Red Hat: Researching Internal Processes and Supporting Accessibility

Conducting large-scale systems analysis and accessibility reviews.

Role	Duration	Project Type	Tools/Skills
Digital Accessibility Marketing and Product Management Intern	3 Months	Internship	Product Management and Strategy, User Research, AI prompting, Figma, and Competitive Analysis.

Summary

As an intern with Red Hat, I worked to support accessibility in Red Hatters' workflow by conducting a large scale user research project involving interviews with several different products, teams, and roles. In addition to my main project, I completed accessibility reviews and presented findings, and developed prototypes for emerging AI tools to support accessibility in workflows.

Overview

Problem: The team wanted to implement streamlined consistent accessibility processes across the company.

Objective: I developed a streamlined workflow for accessibility that implements the best practices across multiple organizations at Red Hat, then present actionable recommendations to stakeholders.

Research and Process: My main research project involved developing a strategy and completing several user interviews.

Domain research, competitive analysis, WCAG Accessibility Maturity Model, and Research plan.
Developing research interview questions, consulting with user research experts.
Conducting over 35+ interviews with cross-functional and cross-product team members.
Analyzing interview transcripts, utilizing AI tooling, quantitatively scoring results.
Generating recommendations and documentation material for presenting to stakeholders.

Outcome: I presented and shared recommendations with 80+ stakeholders, including the product management team and VP executives, based on data collected from 35+ interviews.

Reflection

Throughout my time at Red Hat I had the opportunity to grow as a product manager and develop my skills in accessibility.

Product Management process development: As a product manager working on large scale strategy and operations, it can sometimes be easy to miss the smaller details. This project helped me learn more about different roles and their responsibilities and pain points. I gained a greater awareness of cross-functional collaboration and how to lead projects with many stakeholders.
Building connections: I had the opportunity to connect with people across Red Hat and learn more about their work and experiences. I also learned a lot about topics like Design Systems, SEO, and Accessibility from my very talented and knowledgeable fellow Red Hatters!
Enterprise Accessibility: At an enterprise level, accessibility is like any other initiative and requires careful consideration and strategy to implement across a large organization. I learned how accessibility integrates with product success and AI, and from this I developed business strategy documentation.

Laying the Groundwork: Research Proposal

Prior to beginning the research study, I developed a comprehensive research proposal plan to outline the issues, goals, methodology, and domain research of my project.

Identifying the issue: I spoke with Red Hat accessibility experts and analyzed existing documentation outlining the need for improved workflows, documentation, and training for accessibility.
Outlining goals: To support current KPIs, I developed a goal to develop a comprehensive report on roadblocks and recommendations that may not be apparent through surveys or other quantitative measures.
Methodology: After studying different possible strategies and consulting team members, I determined qualitative user interviews would best achieve my goal of identifying major roadblocks that were not easy to determine via quantitative surveys alone. In previous product work, I also found that qualitative work helped us better understand inter-team dynamics and possible gaps in existing systems.
Domain Research: To inform impacts of accessibility and develop a business case for integrating emerging solutions like AI to support accessibility.
Accessibility Guidelines: I centered my project around achieving the W3C's Web Consortium Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and how it supports client success.
Accessibility Maturity: The WCAG guidelines also describe "accessibility maturity", or methods of gauging an organization's current integration of accessibility. Using this framework, I was able to make informed decisions on research methods and recommendations to improve workflows across Red Hat.

Cover of the research report document, title reads, Accessibility Process Research Proposal.

Accessibility graphic showing different levels of accessibility maturity: 1. inactive, 2. launch, 3. integrate and 4. optimize.

Developing Research Materials

I developed a list of questions with branching questions according to the persona role of the user. Additionally, I allowed for follow-up questions as needed to clarify any questions and to allow users to express add any concerns or observations they felt were relevant. I also consulted other user researchers to give me feedback.

Conducting Interviews

I also completed holistic accessibility reviews of three major domains within my research project scope. I documented any potential issues and presented to the site product managers and teams.

Personas: My project focused on workflow, so I created personas embodying different roles like development or design. Although an individual's specific role may differ, the general responsibilties between two developers or managers is typically the same within the project lifecycle. Throughout my interviews, I also confirmed general workflow and handoff responsibilities.

Analysis and Results

After completing an interview, I manually analyzed the transcript and scored responses according to criteria surrounding different topics. Similarly, I leveraged AI tools to transcripts to analyze for sentiment, major gaps, and researching recommendations.

Sentiment Analysis: By analyzing data both manually and with AI, I outlined the main categories of roadblocks encountered by users. By categorizing data and identifying trends such as with role type or product, I could pinpoint the most effective solution.
Visualizing Data: To effectively communicate data, I created various visualizations such as flow charts, bar graphs, and persona charts.
Presenting Recommendations: I researched accessibility best practices and literature, competitor strategies, and expert feedback to develop realistic and actionable solutions to address workflow issues.