Building a New Data Center (continued)

If you read my last post on this subject you know that we're building a fairly large new facility and we're trying to do it in a hurry.

Some of what have we done so far:

Defined the appropriate Org model with roles and responsibilities

Created a BOD & PRD (Basis of Design doc & Program Requirements Doc)

We're making excellent progress on internal project plans and contruction plans. My recommendation on Project plans is you definitely need them, just don't make them too long. For a project like this there will be an enourmous number of line items, so it's best to consolidate and or split the project so that each plan can be as focused and easy to follow as possible.

We have begun working with the Executive team to determine their requirements relative to public messaging on this new Data Center, along with any expectations they might have for Showcase or Green options.

We have our partners for construction & MEP all selected, and we've got the basics of building layout and electrical design done.

We've established our unique Tier strategy (we aren't using a standard industry Tier model it's a hybrid)

Lastly we've established what all our critical path (long lead time) items are and have factored them into the project timeline. In some cases we made pragmatic (read: less than the best) decisions in order to ensure we stay close to our original delivery schedule.

Some additional keys to consider in a project startup as big as this;


Team design; who should be on the team is more than just skill and availability, where possible you should also consider team dynamics.

Roles & Responsibilities; each of the roles in a project org should be very clearly defined and communicated to the entire team.
Budgeting; the project team must have access to the budget in order to make the appropriate decisions relative to changes in design or facility use requirements. Things can change fast with technology and when opportunity presents itself you need to be able to act fast.