I get calls every day from professionals looking for a jump start for their data center move planning.
Every project manager knows you should understand the fundamentals that govern the project you’ve been asked to oversee. A data center move is not the project where you should cut corners on that understanding.
Here are three elements you should tackle right away:
- Budget and Pre-Move Decisions – Nothing happens without money and you’ll need some fuel to complete your data center migration. Understand that these preliminary budgets are often inaccurate as key decisions have yet to be made.
- Data Center Move Governance – Most Enterprise organizations have some form of IT Governance in place. However, these structures are often inadequate for a data center relocation. Getting governance right is one of the critical success factors for a well planned and executed data center move.
- Establish a Common Sense of Urgency – Start at the top. You must engage the entire business, not just the Information Technology (IT) staff. If business executives don’t know what is at stake or the complexity and urgency of your move, how do you expect to enlist the support you need to make tough decisions that will help you combat the ticking clock?
Don’t be seduced into generating a project plan before you solve these basic problems. A project plan is nothing more than a prediction of the future if all of your assumptions are correct.
When was the last time you perfectly predicted the future of a complex problem like a data center move?
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