Dan Heintzelman

When a leadership team is not deeply technical and lacks product/design chops, you're beholden to hire layers of people with the sole job of being the translation layer. This may be worth it—a business is built on many areas of domain experience, and tech/product/design is but part of that. But it does come with overhead, and you have to go into that situation with your eyes open.

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I don’t know why I get so hung up on some errors of language. But sometimes I do. The one that is getting my goat today is when people are talking about WCAG compliance. you comply with laws. WCAG is a standard. You conform to standards. So really, we should be WCAG conformant in order to be complying with the laws. Then there are people using the terms header and heading interchangeability. Then there is the (in)famous alt tag instead of alt attribute. It shouldn’t matter because ultimately I understand what you mean. And that’s the whole point of communication. But precision matters to me. And in order to be precise, you have to use the correct terms. The risk of misunderstanding is actually quite high. These things leave even my dog flat. Alt text embedded in the image.

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Lots of company problems could be fixed by getting 50-100 ppl in a room with A+ facilitation and senior exec air-cover and support. Why this can't / doesn't happen is a big reason why change is so hard. Change is frequently a battle of change agendas. -- That can't happen out in the open. (Some) people are desperate for someone to blame. -- That is tough in a format where it is obvious there isn't one person to blame. (Some) people are too scared to let go of the reigns -- That happens when people work together to find a solution. We're too worried to put on the breaks and step away from keyboards -- Yep, that would happen. A senior leader is having trouble providing leadership -- That would become immediately obvious...people wouldn't want to meet and work together if there wasn't some signal it would be worth it There is a strong pressure to imagine teams and groups are independent. -- This is proven false when you get teams together. Finally, there is a deep-rooted fear of collective problem solving *working*. What would that mean? What would that mean for the managers who are tasked with working things out behind the scenes? What would that mean for efforts to solve problems in private? What would that mean for the person who thinks top-down actions are the only solution?

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Today's accessibility pro-tip: Conformance to WCAG is all-or-nothing. There is no partial conformance. This one will be longer than most of my past pro-tips. First, an important note: WCAG 2.2 and WCAG 2.1 both reference the conformance requirements of WCAG 2.0, which can be found at: https://lnkd.in/eMCUhJaT Some highlights: 1. If the system fails to meet any SC at your target level of conformance, then the system is not conformant 2. Conformance is for full pages: if any part of the page fails, the whole page does 3. In cases where a page is part of a process, if any of the pages fail, the entire process fails This illustrates a fatal flaw in most company's conformance claims and, more specifically, in the entire concept of the VPAT ACR. The ACR is an OK format, when it comes to itemizing where & why a system is non-conforming. It is *not* a format for determining conformance. Either a system conforms or it does not. This is a binary thing. Once an item in a VPAT ACR is listed as "Partially Supports" or "Does Not Support", it must be understood that the system does not conform to WCAG.

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Hey everyone, Since the DOJ rolled out new web accessibility standards requiring WCAG 2.1 compliance in April, my team has been busy auditing our client sites to ensure compliance or to create a strategy for getting there. Since half of our clients are government-funded, this has been a top priority for us. 📋 Here are the key updates to be aware of in the new ruling: 📱 Mobile-friendly improvements 🔍 Enhanced readability for low vision users 🧠 Better support for cognitive disabilities I can't help but think these updates are specifically to address our aging population. With more than one-third of the U.S. population over 50, including myself, I definitely appreciate higher contrast ratios and a bit more white space—especially when I can't find those pesky readers. Not sure what was added to the latest set of criteria? We've got you covered. Here's a quick list of the 17 new success criteria - https://lnkd.in/gdNTx_M3 As always, if you need assistance ensuring your site meets these new standards, send me a message. Happy to help! #WebAccessibility #InclusiveDesign #DigitalInclusion #WCAG21 #PixelMongers

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🎬 Dreamforce Theater Session Alert: Discover how to call invocable actions from Salesforce Flow screens, allowing users to stay on a single screen while reactively processing their inputs and feeding results to other components. Join Eric Smith of RafterOne | An IPG Company and Adam White of Salesforce to dive deep into this hands-on session. https://lnkd.in/giXYxJcs #Dreamforce2024 #DF24 #Salesforce #FlowComponents #LightningWebComponents #ApexActions

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Product is fun, complex, messy, and there are no shortcuts. Once you accept that—and embrace it—amazing things happen to your career. Cat Hicks, PhD puts this better than anyone: "Doing research with developer teams, something that really strikes me is how much people look for ways to make complex problems easy rather than make it easy to work on complex problems What I mean is, sometimes it's really useful to admit we just are trying to accomplish tough things. Asking how we can support our teams who NEED the time and space to work through that, it's often a much more tractable lever than trying to change the inherent nature of the work I think it behooves me to say as a psychologist here that I think people are actually really excellent at working on complex problems! It's one of the reasons research with developers is so great. Overall devs love to learn, love to be curious, love to innovate. It is core stuff. What would it look like if we could ask, "how do I make this the absolute best environment for complex problem-solving" instead of "how do I take away all these annoying hard problems." The stuff we want to accomplish in the world is hard. But can be joyful to accomplish."

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Hey Salesforce Admins, had a few too many Admins work on your org? Need help to review/tidy up permission changes? Check out our Security + Access Manager app on the AppExchange: https://bit.ly/3nGkYc8 hashtag #awesomeadmin #trailblazercommunity #salesforceadmin #applicationperfection

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The real issue with automated testing is that while it's a good start, that's all it is: a start. It can't be the end all/be all of accessibility remediation and it certainly doesn't count toward inclusive design. Is it better than nothing? Yeah. It is better than slapping an overlay on your site and not actually fixing your own issues. Absolutely. Some people might not even know that it's the first step of a multi-step journey since automation can't catch nearly the majority of issues. I'd even go a step further and say that manual testing is less effective unless you have actual people with disabilities on your staff testing and using your products. And in my whole career, I've never seen companies *too* much user research of any kind. It's rare to see a company have a mature research program. The real goal is to maybe get to a point where we're no longer releasing inaccessible software but people have to come to the understanding that zero code violations are two very mutually exclusive concepts.

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"Working in this field in 2024 is like ..." (we asked 570 people to answer this with a metaphor). Some themes/examples: 1. Chaos and Uncertainty "A never-ending escape room." "A rollercoaster." "Walking through a desert." "Navigating an ever-changing maze." "Being in a snowglobe while someone is shaking it." 2. Overwork and Fatigue "Pouring cold water on your head while your feet are on fire." "Running on a treadmill." "Walking a tightrope." "Trying to swim in very low water." "Being stretched a little thinner every day." 3. Frustration and Futility "Pushing slime uphill." "One step forward, five steps back." "Rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic." "Banging your head against a wall." "Throwing spaghetti at the wall." 4. Conflict and Tension "A potluck with no list." "Arguing over how to fold towels on the Titanic." "Walking on eggshells." "A battle zone." "Herding cats." 5. Systemic Issues "Watching the fall of Rome." "Swimming in polluted waters." "Being part of an industry I don't believe in anymore." "An extinction event." "Planting seeds in a field that is burning from the other side." 6. Survival and Adaptation "Holding on in a flood." "Preparing for the Olympics." "Walking through a field of landmines." "Swimming upstream." "Navigating seas of potentials and uncertainties." 7. Disillusionment and Burnout "Watching the emperor wear no clothes." "The dot-com bubble bursting again." "Losing the idealism that more tech will transform the world for the better." "Swimming in treacle." "Being in a crucible." 8. Creativity and Problem-Solving "Building a plane while flying it." "Discovering a new continent." "Fixing a sinking boat while other fixers are leaving it." "Finding your way out of the jungle." "Designing the tread on the boot that'll be stamping on my face forever." 9. Isolation and Alienation "A group at a dining table speaking different languages." "Living in Groundhog Day." "Watching the loudest, richest monkeys clamoring about how to peel a banana." "Feeling like you're on the Titanic." "Walking through a desert thirsty with no sign of water." 10. Hope and Resilience "Planting seeds in burning fields." "Being embattled but with cautious optimism." "Setting up a restaurant in a frontier mining town." "A swan trying to look graceful but paddling like crazy underneath." "Treading water while wearing a flotation device in a flash flood."

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Gotta love lunchtime conversations around my house. These were just from today! This is what happens when you have two product people under one roof. - How to handle WCAG compliance recommendations - Dealing with scope creep - How to document assumptions around R&D for quarterly planning

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📢 The U.S. Web Design System (USWDS) team is open to ideas for topics during the August Monthly Call (MC), including browser support, accessibility, designer tools, and product roadmaps. Someone has already submitted an idea to learn more about how to propose a new component! You don't necessarily have to be a USWDS community member; we are open to many suggestions. We encourage designers, developers, accessibility specialists, or agile enthusiasts to attend the MC. If you're not on GitHub and the link to the discussion below doesn't allow you to post an idea, message me or share your thoughts in the comments below. Let us know what you think; we want to hear from you! #DesignSystem #PublicDiscussion #FederalGovernment #Accessibility #agile #ComponentDesign

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"At first, I was hesitant about the phrase "behavior change," but reading the book helped me address that fear. Instead of getting hung up on powerful but ultimately wishy-washy words, I jump straight to discussing desired outcomes and behaviors. Behaviors are salient—you can discuss them and compare them between contexts. It is a bit like the difference between saying you want to "delight users" and describing the behaviors you might expect if users were actually delighted. The latter is much more effective. You can use the same approach regarding internal ways of working and improvement." https://lnkd.in/gFCpYZ7A

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Thought experiment... delete your roadmap. Stop everything. Now play things out... For the past year or so I have experimented with an activity. I ask teams to imagine that they stop "shipping". Nothing new. No improving existing features. They keep their jobs, and fix major production issues, but otherwise stay idle. When possible, I ask them to refer to some sort of business dashboard or statement. How do these numbers change? They imagine industry press, coffee machine conversations, customer feedback, and board meetings. What happens with the passing months? Could X possibly go unchanged? Would you be surprised if Y doubled? The responses are very interesting. It feels unnatural to imagine doing nothing (even if doing nothing may be the best decision). We're wired to keep ourselves busy and talk ourselves into our grand plans. In some businesses, the impacts of doing nothing are felt quickly. In others, teams find they can go a year or more without real "damage". A competitor gains ground. Cost of acquisition increases. Team members leave for a competitor (or to start their own businesses). It hits home that successful products are a slow burn, the result of many decisions over time. To tackle the exercise, some teams review the past year. How did that work contribute to where the business is today? For new product launches, add-ons, packages, etc. it is easy to say "if we hadn't done this, then X wouldn't have happened." We gravitate to obvious connections, but that is a trap of sorts. The purpose of this exercise is to surface assumptions, and to focus the team on the Opportunity. Yes, it is "not realistic". It takes some practice, but more than practice it takes freedom and safety. Freedom to explore a possible future without judgement. "Non-business" types (if there is such a thing) need to feel free to explore the problem-space. Give it a try! With a big cross-functional group. Folks with more familiarity with “the numbers” should be prepared to teach and guide. Folks with more familiarity with the long-term, slow-burn issues (market share, inertia, product phases, ecosystems, etc.) should do the same.

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Just because a template is "simple" doesn't mean you can't convey a lot of nuance and complexity. Consider this MadLib: There are three forces at play here: 1. _____________ 2. _____________ 3. _____________ Which leaves as with a choice. Ultimately this is a choice between: 1. _____________ 2. _____________ The pros/cons of #1 are _________ and #2 are _____________. I'll back our decision here, but I want to be sure that we go into this with our eyes open. Recapping our assumptions here: With #1 we are more confident about _______ and less about _________. With #2 we are more confident about _______ and less about _________. As a next step, given that _____________, I recommend that we _____________. Thank you. .... seems simple, but to make this really land takes a lot of work.

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