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On today’s episode of the Project Management for the Masses I talk with Roy Gatling. Roy is a former Dell employee who witnessed the company’s journey in embracing and implementing project management to become the giant that it is today. Listen in this fascinating conversation and learn how Dell went from a team of just 50 people in the 90s to a giant of the technology world – all the while implementing and perfecting project management. To listen to today’s episode, press the “play” button on top of this post.
Roy Gatling
Roy Gatling was one of the pioneers that was part of the success story that we know as Dell Computer Corporation. Roy joined that little startup in Texas when it employed less than 50 people, and he experienced history making growth as it became a global Fortune 100 company with over $60 billion in revenue.Roy has nearly 20 years of combined project management experience in hardware development, software development, IT and Mergers and Acquisitions. He has worked in an environment with absolutely no process in place and one with perhaps a bit too much process in place.
Based on this experience and his entrepreneurial roots, Roy recently launched his own project management consulting practice based in Austin, TX where he joins us today.
Good podcast, Cesar! I’m enjoying listening to you and your guests talk about the project world.
I worked at Dell during the explosive growth Roy talks about in this interview.
Cheers, Steve
stevewardaustin Steve, thank you for listening! You can’t leave me hanging like this… Tell us more about your experience during this explosive growth!
PM4TM stevewardaustin
Cesar,
Wow it was a wild ride. Dell was growing like crazy and building factories and call centers to support that growth.
How crazy was it? Our rolling list of projects seemed to have a million s.f. under construction for many years.
It was a new 300K square feet desktop factory in ’97, a server plant in ’98, call centers and logistics hubs in ’00 (that was just in the U.S.). We launched Europe and Asia facilities during that same time!
Those big construction projects were so fun.
It was such a great opportunity for me – I was an IT project manager and had the chance to grow with Dell. I learned tons from my managers and co-workers.
Cheers,
Steve
stevewardaustin Steve,
Holy moly, that sounds insane. I can only imagine how much you learn and how exciting it must have been.
Are you still in IT?
PM4TM stevewardaustin
I’m still in IT, but now I’m in the Services side of the business. It is cool to be closer to the customer now!