Joint Application is a term originally used to describe a software development process pioneered and successfully deployed during the mid-1970s by the New York Telephone Co's Systems Development Center under the direction of Dan Gielan. Following a series of remarkably successful implementations of this methodology, Gielan lectured extensively in various forums on the methodology, its benefits and best practices. of IBM Canada created and named JAD in 1974, or Joint Application Design, as it is currently used in software development. While working at IBM in Regina, Saskatchewan, Arnie Lind, a Senior Systems Engineer at the time, was searching for a better way to implement applications at IBM's customers. The existing method entailed application developers spending months learning the specifics of a particular department or job function, and then developing an application for the function or department. In addition to significant development backlog delays, this process resulted in applications taking years to develop, and often not being fully accepted by the application users.
Arnie Lind's idea was simple: rather than have application developers learn about people's jobs, why not teach the people doing the work how to write an application? Arnie pitched the concept to IBM Canada's Vice President Carl Corcoran (later President of IBM Canada), and Carl approved a pilot project. Arnie and Carl together named the methodology JAD, an acronym for Joint Application Design, after Carl Corcoran rejected the acronym JAL, or Joint Application Logistics, upon realizing that Arnie Lind's initials were JAL (John Arnold Lind).