Accessibility for product owners and project managers

Information

Product owners and managers play key roles in communicating accessibility requirements early and often in the product lifecycle, ensuring each team member knows their responsibility and keeping the team accountable for building accessible products.

Accessible digital products and services enhance trust in government, drive innovation, and extend service reach.

Including accessibility in design from the beginning of a project reduces technical debt, avoids rework, and saves money.

The goal of accessibility in the City of Portland is to build web services that are usable by everyone, not to meet minimum standards and avoid lawsuits.

Your responsibilities

Understand the WCAG 2.1 AA best practices for meeting compliance guidelines for all digital products you oversee.
Ensure accessibility is included in product planning and prioritization from the very beginning of the project and during continuous improvement cycles.
Integrate accessibility acceptance criteria into user stories.
Include compliance with federal accessibility standards in the “definition of done” for all product increments.
Incorporate both automated and manual accessibility testing into development sprints.
Understand the value of the assessment and remediation tools that are available, like WAVE, ANDI, Sortsite, CommonLook, and PAC PDF checker.
Purchase only technology that is accessible and compatible with assistive technology.
Understand how to create accessible documents and presentations.
Stay updated on accessibility best practices.
Advocate for people with disabilities throughout the product development cycle.
Build diverse project teams. Include people with disabilities and a wide range of experiences and viewpoints.