There are so many elements of project management (PM) to dive into that it’s common to avoid it all together. Most folks think that if you get to work on a project and jump into the “doing” you’ll finish faster. Unfortunately, most folks will also spend a lot of time fixing mistakes and rescheduling work. This is due to missing parts or the dreaded unexpected items that pop up in the middle of a project. Without the planning elements of PM you are pinning your chances of a successful project on two things:

Your ability to remember every detail of the project
A whole lot of luck

There’s a simple way to help you get started with managing your next project and eliminate extra work during implementation.

Keep it simple.

It’s such an excellent phrase that is useful in so many areas of life. In your PM journey, keeping things simple is your best bet to embracing new project implementation methodologies. Often times we try something too complex, which leads to avoiding anything PM related. With that in mind, let’s discuss the physical makeup of your project and what questions to ask that will assist this part of project planning.

I know what you’re thinking, how on earth can knowing the physical makeup of your equipment, or asking simple questions, matter that much for a project? Well, if you’re a movie buff like me, you don’t have to look any further than the movie, Hidden Figures, for an example. In the movie, NASA receives the IBM 7090 DPS and everyone is standing there while the door to the computer room is being measured. It was at this moment they realized the IBM wouldn’t fit through the door. The line in the movie is perfect, “Nobody thought to measure these things?”. This scene is a prime example of how critical it is that you understand the physical characteristics of the equipment you are receiving. Nobody asked the most basic of question.

Simple problem, huge mistake.

Know the Physical

The physical equipment has to be racked, powered, and connected. The more parts you are dealing with the more complicated this can become. That’s obvious, but the interesting thing is that this little piece of your project is prone to many physical layer issues. What do I mean by physical layer?

Put simply, will the equipment you purchased fit in the rack space that you have? Will the power cords that come with the equipment plug into the power outlets you have? Have you ever looked up how my plug types there are for various pieces of equipment? I’ll save you the suspense, it’s a lot. How about the power distribution side in a data center? What about the copper and/or fiber data uplinks? How long should your cables be? If you overlook any of this, resulting in a connector mismatch, cable length issue either on a power cord, or data uplink, your project will grind to a halt. This will leave you standing there on the night of cutover, wondering how you managed to miss something so simple. I won’t mention how I know this.

Don’t assume that you can look at everything and confirm it in your head. If you’re dealing with more than a couple items, do yourself and your project a favor. Sit down and draw out all the equipment racks, where the equipment goes and how will it be powered. Be specific. Define what rack space the equipment goes into. Identify the power outlets that will be used for the equipment. Make sure the power cords you have will work in the space. Draw out how everything connects, the lengths of the cables needed and label them. It doesn’t matter if you are doing this on a napkin or if it looks like a professional drawing. Just take the time draw it out.

It’s easy to spot issues when you look at the parts drawn out, in the way that you plan on racking and connecting everything. This will eliminate issues with missing gear or incorrect physical assumptions you had about the project. In turn, this will save you time and heartache. Get used to this process and you will thank yourself for the efforts. It won’t be long before you wonder why you did it any other way.

The value of PM planning and taking deliberate steps in the beginning of a project is difficult to overstate. This is your first opportunity to minimize or eliminate the chances of your project becoming a mess. It’s ok to take our time to get the plan right, so we all know exactly how we are going to accomplish the goals of the project.

One thing is certain, if you feel that you don’t have time to plan out your project, you most likely don’t have time to experience issues or setbacks in your implementation. Take the time to plan and do it right the first time.

Asking questions about the physical is just the beginning. In fact, you should question everything. Maybe that’s the title for my next post. Stay tuned...