Visual Management and Blind Software Developers

Abstract

With the popularization of Agile methods for developing and managing software projects, many organizations have been using visual management tools for planning, executing and evaluating their activities. These visual management tools range from simple information such as goals and deadlines to support all data required to represent the entire development process. The benefits are transparency, communication, engagement, simplicity and process awareness. However, these tools have a drawback: they are inaccessible to the blind. This paper presents an action research about the adoption of Agile methods with visual management by a software development team that includes a blind programmer, describing the difficulties encountered and how they overcame them.