labels and errors programmatically for screen reader users.
- Provide clear structure and navigation cues for screen reader users.
- Avoid relying on color alone, ensure sufficient color contrast, and use adaptive fonts.
- Leverage accessibility testing tools in design, development, and QA phases.
- Define metrics to track progress and tie accessibility to business impact.
- Use storytelling to connect accessibility to real user experiences and business outcomes.
- Focus on what will have the most value for the least effort, like keyboard support and color contrast.
- Get the whole team involved by making accessibility checks easy and contextual.
- Explore how AI and assistive technologies can enhance accessibility.
- Overlays are not a replacement for properly coded accessibility.
- Hire people with disabilities to bring firsthand experience.
- Manual testing is crucial to complement automated accessibility checks.
- Mobile accessibility has unique considerations beyond web accessibility.
About the speaker
Products that Count is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that helps everyone build great products. It celebrates product excellence through coveted Awards that inspire 500,000+ product managers and honor great products and the professionals responsible for their success. It accelerates the career and rise to the C-suite of >30% of all Product Managers globally by providing exceptional programming – including award-winning podcasts and popular newsletters – for free. It acts as a trusted advisor to all CPOs at Fortune 1000, and publishes key insights from innovative companies, like Capgemini, SoFi, and Amplitude, that turn product success into business success.
About the host
As the Chief Product Officer at NEOGOV, Denise leads the strategy for public sector HR and Public Safety software, driving innovation, customer satisfaction, and excellence. Her experience at Checkr as Chief Product Officer saw her delivering customer-focused products and promoting a fairer future. Denise’s notable career spans over two decades, with significant roles including GM for Analytics at Workday, where she launched new products and grew the business to over $200 million in ARR. Her background includes leadership positions at Platfora, Salesforce, HSBC, and AT&T, showcasing her expertise in enterprise product development and a commitment to technological advancement and customer success.