Getting projects complete can result in brilliant results, but the process to get there can be painful.  This can be a lack of project management processes, meaning that more time is spent on some project phases and not enough time on others.  Implementing these processes helps with getting data center projects, with the latest in innovative design and technology influencing the design and construction, still done on time and within budget. 

Assessing what the teams are doing well and not-so-well can be the first steps in understanding on how to improve the design process.  Ideas for the project can be established as the launching point and contractors and the major stakeholders may start collaborating on it right away.  As work is posted, clients offer feedback with changes to be made, iteratively, with more and more back and forth, creating a chaotic process even though it generated successful results.  With a project management layer owning the process from the start, the back and forth can be streamlined to allow design teams to establish baselines and define project quality required for success. 

A project management team for a data center design allows not just a point person to connect with on project delivery day or night, but to own the timelines, task assignments, managing team members, and working with clients to set the objectives for the project.  At the outset of a project goals can be set as well as ensuring that tasks that might be lost until the end of the project are tracked and handled earlier to help with optimizing the entire design process. 

What is gained in efficiency leads teams to be better streamlined and cost effective, even for teams that are forming for the first time.  As the needs are identified early, the right skills can be assigned with the correct professionals brought in.  Confidence is built project-after-project, becoming bigger, more efficient, and completed with faith from the stakeholders that the design teams will meet the needs of the project from the start to final delivery.  That success also helps with team cohesion, making the work and workplace more fun while staying on task and keeping stress levels lower. 

As data center projects are designed and developed, checklists and processes can be defined to help the teams avoid common pitfalls or gaps in designs from the past.  Honing such project management systems will certainly aid in keeping the teams in touch through a project, but also create close connections between individuals that will last a career.

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