‘Build it and they will come’, ‘Move Fast and Break Things’, ‘ Onto the Next Big Thing’ are all statements we have heard on big tech stages – perhaps even coined or perpetuated variations of these ourselves.
While unencumbered experimentation is not uncommon, and even rewarded in tech – a field synonymous with innovation- the speed and efficiency with which we demand, require or expect new tools, apps, libraries and everything in between to be delivered often comes at a cost to the end user, majority of which is shouldered by underserved groups – people with disabilities, people that speak languages that are not mainstream, people in poor connectivity and low-bandwidth environments, you name it.
With a focus on the topics of accessibility and internationalisation, this talk will remind us about the levels and weight of responsibility we carry as builders and leads in tech, zero in on the need for prioritising people-centric approaches in the design and development decisions we make everyday and implore us to move beyond only employing best practices in our work and to start packaging and sharing our best practices more broadly as a way to bring about meaningful, long-term and inclusive culture shifts in tech.
