Dell's global technical marketing team uses Strategic Roadmaps to tell their story the right way

Who are they?

With a headquarters in Texas, Dell is a household name in tech that develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and accessories.

When you’re a company operating on the scale of Dell, it can be easy to lose track of the hundreds of ongoing projects and campaigns spanning across the planet. That’s why Dell relies on Strategic Roadmaps to be the single source of truth for their marketing teams.

We spoke to Conor Duffy, Dell’s global director of technical marketing, to learn how their teams used Strategic Roadmaps.

Dell’s Strategic Roadmaps story

So how did Dell find Strategic Roadmaps? Duffy told us that the team was trying to use old-school spreadsheets to attempt to manage a global technical marketing team in an enterprise-sized organnization.

Duffy said: “ I was tying things together manually and it was a disaster. I don't even know how I found Strategic Roadmaps, but when I did it felt as if it was from the heavens. It was so simple and intuitive to use that I didn't even need a demo to get started. I was up and running immediately.”

“I've been quite the evangelist for Strategic Roadmaps at Dell and now it's gone viral in our teams.”

How roadmaps can clear the way

For Duffy and his team at Dell, one major issue he found holding his team back was...himself. There was so much work ongoing that needed his oversight, he simply couldn’t keep up with all the meetings and get enough visibility into the status of work.

This is where Strategic Roadmaps came in to help – offering him instant visibility into all his ongoing work without having to check in with his team. Duffy said: “Just staying up to date with ongoing work was a full-time effort, but Strategic Roadmaps helped eliminate this challenge. Now, my team can take accountability of their own roadmaps and manage their lines of business. The advantages of Strategic Roadmaps extend far beyond just visualization of projects. The tool offered a huge efficiency advantage.”

"In order to have a clear vision, you need to start with sight. Strategic Roadmaps gives us the clarity we need to remove the fog. We make efficient and effective decisions thanks to Tempo."

Conor Duffy, Global Director, Technical Marketing at Dell EMC

From just managing to proper management

A key need for Duffy and his team was improving how his international team could collaborate and communicate. Messaging each other is all well and good, but trying to manage teams engaged with multiple different projects when not everyone is around for meetings can be a struggle.

Strategic Roadmaps helped Duffy by giving him instant visuals of the on-going status of his team's work, so he could kick his day off being fully aware of project status instead of sending messages and waiting around for hours for people to update him.

Duffy said: “I start off every Monday morning by logging into Strategic Roadmaps. I have multiple projects set up and a color-coded system that lets me quickly see how they're trending and what's falling behind. As a manager, this lets me be proactive as opposed to reactive.

“This is a massive operational efficiency that Strategic Roadmaps has given me.”

He emphasized how Strategic Roadmap's different views helped not only with managing, but also the individual's within his team being able to understand their own work and the capacity of others around them.

Duffy added: “Strategic Roadmaps's topological view allows the individuals on my team to better understand their own utilization. It helps them to advocate for themselves and manage their own capacity as well as the expectations of others.

“In addition to setting deadlines, my team members now also know when they have to start their work to ensure the highest level of quality. It's had a big impact on our culture.”

"Strategic Roadmaps provides me with the data that allows me to become a more informed, efficient decision-maker."

Conor Duffy | Global Director, Technical Marketing at Dell EMC

A good surprise

The value of planning out your work and making it visible is clear – people can align and know what they should be doing, and what the people around them are up to as well. However, that can come with some unexpected additional perks.

Duffy told us that an unintended bonus that came from adopting Strategic Roadmaps was the incentive it gave to the whole team. With visibility across the organization – the whole team can be more transparent with each other.

He added: “Speaking candidly, we live in a world where 20% of the people on your team might be doing 80% of the work. But I've found that having transparent roadmaps actually motivates the whole team to be more productive. Strategic Roadmaps really helps me create better team players.”

Duffy emphasized how Strategic Roadmap's different views helped not only with managing, but also the individual's within his team being able to understand their own work and the capacity of others around them.

Duffy said: “Strategic Roadmaps's topological view allows the individuals on my team to better understand their own utilization. It helps them to advocate for themselves and manage their own capacity as well as the expectations of others.

“In addition to setting deadlines, my team members now also know when they have to start their work to ensure the highest level of quality. It's had a big impact on our culture.”

Solving the adoption problem

Sometimes, no matter how good a tool is, it can be a major headache trying to get your team to actually use it. Sometimes this is due to feature bloat, unfamilar UI, or just comfort in previous working methodologies. Duffy said that with Strategic Roadmaps, that hurdle didn't even register as a bump in the road due how accessible and intuitive the tool is. He added: “It really didn't take much work on my end. There were so many complicated tools out there that my team was already dying for something easier. When we found Strategic Roadmaps, the choice was easy. The app was very intuitive and simple.

“The same way Apple is so easy that your grandmother could pick it up, Strategic Roadmaps does the same for roadmapping. The people at Strategic Roadmaps knocked it out of the park.”

"My teams are working on hundreds of projects concurrently. We're responsible for supporting billions of dollars worth of product revenue. I'd like to thank Strategic Roadmaps for enabling my team to do more of the work that matters."

Conor Duffy | Global Director, Technical Marketing at Dell EMC

Final thoughts

Duffy conluded his chat with us by summing up how he feels about Strategic Roadmaps, and if he would recommend it to other teams by saying: “I think the Strategic Roadmaps tool speaks for itself in many ways. How I typically convince people is just by showing them how intuitive it is. Immediately, people become envious. They see that they can gain a significant command of their business with Strategic Roadmaps.”