Known Unknowns | Gavin Ellis
KNOWN UNKNOWNS IS A SERIES THAT PROFILES MOVERS AND SHAKERS MAKING A DIFFERENCE
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Meet Gavin Ellis - a Senior Product Manager at Digital UK. Gavin Ellis has been working in digital for 20 years. His experience ranges from digital asset creation (editing videos for sale on mobile phones – pre iPhone) to account management and sales and most recently working in product management creating, websites, games and applications for a variety of clients in a variety of sectors. At Digital UK, he is responsible for helping TV device manufacturer partners deliver new features for Freeview Play devices, as well as developing Digital UK owned products, including the Accessible TV Guide and the Freeview Play Quick Menu which will be launching on devices later this year.
You are the product lead for the Freeview Accessible TV Guide - what does a typical day at work look like for you?
At Freeview, I work on various product developments and feature developments to enhance the discoverability of content for users using Freeview play TVs. This can be anything from working with our 20+ manufacturing partners to ensure they're following our specifications and working out ways to manage the development process, to working with internal, design and tech teams to create new products and new features.
How did you get involved in the development of the TV guide?
Before I joined Digital UK, I was working in product development and account product management for start-ups and agencies. This involved building applications, websites, and internal and external consumer facing products.
When I joined the company in April 2019, the Accessible TV Guide was in its ideation stage. I picked up the project and worked with the designers and my stakeholders internally to figure out what we needed in order to create something as universal and accessible as possible.
We work in a horizontal market. This means we work with multiple manufacturers that have budgets that are getting smaller when it comes to developing specific functionality for the UK market. It would be very costly for these companies, like LG, Sony and Philips - that are already well established and have their own feature development process - to create certain accessibility features mandated by Ofcom, the UK’s communication regulator. Creating the TV Guide gave us the responsibility of delivering Ofcom requirements on behalf of our partners, while having complete control over it.
How did you work out what users need?
We spent roughly 18 months’ worth of development, design and discovery to understand our audience. We spoke to accessibility agencies like AbilityNet, the DAC (the Digital Accessibility Centre) and the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) to better understand what their users need. We then went through a process of design and then validated those designs with user testing. We got to a point at Q3 in 2019 when development started. Majority of our time was spent building the actual engine for the text to speech. No-one had built this before in the company so it required a lot of research into what speech services can and should do. We always made sure that within the EPG (electronic programme guide) itself, there was an onward notification that gives users an indication of how to navigate the guide.
Who is this guide for?
We built this guide for anyone who has any kind of impairments, visual, aural and invisible. This includes those who are hard of hearing or have a slight sight degradation as well as those with types of neurodiversity. We saw that older generations found this guide really empowering, thanks to the new functionality that the Accessible TV Guide offers s. Instead of a traditional grid style TV Guide, which has small blocks and lots of information in each block, we created a list view of items of all the content available. This ensures that anyone with visual, neurodivergent, or neuro sensitivities will be able to take in the information and manage making decisions more clearly.
Our goal is to make TV as accessible as possible for everyone because we are a mass-market company. Roughly 20% of the UK will have some kind of visible and non-visible impairment. In addition to this, the UK has an ageing population, so it is likely that we will all experience some kind of condition during our lifetime.
You don’t have prior experience in D&I - what was it like diving straight into this project , straight into the D&I space, during this time in history.
I'm extremely proud of the product that we've produced. Personally, I've worked for companies in the past that have all been about creating new products for profits. I joined Digital UK knowing that we're here to deliver the best television service in the world to UK users. When I was given the project of the Accessible TV Guide, I jumped at the chance and learned an incredible amount along the way. As a non-disabled person, the most important thing was to truly empathise with people who experience these challenges; I wanted to make sure that whatever we did was for them.
No matter how good our intentions are, being led by our assumptions can really ruin someone else's experience, whether it's enjoyment or leisure, because we haven't taken the time to actually understand the intricacies of their day to day life.
Absolutely. On the product that I'm working on at the moment, which I can't talk much about, we are making sure that universal design practices are at the forefront of development. We know that people have long term issues, but there are people who have short term issues, too. Now we are making sure that even if you break your right arm (and are right handed), you'll still be able to use a remote control using your left hand because its functionality is really simple.
Having gone through this amazing journey where you pushed yourself out of your comfort zone and became somewhat of an expert in this space, what does accessibility now mean to you?
Accessibility is about taking away the barriers to equity. Accessibility is turning design and development on its head, so that rather than thinking ‘Does this look great?’ and ’Will it deliver on business needs?’, we think; “Will deliver for any kind of user?’. I'm always thinking about the person who probably isn't thought about as often as they should be.
What has it been like watching the public's reception to this innovation, specifically the differently abled community?
The usage keeps going up since we've launched it on multiple devices. It was also spoken about in the House of Commons as an innovation, which was amazing for us.
How did Covid affect Freeview and your viewers?
Freeview transitioned extremely well. We also needed to make sure that TV was on and that the services that we provide were maintained as best they could because it became a fundamental lifeline for thousands of people. I think it showed me that loneliness and isolation is a massive problem in this country and covid exacerbated it.
What lesson about inclusivity and accessibility do you know now that you didn't know at the start of your career?
To make sure that when you develop something, to think about everyone and anyone who can potentially use it, not just the initial target market. As an example, we only realised during our period of discovery how much the older generation could also benefit from the Accessible TV Guide product, and they soon became a new market for us.
Where is Freeview headed within the next 5 years? How do you top this project?
Accessibility and inclusion need to be at the forefront of any product we develop going forward. We are aiming for a future where it is much more integrated into the viewing experience, and we are working on some really exciting developments, but unfortunately we can’t say much more at this stage.
As we reflect on the multitude of lessons learnt from the past 2 years of the pandemic, what values have you taken with you into 2022 and what are you leaving behind?
Personally, I am taking with me the value of work-life balance and mental health. I think any good company will make sure this is at the forefront of their agenda. Before that, it was an afterthought. From a product development point of view, I am leaving behind creating ‘pretty things’ for the sake of it. Now they need to be accessible and then pretty.
In 2020, the Videonet Connected TV Awards was held and Freeview walked away with two prizes, one ‘Advancing the TV User Experience’ and then the ‘Videonet Grand Prix’ with its Accessible TV Guide for Freeview Play - how did this achievement impact Freeview and the team? What do these achievements mean to you?
This was an amazing surprise. From a team spirit point of view, the validation lifted everyone up and brought us closer together. The Grand Prix was an award given based on the fact they wanted to give us an extra award because of how innovative the Accessible TV Guiide is. It was the ultimate accolade and this really got us additional credibility and attention from peers and stakeholders.
What is the most exciting part of your job?
I get to work with designers and developers to turn ideas into reality, not only for the business but for the user.
What is the most challenging part of your job?
The hardest part of my job is getting buy-in from across the TV industry for these ideas we want to turn into products.
Rapid Fire
What do you do for fun? I am a collector of toys - a bit of a sci-fi geek
What keeps you awake at night? The state of politics in the UK
What podcast are you currently listening to? My favourite podcast at the moment is Evil Genius with Russell Kane on BBC Sounds.
What is your favourite quote? Just do it
What makes you feel powerful? Having my idea validated by other people in the room
Fill in the missing word…. I dream of a world where ….. everyone's basic needs are met.
For more information about Gavin and his work with Freeview, visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavin-ellis/