Laying people off after directing them through a policy and rules driven command and control structure flies right in the face of the Golden Rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

None of us want to be directed and controlled. We do not want to be ‘headcount’. And we especially don’t want to lose the means of support for our families.

No matter what our religious faith, some variation on the Rule is part of the fundamental ethic built into our way of life, yet doing all of those things we would dread having done to us was a fundamental part of being a business success.

• The Buddhists preach, “Putting oneself in the place of another“.
• Confucius said, “Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself“.
• Muhammad said in his farewell sermon, “Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you.”
• The Jews might have said it best: “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.”
• And as a Christian you learned early on in the Gospel of Luke, “as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise“.

We rationalized treating people as ‘headcount’ to be minimized and controlled with a ‘good of the whole’ justification. We told ourselves the hard, but necessary and right thing to do was to throw 10% of the workforce out on the streets, even though they were good, had working people, in order to protect the security and the future of the 90% we kept.

And we even built a culture around it.

Macho men everywhere could relate to Michael Corleone in the Godfather when he said, “It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.”

Real men – tough business men – have to check their compassion for people at the door and make hard decisions and do hard things to people. The alternative, we were taught, is to give away the company’s money which is not ours to give, erode profits, put the whole business at risk.

I found it increasingly difficult to convince myself that the Michael Corleone philosophy was right.

I’m not so sure the explanation that my business life is an allowable exception to morals and ethics is going to fly. I recall being struck by Meg Ryan’s line in You’ve Got Mail (as much as it pains me to admit that I watch the occasional chick flick). When confronted with the Michael Corleone line, she said “What is that supposed to mean? I am so sick of that. All that means is that it wasn’t personal to you. But it was personal to me. It’s *personal* to a lot of people. And what’s so wrong with being personal, anyway? … Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.”

It was a little unsettling to hear that line uttered because she was so right.

The best part of lean is that it proves the rationalizations are wrong. We don’t have to separate ‘business’ from ‘personal’.

Treating people with respect and by the Golden Rule not only allows us to keep our moral code intact when we get to work, it proves that a strong moral code is the most important tool we have. The company will make more money and everyone’s job security is greater because we can – in fact we must – treat people with the respect with which we want to be treated.

That, for me, is the very best aspect of being a lean manufacturer.

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Responsibilities:

• Builds and provides direction and day-to-day operations to the PMO. The PMO scope may include technical and/or non-technical programs for any operational segment affected by internal objectives or client engagements
• Defines and develops project / program management best practices, processes, and policy to ensure alignment with corporate strategy and goals
• Partners with multi-departmental leadership and other stakeholders to locate opportunities and develop and prioritize projects according to relevant measurement criteria
• Maintains the efficiency of important aspects of the project management process such as planning, scheduling, and budget and risk assessment. Provides executive management with forecasts of available resources and program status
• Supervises the project and program managers to ensure that all projects within the scope of the PMO are delivered within the defined scope, quality, time and cost requirements
• Performs additional related duties as assigned

Skills and Qualifications:

• A bachelor’s degree in Business Administration or other related discipline; or equivalent combination of education and experience that is required for the specific job level (advanced degree is preferred)
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or active pursuit of certification preferred
• Extensive knowledge of project management standards, processes, procedures and guidelines
• Knowledge of the IT project management best practices (i.e., Project Management Body of Knowledge – PMBOK)
• Knowledge of various types of IT project methodologies and life cycles (e.g., conversions, incremental, rapid delivery, classic or traditional waterfall phases of analysis, design, development, testing, implementation) and the correct project application Knowledge of standards relevant to the software industry (e.g., ISO, CMM, Six Sigma)
• Advanced skill in the use of project management software to manage projects (e.g., MS Project and auxiliary tools, such as earned value database, audit tools, project repository, including risk, issues and action items database, Metrics and Control, PlanView, Platinum Process Continuum)
• Demonstrated skill in managing project budgets and timelines
• Skill in the use of negotiation techniques to reach agreement when there are widely-differing viewpoints
• Excellent analysis, problem-solving, team, conflict management and time management skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to interact effectively with client executives and internal management team.
• Ability to set clear expectations, manage team performance and build high morale among team members
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and carry out assignments that are sensitive in nature

Mid-level Managerial Role:

• Manages project and/or program managers and project management administrative employees within the scope of the PMO
• Receives assignments in the form of objectives and determines how to use resources to meet schedules and goals
• Provides guidance to team members within latitude of established company policies
• Recommends changes to policies and establishes procedures that affect group
• Works on issues of diverse scope where analysis of situation or data requires evaluation of a variety of factors, including an understanding of current business trends
• Follows processes and policies in selecting methods and techniques for obtaining solutions
• Faces variable situations that require analytical, interpretive, evaluative, and/or constructive thinking and requires research for solutions or new applications within program management
• Uses innovative and strategic thinking in applying theories, principles, and concepts for all but the most complex issues
• Exercises judgment on the basis of the software services industry or experience in project / program management and considers various courses of action
• Discusses only the complex, unusual situations with Senior PMO Manager
• Acts as advisor to team members in meeting schedules and/or resolving problems
• Develops and administers schedules, performance requirements, and may have budget responsibilities
• Typically requires six or more years experience managing large, high risk, highly complex projects that may have high corporate visibility or be strategic to the corporation and one or more years of management responsibility

Please send resume to hr@idatix.com.

The organization operates over 300,000 sq. ft. of retail sales floor space in 29 locations, over 70 donation sites and 16 employment and training centers.

• Industry: Not-for-Profit
• Integration: Great Plains
• Departments: Human Resources, Payroll

Approximately 35% of Goodwill’s workforce is replaced annually as clients move into employment opportunities in their communities. This ever-shifting workforce and the documents associated with it generated a surplus of paper, resulting in rooms full of filing cabinets, lost paperwork and a constant scramble to find information. Their wage change approval process was inefficient and supervisors were under constant stress to meet deadlines.

Nearly every process associated with Human Resources and payroll was time-consuming and prone to error; all of this became their catalyst for change.

Challenges

• Inefficient Human Resource and payroll processes
• Lengthy, time-consuming approvals
• A growing amount of physical storage space was being required just for paper

Solution

• iSynergy Document Management for the capture, storage and quick retrieval of all their existing paper
• Progression Workflow Automation for the automatic routing and review of work items
• iForms Electronic Forms for the quick and seamless capture of information

Benefits

• Elimination of physical paper storage
• A 25% reduction in time spent on paperwork and 70% reduction in interdepartmental inquiries
• Over $100,000 in annual savings

“Our net income is up, we are able to do more with less, and Goodwill is growing.”

Ed O'Kelley, Senior Director of Information Technology
Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee

Discover how Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee was able to eliminate a room full of filing cabinets and ultimately save over $100,000 a year.

Download the full case study now:

“Is it a sincere honor to receive recognition as a best place to work among the hundreds of great companies in the Tampa Bay region,” said Steve Allen, CEO of iDatix. “It would not be possible without the team that we have in place here and the culture that we have built over the last thirteen years. I cannot express my gratitude enough for all of our amazing employees that have helped iDatix become a premiere provider of Enterprise Content Management and Workflow Automation.”

Partnered with city business journals across the nation, Quantum Workplace has performed employee surveys for thousands of companies in more than 40 US cities through Best Places to Work competitions. Quantum Workplace lends its proprietary employee survey methodology and survey software for the nominees in each competition.

Employees of nominated companies were asked to complete a 37-question, online survey. The employee survey measures 10 key engagement categories focusing on items including team effectiveness, trust in senior leaders, feeling valued, manager effectiveness, compensation and benefits.

Responses from each question of the completed surveys are compiled and evaluated. Companies are ranked and finalists are chosen in each size category according to their overall composite score. These initiatives are the only competition that is judged solely upon quantitative measurement of employee input.

Required Skills:

• Learn and adhere to testing processes and policies; understand and follow the development cycle processes for our products
• Review and provide input/feedback on design specifications
• Provide estimates for creating test plans and testing specific features
• Write thorough test plans for areas of the application
• Review the test plans of others (Peer Review)
• Execute test plans and record results on test plans
• Be solely responsible for testing areas of the program
• Test assigned areas thoroughly and extensively so a limited amount of supervisory checking is necessary in their area
• Enter defects that are accurate, clearly stated and submitted in a timely fashion
• Understand the importance of a schedule and account accurately for all time
• Successfully complete all tasks within the scheduled timeframe or present valid reasons why a task will require additional time
• Recognize and recommend features or scenarios that would benefit from using automated testing tools
• Report clearly on assigned tasks, and recognize and alert management of potential problems/issues in advance
• Effectively prioritize their work; ability to distinguish between important issues and less important in order to allocate their work
• Work effectively on assignments with little supervision and make accurate judgments about the quality of an assigned area; have confidence in own decisions and knowledge so they require limited guidance in testing.
• Ability to assess commercial level performance, scalability, robustness and system issues in web based products
• Exhibit professionalism in attitude, working relationships with colleagues, flexibility and overall work ethic
• Self-directed, motivated, with a bias toward quality
• Strong motivational and interpersonal skills
• Flexible and willing to adjust quickly to changing priorities
• Detailed defect tracking
• Validation of bug fixes

Basic Requirements:

• Understands Testing Techniques – Black Box/White Box/Functional/ Negative/Performance/Load Testing
• Experience with Web Based Applications running on IIS and SQL Server
• Application Evaluation Methodologies
• Understands basic development methodologies such as Agile
• Ability to translate Acceptance Criteria into test cases

Optional Requirements

• Scripting in Automation Packages (Selenium/C#)
• Understanding of HyperV/VMWare infrastructure management
• Experience interfacing between Development and QA

Education Requirements

• Bachelor of Computer Science degree or equivalent work experience required

Please send resume to hr@idatix.com.

Required Skills:

• High school diploma or equivalent
• Any one of the following:
• Bachelor’s degree in the field of computer science, information sciences, or a related field
• Associates degree in the field of computer science, information sciences, or a related field with 2 years of related work experience
• A relevant technology certification with 2 years of related work experience
• 4 years of related work experience
  • At least 2 years experience as a Programmer on web applications
  • Strong understanding of .NET and the Microsoft technology platform using Microsoft Visual Studio
  • Strong understanding of ASP.NET MVC development
  • Solid foundation of JavaScript and a major JavaScript framework (e.g., jQuery)
  • Solid foundation of semantic HTML and CSS
  • Working knowledge of the relational model and ability to design relational tables, adhering to the rules of normalization
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills
  • Good interpersonal skills, with a focus on listening and questioning skills
  • Ability to work productively in a team environment and to interact professionally with staff, internal/external customers, and management
  • Ability to organize and control multiple work assignments. Must be able to work on more than one project concurrently

Desired Skills:

• Prefer experience with Test Driven Development (TDD) and/or Behavior Driven Development (BDD)
• Prefer experience with Microsoft Team Foundation Server
• Prefer experience with continuous integration
• Prefer experience working as part of an Agile software development team (e.g. Scrum)
• Prefer solid interface design skills

Please send resume to hr@idatix.com.