Accessibility Development Processes

This question asks if you have written procedures for building accessibility into your product from the start, not bolting it on later. It's like having a recipe that ensures every dish meets dietary requirements rather than trying to remove allergens after cooking. These processes should cover design reviews, development standards, testing protocols, and release criteria.

Without documented processes, accessibility becomes random and expensive. Ad-hoc approaches lead to inconsistent user experiences, mounting technical debt, and failed audits. Proper processes reduce rework costs by 10x by catching issues during design rather than after release. They also demonstrate maturity to enterprise buyers and protect against discrimination lawsuits by showing systematic commitment rather than one-off fixes.

Many companies create process documents that sit unused on a shelf. The real test is whether developers actually follow them and whether they're enforced in code reviews. Another mistake is focusing only on development while ignoring design, QA, and product management roles in accessibility. Processes must be living documents updated with lessons learned, not static compliance paperwork.