Accessibility goals are easy to write.
You have an all-hands-on-deck meeting. You talk things out. You write everything down into a strategy doc. Everyone nods in agreement and that document is presented as the direction things are heading towards.
You're comfortable things got done.
That's a mistake.
Progress hides in the uncomfortable and execution is when things start to feel uncomfortable.
Being uncomfortable means having awkward conversations. It's visible when a developer pushes back on the timeline because the component isn't keyboard-accessible yet. It shows when a designer sits with a user with low vision and watches what breaks for them. It means someone saying "we're not shipping this."
That gap between a goal and a working accessible product creates friction. That friction is the signal that real work is happening.
When nobody's uncomfortable, it usually means accessibility decisions are being quietly deferred. No single decision feels like abandonment. But each one moves you further from the goal without anyone formally agreeing to move.
Direction is cheap. The awkward conversations in standups is what really counts.