Episode 127 – Gabriel Sterling – Georgia Voting System Implementation Manager

The podcast by project managers for project managers. Join us as we take a look behind the scenes with Gabriel Sterling. He took on the role of project manager under the title of “Voting System Implementation Manager,” and worked to roll out the use of new voting machines for the 2020 Georgia state elections.



Table of Contents



01:37 … How Gabriel Got the Job03:12 … Request For Proposal Process04:45 … Procurement08:56 … Team Collaboration11:15 … Defining the Success of the Project17:31 … “What Kept You Up at Night?”20:01 … Conquering the Beast of Long Lines21:41 … Communication Methods with All Locations23:42 … Paying Attention to Stakeholders25:41 … A Risk Event31:15 … Transparency and Honesty33:59 … How to Stay Motivated36:33 … Lessons Learned38:05 … Biggest Surprises on the Project41:38 … Final Words of Advice42:50 … Closing



GABRIEL STERLING: ... we did get in the details, but we didn’t get stuck on the details.  And never make the perfect the enemy of the good. I know this sounds cliché.  Strive for perfection; accept excellence in all your projects.  You can always make that goal. But if you are trying to get to perfection, and you get so focused on that that you lose focus on everything else, your project’s going to fail.



WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast for project managers by project managers.  I am Wendy Grounds.  Joining me by Skype today is Bill Yates, and we have a special appearance by Andy Crowe in the studio.  He’s in town for a little while and just wanted to be part of the podcast today.  So we’re excited to have him with us.



And then we have our guest, Gabriel Sterling.  Gabriel Sterling is a politician and elections official for the state of Georgia.  He was the Chief Operating Officer in the office of Georgia’s Secretary of State, and in 2019 he took on the role of project manager and has worked as an independent contractor for the state of Georgia when they were implementing their new voting system.  And he had the title of Voting System Implementation Manager and worked to roll out the use of the new voting machines purchased from Dominion Voting Systems for the 2020 Georgia State Elections.  He was put in a very public, high-pressure situation which became a point of national interest as the elections continued.  And we want to hear his perspective.  Gabriel, welcome to Manage This.  Thank you for joining us, and we’re excited to hear your story today.



GABRIEL STERLING:  Well, thanks for having me.



How Gabriel Got the Job



WENDY GROUNDS:  Project management stretches across all industries.  There’s so many different types of project managers that we’ve talked to on this podcast.  And you really stepped in the role of the Voting System Implementation Manager for the state of Georgia during our recent elections.  I want to know what prompted you to volunteer for this job. What made you take on this challenge?



GABRIEL STERLING:  The word “volunteer” is very loosely used at that point by you there, Wendy.  Because what happened, when I came to the office, I was the Chief Operating Officer.  And I have experience on that.  I’ve stood up accounting departments, built out warehouses, put together manufacturing facilities.  So there’s various levels.  And one of my favorite things to ever do in a million years is to do a facility walk with somebody who knows how those systems work.  That’s where you can really get into the weeds of understanding how things happen.



And I used to be a consultant, and one of the great things for any consultant is you look at everything with fresh eyes, and you look like a genius for the first three days you’re there because everybody else is used to seeing things the way they always have been.  But what happened in this particular case is I had been on a City Council in Sandy Springs, which is a city just north of Atlanta. 



And we did some large projects, and I’ve been around a lot of bidding situations.