Agile Accessibility Handbook review

Agile Accessibility Handbook was our January 2024 pick, and it holds a special place on our shelf: it was the very first book the Accessibility Book Club ever read together. When I turned the last page, I gave it a solid 9 out of 10, and I still stand by that score.

What the book covers

Dylan Barrell, chief technology officer at Deque Systems (opens in a new tab), wrote this handbook for teams that ship software on an agile cadence and want accessibility to keep up. It speaks to accessibility specialists, development team members, and the executives who set priorities, and it walks through three big ideas:

• Why accessibility feels so hard inside fast-moving teams
• Transformation practices that make it easier at the organization level
• Team practices that keep accessibility sustainable sprint after sprint

You can find the full book details, including where to buy it, on our Agile Accessibility Handbook book page.

What I loved

Timing that could not be better

The world is digitizing fast, and accessible design is essential. This book tackles that head-on. It gives realistic, actionable insight that many of us in tech and design can put to work right away.

Accessibility inside the agile lifecycle

The exploration of accessibility within the agile development lifecycle was spot on. The book shows how it fits into the rhythm teams already follow, from planning through testing.

Why not a perfect 10?

Honestly, I was left craving more. Every topic the book introduced was valuable, and I wished for a deeper dive into each one. That is a good problem to have with a short, practical handbook, and it is the only reason I held back a point.

Who should read it

• Developers and QA testers working in sprints
• Product owners and scrum masters who plan the backlog
• Accessibility leads building a program from scratch
• Leaders who need a clear case for shifting accessibility left

If you want a taste before you commit, Deque offers the handbook as a free Agile Accessibility Handbook eBook (opens in a new tab), and Dylan's article on accessibility in agile transformational practices (opens in a new tab) is a great companion read.

Putting it into practice

Agile accessibility works best when every story carries clear acceptance criteria. Pair the handbook with the WCAG 2.2 specification (opens in a new tab) and write Level AA success criteria straight into your definition of done. For more on building accessibility into the engineering workflow, read our final review of What Every Engineer Should Know About Digital Accessibility, and browse the rest of our picks in the annual reading lists.

Join the conversation

What resonated with you most in Agile Accessibility Handbook? A favorite insight, chapter, or takeaway? Come share it in the Accessibility Book Club LinkedIn group (opens in a new tab). Here's to making our digital spaces more inclusive, one page at a time.