PO / PM / Agile Master – Quick Guide – Digitale Accessibility, explained for teams

Mission Statement

POs/PMs and Agile Masters are responsible for ensuring that accessibility is not treated as an afterthought but embedded into planning, delivery, and team rituals. They create the operational conditions that enable Designers, Developers, QA, and Content to deliver accessible products consistently and predictably. Their decisions directly influence compliance posture, delivery risk, and long- term product quality.

Administration Role (Administration Role Group Product Ownership, Project Management, Governance)

Core Responsibilities – Product Owner / Product Manager
Core Responsibilities – Agile Master / Scrum Master
Trainings

1. Core Responsibilities – Product Owner / Product Manager

What to do

Ensure accessibility requirements are defined early, scoped realistically, and clearly prioritized.
Translate accessibility expectations into actionable Acceptance Criteria and Definition of Done.
Manage dependencies, risks, and sequencing so accessibility work is never “out of scope”.
Align stakeholders and ensure roadmap, budgeting, and capacity reflect accessibility commitments.
Drive cross- functional alignment between Design, Dev, QA, and Content.

Critical How-To

Acceptance Criteria Patterns:

“All interactive elements are operable via keyboard.”
“All inputs have programmatically associated labels.”
“Focus order must follow logical reading order.”
“Modals must trap and return focus.”

Prioritization Framework:

Critical: Keyboard, focus, structure, forms
High: Landmarks, headings, component semantics
Medium: Visual refinements, non- blocking enhancements

Roadmapping:

Combine:
- prevention (design system, process standards)
- remediation (existing issues)
- innovation (testing automation, AT integration)

Tools & Resources

How to Meet WCAG (Quick Reference)

European Accessibility Act (EAA) Overview

User Story Acceptance Criteria For Accessibility

Play Your Part: Role-Based Advice for Agile Accessibility

Templates & Deliverables

Accessibility AC Library

Accessibility Risk Management and Risk Model for Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Accessibility Roadmap Template for PMs

Learning Path

2. Core Responsibilities – Agile Master / Scrum Master

Embed accessibility into all Scrum rituals (Planning, Review, Retro, Refinement).
Maintain accessibility visibility through DoR/DoD, workflow policies, and team agreements.
Facilitate early escalation of accessibility blockers and remove process obstacles.
Coach the team toward higher accessibility maturity through routines and process discipline.
Ensure that accessibility issues are not deprioritized under delivery pressure.

Critical How-To: Agile Master

Planning:
- Verify that accessibility tickets are not moved out “until later” without impact assessment.
Refinement:
- Ensure technical accessibility acceptance criteria are understood and actionable.
Review:
- Facilitate structured accessibility checks (keyboard, focus, labels).
Retro:
- Document recurring patterns: delayed handoffs, missing annotations, unclear ACs.
Backlog Hygiene:
- Make accessibility tech debt visible and trackable; avoid silent accumulation.