What steps can you take to make your system designs more inclusive?

1 Understand your users

The first step to make your system designs more inclusive is to understand who your users are, what they want, and how they interact with your system. You can use various methods, such as user research, personas, user stories, and scenarios, to gather and analyze user data and insights. You should also seek feedback from users who represent different backgrounds, identities, abilities, and contexts, and involve them throughout the design process. By understanding your users, you can empathize with their needs and expectations, and design solutions that suit them.

2 Define your goals and metrics

The second step to make your system designs more inclusive is to define your goals and metrics for your system. You should align your goals and metrics with your user needs and values, and avoid metrics that may have negative or unintended consequences for some users. For example, you may want to avoid metrics that favor speed over accuracy, quantity over quality, or popularity over diversity. You should also define how you will measure and evaluate your system's performance, usability, and impact, and how you will address any issues or gaps.

3 Choose your technologies and tools

The third step to make your system designs more inclusive is to choose the technologies and tools that you will use to build and run your system. You should consider the advantages and disadvantages of different technologies and tools, such as programming languages, frameworks, libraries, databases, APIs, and platforms, and how they may affect your system's functionality, security, and accessibility. You should also consider the availability and affordability of your technologies and tools for your users, and how they may influence their access and experience.

5 Implement your features and functions

The fifth step to make your system designs more inclusive is to implement your features and functions for your system. You should consider the best practices and principles of software engineering, such as modularity, abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, or testing, and how they may affect your system's quality, efficiency, and extensibility. You should also consider the design guidelines and standards of user interface, user experience, and accessibility, such as contrast, color, font, layout, navigation, feedback, or keyboard support, and how they may affect your system's usability, attractiveness, and inclusiveness.

6 Review and improve your system

The sixth and final step to make your system designs more inclusive is to review and improve your system. You should test your system's functionality, usability, and accessibility, using various methods, such as unit testing, integration testing, system testing, user testing, or accessibility testing, and using various tools, such as debuggers, profilers, analyzers, or validators. You should also monitor your system's performance, impact, and feedback, using various metrics, such as throughput, latency, availability, error rate, or user satisfaction. You should also iterate and refine your system based on your findings and feedback, and keep learning and updating your system as your users and context change.