I've seen people burn out when the workload is too big to begin with.
It usually manifests as some new policy. Or the backlog grew overnight because of a giant audit someone just did.
All this when the team already has so much work to do. If they start seeing accessibility as yet another large project, they'll do whatever they can to delay it, debate it or quietly ignore it. And it usually ends with QA finding issues too late to do anything about.
Now the backlog is even bigger.
That's too many logs for a fire to take hold. Start with kindling instead.
Think of the smallest thing that moves the needle. The smallest most boring thing.
Here are some of my all time favourites:
- Form errors.
- Screen reader output for your main call to action.
- Where the focus goes after something changes.
- Keyboard tabbing around should be logical and clear.
These are small checks. But you do them early and they will change the shape of delivery.
Forget that audit. You don't need to make the whole thing accessible by Friday.
You need enough kindling to get the fire going.
The fire burns out when the size of the logs is too big and there's not enough kindling. Add enough kindling though to get the fire going and just enough logs from time to time to make it bigger.