Facilitator

The session facilitator is responsible for conducting a successful session. This individual:

. solicits the information required to create the deliverables from all participants

. ensures contribution from all participants based on their role

. coordinates the efforts of multiple groups in a session

. enforces the agenda and updates it as necessary

. maintains momentum throughout the session

. confirms the information captured by the session analyst

. applies appropriate methods and techniques to keep the participants moving forward without exhaustion

. manages side issues so they do not delay the session

. interacts with the session analyst

Session Analyst

The session analyst works behind the scenes and is responsible for the quality and accuracy of working and final deliverables. This person:

. interactively captures the session results in the appropriate automated tool

. evaluates the completeness and correctness of the deliverables

. notes any discrepancies, irregularities, omissions and errors for the facilitator

. prepares working copies of deliverables and distributes them in the session

. maintains rapid turn-around of the session deliverables

. assists the facilitator in any way necessary to ensure a successful session

. manages extra help in the support room if needed

Contributors

Contributors are people with specialized business knowledge, and the authority to make decisions. They are the customers of the process. They:

. deliver the business knowledge that the session is designed to capture

. explain what they are currently doing and what they need to do it better

. answer questions and validate assumptions concerning their needs

. reach consensus and make decisions based on options and possible solutions

Experts

Experts are vendors, providers of services or technology to the contributors. They have technical expertise in the correct area. They are project leaders, business systems analysts, designers, developers, testers or whatever the situation warrants. This group:

. listens to the customers and ask questions designed to clarify what is said

. conveys information to help the customers understand technical information

. ensures that the produced deliverables form a solid, understandable basis from which they can continue to work after the session

Advisors

Advisors have special knowledge, authority or interests that are not directly specific to the project being worked on, but important to projects that may have a relationship to this project. Prior to requesting an advisor, the group prepares a set of pertinent questions. Advisors:

. are usually part-time participants in a session on an as-needed basis

. are on-call with very short response time during the working session

. advise the group on topics specific to their area of expertise

Observers

Observers may sit in on the session. It is possible to make up to 4 of these seats available. It is critical that the observers do not impact the work in progress. Observers:

. are there to listen only

. are interested in the acceleration process, not the project

. are potential candidates for leading or supporting JAD sessions

The right place

Appropriate facilities have a direct impact on the quality of the generated deliverables. .

The session room has to be available 24 hours a day and offer:

. a physical location away from the day-to-day workplace

. large working tables

. comfortable chairs

. walls for taping or pinning up results

. refreshments at all times

. windows

. no telephones in the room, cell phones off or silent

. standard presentation supplies and equipment

. a support room in close proximity with a suitable hardware and software configuration, 24 hour access and a high-speed copier.

The right time

The key criteria in determining the right time are:

. tangible benefit for the early creation of required deliverables or early project completion

. management commitment and support for the project

. the right people can work exclusively on the project for the entire session.

These criteria can still be difficult to evaluate. These will help you identify the right time for a JAD session:

. you have a huge project and cannot get your hands around it all.

. you have to decide quickly which projects get resources

. you feel that you might have to skip important project activities or system functionalities to meet the deadline

. other projects depend on your project

. you can only meet the deadline if you compress the time for this project.

. you're having sleepless nights because you know there's no time to test--again.

. you can't start a new project until you're done revising the last one

Guidelines for the working session

This process is time dependent, therefore:

. Be sure to initiate all deliverables. It is okay not to finish a deliverable, but critical that you start it.

. Manage group sessions to ensure topics are of concern to all participants. Use breakout sessions for topics specific to small groups of participants.

. Beware of overwhelming the session analyst (see Scheduling a JAD session, Section 9).

. Use Open Issues and Question Lists to hold issues and questions that cannot be resolved immediately in the session. Keep them on the wall in the session room to prevent non-productive discussions from reoccurring.

Scheduling tips

Good scheduling can increase your chances of success. The following tips can help.

. Sequence the activities to give the participants a change of mental pace. This can allow the group to work longer than normal and still be effective.

. Offset the working hours for the session analyst by 1 - 2 hours. This enables same-day turn-around of many deliverables.

. Plan the sequence of session activities carefully to allow the session analyst sufficient time to prepare the results and return them to the group.

. Break when the group shows exhaustion.

. Assign each break a specific length in time.