Anna Spielberg

Stop viewing Accessibility as a project or something someone on a temporary basis can solve for you. Just spotted a role for a full-time 6-month contract to build an accessibility programme in a financial organisation. These approaches are SO inefficient, it makes me sad to see them. You won't build a programme in 6 months, you'll barely get started with the basics. Cementing accessibility into it all takes years. Hiring someone full-time to start a programme like this means their time is wasted, or more honestly, your money is. I've done this on multiple occasions and 2, at most, 3 days a week is more than enough to get the ball rolling. They'll be blocked and waiting, whittling their thumbs for the other three days most weeks. Unfortunately, there's plenty of people that'll happily come take your money. Stop wasting it. If you're genuinely interested in building something that'll stand the test of time, account for a longer period. Build for the future, not for the now. Seeking an honest partner that has the needed expertise and experience? Benefit from a whole team to support you and build a reliable accessibility programme in your organisation and get in touch. I've got the right team to help you out. #accessibility #a11y #futureProof #LetsBeHonest Nomensa

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I spent 7+ years as a tech evangelist and my favourite part of the job was the hardest bit: Breaking down complex technical concepts into stories, use cases, visualisations and plain English language. Technology is complex, developing software is too and the resulting products can be hugely powerful for organisations that use them. But many users only ever scratch the surface when it comes to features and capabilities. They do, on the other hand, have very real and often difficult business problems to solve and they want to use technology to do so. That's why we need people who can translate the technical stuff into a language that makes it real and exciting for everyone else. To do that you don't have to be an evangelist. Being the bridge between the business and the tech is not just rewarding, it's a valuable role and it's becoming ever more important. Because as long as communication between 'technical people' and 'business people' remains challenging, there is a need for someone in the middle. Are you that person?

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Turns out my posts here are like buses - only two in six months and they've both come in one day. Over the last 18 months I have been working with the brilliant facilitators that are Paul Bailey and Lawrie Phipps to develop the Imagined Futures Workshop. And today we've reached a big milestone: the resources have been released for download as a comprehensive workshop toolkit.  This workshop is designed to help educators envision futures for their own institutions and the wider sector. It revolves around micro scenarios of things that could happen in the coming decade and beyond. There are 100+ scenarios to work with, across key themes including emerging tech, environmental challenges, and student need. We hope the workshop provides educators with: - an opportunity to contemplate the possible. - space to reflect on the potential implications. - a launchpad for ideation on how to futureproof an institution.  The downloadable set of resources contains all you need to run your own Imagined Futures workshops. They are made available under a Creative Commons license and can be accessed here: https://lnkd.in/e2SKH9C4 A huge thanks to all of the 1000+ colleagues in the sector who have interacted with these resources so far and helped to shape them. 

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Announced back in May, Confluence will bring folders as new content types. They will function the same as we are having parent and child issues. The difference is that the organisational structure will be more present and file management will be in place. It helps the users to be more organised with the aesthetic UI collaboration. 🗄 https://lnkd.in/dYrvva_R #AtlassianCreator #Confluence

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Every Saturday I release a newsletter of my weekly reflections as an Agile Coach. This week, I've been reflecting on organisational values: "When we start working with a new client, it can be hard to understand the culture that we’re walking into. As a coach, I want to understand the driving forces behind the decisions that are made daily. I typically find that the mindset of the organisation is presented in one of three ways: 1.     We have no values or principles, and our culture isn’t managed 2.     We state our values and principles, but we forget about them most of the year 3.     We know our values and principles and live by them." To read what I think about these three points in more detail, take a look at my substack. https://lnkd.in/grq-nV7A #newsletter #values #coaching ------------------------------------------------ Georgina Hughes | #agileGeorge Developing team leaders everyone loves

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GenAI-driven digital transformation is modernising and optimising local governments, creating a better future for both citizens and staff. Join us in our journey #GenAI #DigitalTransformation

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What happens when your carefully planned testing goes in the bin? 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 When your passionate early adopters aren't around to champion your product? 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 Today taught me some humbling lessons about assumption vs reality in developing my app. With key staff absent and new faces on shift, I watched as enthusiasm couldn't bridge the gap between "knowing about" and "knowing how to use" the software. ➡️ The hard truth? If users don't immediately grasp how something makes their life better, they won't use it. No matter how good the solution is. Later on, I stopped at a KFC after the gym, I saw a young person stumbling outside and kicking a bin whilst I was heading in. He came inside after a while, and whilst I was eating I overheard him asking for someone to come collect him and that he was struggling, he was in care. It hit home. This is why this stuff matters. Because this isn't just about adoption curves or interfaces. It's about giving time back to care workers so they can be there in those critical moments - the conversations, the support, the genuine connection that might lead up to / prevent a young person from ending up alone wandering about in 4°C in the dark... 💡 Perspective comes from unexpected places. Would love to hear if any one has experience to share with product adoption in high-stakes environments?

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Trying to determine if SharePoint is right for your next intranet? Check out our next webinar.

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pls pass this on to a group that could benefit

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Is (working in) accessibility only doom and gloom? I've been seeing quite a few posts recently about people in our industry being hit with feelings that you could describe as negative. Feeling like they're not making an impact. Things never changing. People not caring. It's easy for our brains to downplay all the hard work we put into improving accessibility. But in fact, you're doing good work! You're talking to people and planting seeds. You've helped solve a barrier, however small. You've identified what barriers exist and informed your client. Just this month, I've: Trained 50+ people across different teams. Had meaningful “coffee conversations” with 12 industry peers, getting to know one another a little better. Had 4 mentoring conversations with different people, helping them grow in their accessibility work. Started a change program with a client embedding accessibility in their organisation. Welcomed two new members to our accessibility team. Had two amazing meetups (Utrecht and London) with tons of peers. Is all of that making massive waves of impact? Honestly, probably not! It's most likely an immeasurable change in the grand scheme of things But I'm proud of what I've done this month. And you can be proud of what you've done as well. Celebrate your successes, big and small! #accessibility #achievements #success #inclusion #diversity

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CHECKING UP ON YOUR SERVICE LEVEL Earlier this year I dived into the 15 principles for Good Service Design by Lou Downe. Very practical guidelines to make services more accessible, effective and inclusive. Downe also developed a helpful checklist to assess the status of each principle for your own service. Helping you pinpoint areas for improvement. Doing this check is now made easier by this tool by @David O'Brien. 🙌

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State of Front-end 2024: Reflection 2 Developer Experience and iteration speeds are being prioritised over cost efficiencies The Software House have just published their State of Front-end 2024 survey. These are my reflections over here: https://buff.ly/4g45XqA Platforms that bring a simplified, more delightful developer experience are becoming the preferred way of hosting web applications. 36.2% of developers would choose Vercel as their go-to platform, 20.7% lean toward Netlify, and even Cloudflare Pages (a relative newcomer) captured 10.2%. While AWS (32%), Azure (10.4%), GCP (9%), and running your own server (24.3%) aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, it feels like the tide is slowly starting to shift. In the startup sector especially, my assumption is that the developer experience and shortened iteration cycles enabled by platforms like Netlify or Vercel outweigh their higher infrastructure costs (bandwidth, storage, etc.). Sure, the cost of running a PostgreSQL database may be cheaper on your own server, but managing provisioning, maintenance, and scaling requires significant, dedicated resources – resources that could be better used elsewhere. So, I can’t help but wonder: at what point do the scales start to tip even more towards these new platforms? Or should we expect big infrastructure providers like AWS to improve theirs any time soon? Is that what Amplify is suppose to be? After all, platforms like Vercel and Netlify are built on their shoulders, yet they’re effectively abstracting away the complexity – and, perhaps, the loyalty. Is it in the interest of the big players to improve developer experience directly on their own platforms, or will they simply double down on being the invisible backbone of the web?

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It's exciting collaborating with designers and technologists, working towards a software platform to cater for the needs of the change community. I'm scrutinising every feature and asking... will this work for a small change? What about a big change? How would that work for a regulatory change? A building move? A merger? I think through all the changes I've worked on, and the challenges I hear from Change Managers I coach, and I work with Gavin and the team to find the best solution. One thing I know we need is a robust way of measuring benefits and when discussing this Change Plan feature there were too many great discussion points for us to keep to ourselves, so and Gavin and I will be sharing insights into change benefit realisation. Join us for a lively discussion. Register here. https://lnkd.in/guRG9BCQ

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Every Saturday I release a newsletter of my weekly reflections as an Agile Coach. This week, I've considered the importance of curiosity in coaching: "I’ve seen many organisations come up with an agile playbook and then hand it out to their coaches to implement with a team. This lacks the collaboration that we value so highly in agile. It doesn’t give the coach any space to flex and adapt (you know, be agile) while they are supporting the client. It leaves no room to learn, sense, probe, respond, inspect, and adapt to the situation that unveils itself." Take a look at my substack to read more about how curiosity can impact the success of an agile coach. https://lnkd.in/eUWkH8FY #newsletter #coaching ------------------------------------------------ Georgina Hughes | #agileGeorge Developing team leaders everyone loves

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How's agile going Aimee?? Erm, okay I think....am about 4 months into delivering my transformation projects through an Agile approach, and utilising Service Design to enable change. It has been a journey, with some highs and some lows, but overall as a Project Manager I'm seeing results. I'm really enjoying digging deep and getting to the bottom of the challenges to enable us as an organisation to think wider about the options open to us to deliver future services that will be impactful. My biggest challenge....culture. Integrating Agile and Service Design into the everyday ways of working is really about leading culture changes, and this does take time. We don't use this a blocker to revert to old ways, we use it as a opportunity to learn, to fail, to grown, to support, to challenge, to share and to reflect. How different could things look and feel this time next year! :-) #teamnel #agile #projectmanagement

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Are you a Slack user who likes to visualise data? I would like to gauge interest in a Slack app I have created called Make A Chart The app essentially allows you to create charts instantly in your Slack chat window You simply paste in your data, pick your chart type and click submit No 3rd party services needed! If you're interested in being involved in a public Beta, please get in contact Homepage - makeachart.app Twitter/X - https://lnkd.in/gKCUrvMQ Instagram - https://lnkd.in/gBdFZAGa #Slack #Charts

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Big thanks to Indiespring for hosting “Appy hour – Unveiling the Power of Apps”   An insightful evening with some great discussions… 📢 Digital inclusion and ensuring apps are accessible to all. Arran Kirkup discussed some points to consider from colour palettes and scaling resolution. A great insight into some of the challenges and steps to ensure accessibility for all. 💡 Understand your audience – talk to your user base and find out what is important to them as it may not be what you think. James Renshaw talked about how the impact this had during his time at Modern Milkman, even doing the milk round at 2am!! 📱 Apps are for life and unlike websites they need constant nurturing, updating and keeping up with technology. Building then rebuilding based on iOS and googles stores changing rules. no quick fix unfortunately! ⛑ Martin Hogan discussed the amazing work at Safe Citizens, their emergency response app is designed for locating and alerting citizens or employees who are at risk or in danger, without in turn putting responders at risk. Some great examples of how / where this has been used, helping in moments of disaster. Thanks again and already looking forward to the next one!

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🌟 Shout-out to amazing conversations and incredible people! 🌟 This week has been nothing short of inspiring and energising, filled with absolutely fantastic discussions around #AI 🤖, #LearningAndDevelopment 📚, and #Accessibility ♿. I am incredibly grateful to connect with such passionate and knowledgeable professionals. 📅 Tuesday: I had a fantastic call with Markus Bernhardt, Principal Consultant at Endeavor Intelligence. We delved into AI strategy, learning, and development. Markus's insights on AI integration and his collaborative approach are truly remarkable. 📅 Wednesday: I had a fabulous call with Frances Daniele and Arun A from Amnet ContentSource (https://amnet.com). We explored potential partnership opportunities with Accessible Me Ltd focusing on #DigitalAccessibility services. Their dedication to accessibility and their global reach are impressive. 📅 Thursday: Another fantastic conversation with Gemma Towersey Assoc CIPD, who I had the pleasure of speaking alongside on episode 80 of the Mind Tools podcast. We discussed making digital learning accessible and shared our tips and experiences. You can listen to the episode here: https://lnkd.in/er-__qqe 📅 Thursday: I also had a wonderful call with Gaelle Watson, founder of SyncSkills Ltd. Gaelle's commitment to creating learning opportunities for everyone is inspiring. We talked about collaborating on a video-recorded audit of one of their decks. 📅 Friday: Lastly, I wrapped up the week with an amazing discussion with Christina Copperthwaite from Yorkshire Building Society. We talked about work-life balance, accessibility in the financial sector, and the importance of #allyship and empathy. Christina's journey in advocating for accessibility is truly motivating. Thank you all for these incredible conversations and the exciting opportunities for #Collaboration 🤝. I'm looking forward to working together to make a positive impact in the world of accessibility and learning. If you’re passionate about accessibility and want to connect, let’s chat! ☕ You can book a time for a virtual cuppa here: https://lnkd.in/eXYSR3cZ #Inspiration ✨

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