SEH/TS: Running a JAD Session: Joint Application Design

Running a JAD Session: Joint Application Design

One of the key ingredients to developing creative solutions and implementing them is the involvement of the key stakeholders in the process. Developed in 1977 by IBM, Joint Application Design or JAD believes that a well functioning group will always outperform amazing individuals who work by themselves.

The concept of JAD or Consensus Management is based on group sessions of key personnel. JAD is a workshop approach to system design where the users send representatives to specialized meetings. Users and designers are both involved in these facilitated meetings and the meetings are recorded. Properly managed, the JAD session produces a quality deliverable in a short period of time.

For the purpose of this White Paper we will use the example of application design. JAD is based on the premise that the largest impact on software productivity and quality is people and therefore takes the “people” side of software development very seriously.

Running an effective JAD session requires participation by the right people who are committed to the project, an impartial facilitator to moderate the session, a detailed agenda, a scribe to document the proceedings and record the agreed upon requirements and good group dynamics. A JAD session is intended to promote cooperation, understanding and teamwork among the various user groups and information systems staff.

The Right People - Who Should Attend

Management Sponsor or funding Executive
Business and Technology Project Managers or leaders
Facilitator or session leader (and time keeper)
Participants
- Managers who are expected to align projects across the company
- Professionals or Staff who will be facilitating a group meeting of any sort
- Others who are expected to be participants in the JAD session
- Staff responsible for defining functional requirements
Scribe for the JAD session

The Management Sponsor or Executive who has chartered the project does not have to actively participate in every part of the JAD session, but should be there to show support by starting the session and during the close to demonstrate appreciation for the team’s commitment to the JAD session and ultimately to the project.

The Business and Technology Project Managers are there to answer questions about the project regarding scope, timeline and for coordination of issues and resources. They participate in the session as long as they don’t inhibit the participants unless the JAD has specific technical objectives, in which case, they become participants as well.

The JAD Facilitator is the key person in the team and is responsible for planning, executing and managing the session. In essence, the facilitator is the traffic cop, directing the meeting and keeping the group focused on the meeting agenda topics and items. Choosing a facilitator is the first important step and t he facilitator role is not a position to be entered into lightly and especially is not for the faint-hearted. The facilitator will know how to handle people to get the best out of everyone in the group without letting one or two people alone drive the session. This requires a good personality, communication and management skills and if from within the company, a good reputation with the participants and executive management. The facilitator serves the participants and does not contribute information to the meeting.

An Impartial Facilitator—Moderation of the JAD session

Neutral session leader
Help the team with the JAD process, not own the final product or process
Keep the group focused
Suggest ways to move the process and group forward – Help the group get unstuck
Influence others only at their request
Manage group conflict using it as a springboard for consensus
“Forming”, “Norming”, “Storming” and “Performing”

Participants are customers in the business area directly or indirectly being affected by the project who are experts in their field and can make decisions about their work. They are the source of the input to the session and through the JAD session will gain a sense of involvement and ownership of the project and/or systems being developed.

Information specialists are there to assist the end users and develop a design according to the end users’ needs. Information specialists typically create prototypes after discussing the requirements. They can also advise end users on new technology or hardware that can assist in the technical implementation. Information specialists should be good listeners and be able to empathize with end users.

The Scribe has just as important role in the JAD session as the Facilitator. They are responsible for documenting the JAD session in an interactive fashion; therefore they, also, are not a participant. They work closely with the facilitator and must be able to capture important decisions made during the many ideas and suggestions being discussed. It is the responsibility of the scribe to distribute the final documents at the end of the session. Being a scribe is a difficult task and should not be underestimated.

The facilitator typically starts the session by introducing the Management Sponsor or Executive for a few words of Welcome. The Facilitator then takes over the session and moves forward by setting some ground rules, which may include:

Sample Ground Rules/Guidelines

Turn off your cell phones (or at least put them on “stun”)
There are no dumb questions
All participants are equal
Silence means agreement, even (especially) if you’re absent
Any team member can request that we go around the room and get explicit agreement from each person on a given issue
No “speeches”
No side conversations
All team members are here for the full session (sometimes multiple days).
Start top-down, outside/in
One Scenario at a time
Ensure the Scribe documents your point accurately
Brainstorming: Quantity not Quality. No limitations. No arguing for or against. Say the concept/idea in 1 to 3 sentences when possible.
Define Terms
Full participation from all team members (capturing information on index cards, keeping each other on track and following the meeting process)
Keep an open mind
Be a Team: Give your all, support each other, learn, grow and have fun

A JAD session typically consists of 5 phases; Project definition, Research of user requirements, Preparation for the JAD session, Conducting the JAD session and the Final document that contains all decisions made during the session.

During Project Definition a project request is made and the project purpose, scope and objectives are documented. This includes a description of what management would like to get out of the project. This typically takes the form of an executive presentation followed by a Statement of Work detailing stakeholders, benefits, risks and the requested investment.

Research of user requirements is the second phase of JAD and is intended to become familiar with the processes and system necessary to achieve the objective of the project. It includes exploring and creating Use Cases, detailed functional requirements, modeling processes and data and gathering preliminary information to begin preparation for the JAD session. Based on the research, an Agenda is prepared listing what needs to be decided in the session. A typical Agenda may look like;

Sample JAD Session Agenda

Welcome from Management Sponsor
Discuss proposed plan for the day
Discuss Assumptions
Define and discuss data requirements
Define and discuss business processes (using Use Cases)
Design screens
Design reports
Resolve and/or Assign open issues
Agree on next steps and a timeline
Evaluate the JAD session
Thank you from Management Sponsor

The third phase is preparation for the JAD session. This involves preparing everything you need such as visual aids, working documents, flip charts, presentations, etc. The visual aids are used to help the participants remained focused and clarify decisions when made. The scribe must be trained for their role if they’ve never done it before. The purpose of this training is to instill understanding of the process to be an effective member of the team. In larger or more complex JAD sessions, two scribes are recommended. One to document them meeting and decisions and a second to man flip charts and other visuals aids used during the session.

Either a pre-session meeting is held to establish commitment from management, summarize the JAD process, distribute and discuss the working document and establish group rapport, or working documents are sent out to participants with detailed information about how a JAD session works and what their expected participation is in the session. The pre-session meeting is recommended as the most effective, but sending out documents and expectations prior to the session can be used if necessary.

Conducting the actual workshop session is phase four. Various tools can be used throughout the session to define business process, project requirements and to agree upon decisions.

Phase five is the final document. The information captured in the session is used to produce the final document, which in turn is used to review and change requirements after the session.

Guidelines for a successful JAD session

If all five phases are carried out well, the JAD session will be successful. Not one of them should be omitted. Some of the strengths of JAD that are noted are that it reduces cost and saves time, identifying conflicts and discrepancies and generating a sense of ownership. Some of the weaknesses are that you could require more than one JAD session, and strong opinionated users could dominate.

Not all JADs are successful, some are even disastrous. These guidelines are based on research results and personal experiences and are given to avoid failures. They represent critical success factors and they are recommended to be followed carefully.

Use an experienced and skilled facilitator
Get Executive Sponsor’s commitment and support
Get the right people to participate and predefine their roles and responsibilities
Set clearly defined, well understood and obtainable goals or objectives
Plan a detailed agenda and stick with it
Define clear deliverables early in the session
Keep technical jargon out of the session or at least to a minimum
Produce and distribute final documents quickly

The Benefits of a Successful JAD session

If the above guidelines are followed closely, chances are, the JAD will be successful. A successful JAD session should provide these benefits:

Reduced system development time (reduce application development time between 20% to 50%)
Improved system quality and productivity (JAD is recognized as the best method for collecting requirements from the users, customers, or customer advocates)
Reduced system cost

Reduced development time reduces the labor cost for developers, as well as users
JAD can reduce the involvement time of the business experts and hence reduce the cost further

Enhanced communication and relationship between business end-users and IT personnel
Cultivate ownership, buy-in and stronger commitment by users (business end-users are no longer on advisory or consultation spectrum)
Reduced function creep
Enhanced education for participants and observers (Business users participate in JAD and become the medium between other users and IT)

In Summary

We know that human performance for solving a task is directly related to how a task is understood by the people attempting to solve it. By concentrating on techniques to increase the understanding our performance will increase. When JAD is introduced, motivation and performance improve dramatically because JAD focuses on analyzing the task and providing a solution.

A major advantage of the JAD approach is that it allows for the simultaneous gathering and consolidating of large amounts of information. Moreover, discrepancies are resolved immediately with the aid of the facilitator.
Remember, the most important element of a successful JAD session is a skilled facilitator because they act as the mediator, keeping the meeting focused and moving toward the goal of session.

For more information or to talk with a technology expert about your own unique needs, contact SEH/TS at 612.758.6728.

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