Build products

Building more accessible products means building products that serve more people. Inaccessible products create barriers to opportunity and critical activities.

Use this section to help expand your abilities and incorporate accessibility throughout your product development process, increasing product compliance and improving your users's experiences.

Roles involved in product development

Here's an overview of roles involved in the product development process that are mentioned throughout this site. In addition to the information offered throughout the Build Products section of this site, take advantage of the applicable Scholar-level learning path offered by the Alphabet Accessibility Academy. There are links to each role-specific program noted below.

Don't see your role outlined below? Visit the UX Program & Operations Scholar Program and utilize the resources for your unique role.

Product Managers determine overall direction of product, prioritizing features and tradeoffs and acting as a point of contact for others on the core team. The PM also represents the voice of the customer.
TPgMs apply domain-specific expertise and drive cross-functional and cross-team programs. Accessibility tasks can include accounting for accessibility in the PRD and scope, organizing trainings, and coordinating testing.
Start the Program Manager Scholar Program
Engineers design, develop, test, deploy, maintain, and enhance software solutions. They anticipate and meet application requirements while ensuring development of quality systems and products from implementation through maintenance. Accessibility tasks can include engineering design docs, accessible implementation, dogfooding, GAR testing, and launch reviews.
Start the Software Engineering Scholar Program Start the UX Engineering Scholar Program
Testing is not confined to one particular role at Google. Accessibility Analysts, T/PgMs, and engineers all perform accessibility at Google. Testing-related roles and functions plan, evaluate, run and automate testing procedures for Google products. UXers can also lead product bug-bashing sessions focused on accessibility. Tasks can include running automated and manual accessibility tests and conducting launch reviews.
Start the Accessibility Analyst Scholar Program
UX Designers create and improve the quality of user interaction with digital environments, products, and services. Accessibility tasks can include user research, usability testing, accessible design sprints, defining CUJs and use cases, accessible interaction design, and Greenlines.
Start the UX Design Scholar Program
UX Researchers learn what users need and want from a product through independent research and analysis and work with teams to improve products and develop new ones. Accessibility tasks can include accessible user research, demos, and defining CUJs.
Start the Accessibility UX Researcher Scholar Program

UX Writer & Content Designer (UXW)

UX Writers and Content Designers create user-facing UI text, high-level content strategies, principles, and guidelines. They measure impact and identify content for improvement. Accessibility tasks can include writing accessibility labels, error messages, and help content.
Start the Accessibility UX Writing Scholar Program

In the following pages, we've broken down the product development process into 5 phases: Discovery, Define, Design, Develop and test, and Launch. Though, this process is often not linear. Adapt the information to follow in whatever way works for you and your team, keeping in mind that you'll save time by including accessibility from the start, rather than trying to add it in later. Ready to start building more accessible products?

Jump to Discovery