Conway’s Law states an organization will design systems that reflect that organization’s communication structure. In other words, how we make a product manifests in the product itself. Is it any surprise that overall our industry is terrible at accessibility? It’s illogical to expect that accessible products would spring forth from an inaccessible developer experience. Extreme Programming Explained reminds us, “Software development teams where everyone is alike, while comfortable, are not effective.” In this session, we will explore the idea of an accessible developer experience as a way of leaning into the XP principles of Humanity and Diversity.
In the world of software development, dealing with legacy code had often been a necessary evil, especially for successful, fast-growing companies. The design stamina hypothesis suggested that legacy code was a sign of success, not failure. The challe…