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Lead with solutions instead of problems

2 minutes read

The last time I gave a product owner the news that the product they worked so dang hard on for the past year wasn't accessible didn't go so well.

This was their baby. They put in countless hours and gave it their best. And here I was taking the moral high ground and warning them of lawsuits. Plus they'd need to share the news with their team. You can imagine the tension in that room.

Instead, I could have approached it better.

What if I just said, "yeah, so I've found some accessibility issues and I have a plan to fix them that won't block your ongoing work."

Instead of leading with the problems, I could have focused on solutions.

Because product teams don't just need to know that something is wrong. Something is always wrong!

They need to see a clear path forward and it's my job to lay it out for them.

It's also my job to communicate the solutions to the team. And frame them in a way that aligns with their individual priorities. For developers, I outline clear technical steps and resources. For designers, I offer accessibility-friendly design patterns that allows them creative freedom. For executives, I highlight how these solutions reduce legal risks, improve user satisfaction and support business goals.

And you know what's also not helpful?

Having large goals with no intermediate action steps.

So it's best to break solutions into manageable steps. "We need to redo the entire site" becomes "Let’s start with the most critical pages and build from there."

All this shifts the conversation from fear and frustration to collaboration and progress.

Did you enjoy this bite-sized message?

I send out short emails like this every day to help you gain a fresh perspective on accessibility and understand it without the jargon, so you can build more robust products that everyone can use, including people with disabilities.

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