My goal at the end of every office move, including the one I’m in the midst of today, is to have people come up to me and say, “Wow! That was the easiest move ever!” Because the invisible technology in and out of the Server Closet just worked, like wireless, like Internet, the printer, the power outlet, the beer fridge.

Okay, I’m not responsible for the beer fridge, but I appreciate that someone else is.

I like to hear the people I have begged and cajoled into helping me say, “Wow! That was the easiest move ever!”

A couple years back, over the span of 3 years and 3 companies, I was in some manner involved in five office moves and one closure (which is a move that royally sucks). In one case, I orchestrated a move from all aspects — not just IT, my usual responsibility, and in another move, I only built out the network, not with hand-me-down switches that came out of my grandparents’ closet, but new fun stuff.

And I’m not even counting the two data center moves I’ve done. I always forget about those.

Sometimes I think the years after college, when I moved every two years, prepared me for office moves. Maybe. I still hate moving.

In my current move, I’m handling IT, not the movers/furniture/office side and IT. I have a couple rock-star coworkers that are doing that massive magic. But what does that really mean — the IT side of the move? What does it take to have my coworkers come into the office on Monday morning, connect their computers to their displays, power up the engines, and hit the Internet at full speed?

Planning, it takes a truck-load of planning. And oddly, a lot of finesse.

I bet the planning part made sense, right? A move is a project, after all. Did you understand the finesse part? I’ll explain that in a bit, after I tell you all about the planning.

These are the things I consider, ponder, strategize, investigate, decide, and plan the implementation for. Feel free to use this to create your own list. Leave me notes about what I’ve forgotten!

1. Is the lease signed?
   Until the lease is signed, you can ponder the below until the 1's and 0's send out acks, but really, everything hinges on the lease being signed.
2. Internet
   The first question I consider is: what ISP do I have now, and am I satisfied with them? Can they meet my future needs (assuming you know what those are)?
   If yes, then see if they can provide service in your new building, and, AND, see if you can keep your public IP. This is golden if you have any services dependent on that pubic IP (like a VPN, or a NAT’ed email-web-something-server).
   If no, see which ISP’s are in the building already. See if you know any or could be satisfied with one of them.
   If you want an ISP not currently in the building, make sure you have at least 90 days, so the can get installed in the building. Maybe more. If you don’t have that much time, go with the best choice already in the building (best could be cheapest, most reliable or something else — you choose, it’s your office!).
3. Cat5e/6 cabling — where and how much
   Yes, you’ll need wireless, but when people sit at their desks to work, I want them to be plugged into an ethernet port, that connects to the wall somehow, that passes up through the wall, across the ceiling, and down into my IT Closet/Server Room.
   Your mission, as the IT Move person, because you already accepted it, is to figure out how many ethernet ports you’ll have. You’ll need this later to figure out if you have enough switch ports to connect all those ethernet ports to. And this is the kind of math that makes sense: each ethernet port costs money; more cost more money; too few or not in the right space, you kick yourself for later. Here are some places to remember:
   + Wireless access points. Up near the ceiling, but not obstructed by heating ducts/pipes/vents/false ceilings, concrete beams, etc.
   + Conference rooms, especially on walls near TV’s, and likely in the center of the floor where a table would be. Check if your furniture will have any fun & funky cutouts for ethernet (and power, but we’ll get to that in a minute).
4. Wireless — mine and other people’s
   Wireless is great, right? Right. Except when it sucks.
   In downtown San Francisco, everyone and their first and second cousins are broadcasting wi-fi SSID’s in the 2.4 GHz range. By my latest count, there are 667 other wireless access points within range of my office.
   This creates interference. Tons of it. I worked in one location where the 2.4 band was so saturated (because it was surrounded by apartment buildings) it was nearly impossible to use wi-fi in the office. The 5.0 GHz band is infinitely better, but not all devices support it.
5. Port count
   How many ethernet ports do you need, and where do you need them?
6. Power
   Ditto; how many power outlets do you need, and where do you need them? Are there any city/state/geographic building codes that restrict your use of power outlet strips? (In SF, any power cables longer than 6 feet are prohibited, generally speaking, but especially in IT rooms.)
7. How much downtime is acceptable during the move? What will be down when?
8. How am I running power and data to desks? Are there desks or cubicles or some other means of distributing these to users? Remember the note about length of power cables above …
9. What contractors have I used before that I like, that I can pick up the phone and call, like I’m reaching out to a good friend?
10. Budget — is there one? Do I need to give someone a swag of how much this whole shebang will cost?
11. What new/refurb equipment do I need to buy?
12. Rack layout
    How many racks do I have, and in what order will I put these? I use excel for it’s grid-like layout of my closets in 1-rack-unit increments.
13. IT Closet / Server Closet location & size (and city regulations therein)
    In SF you need to have 40 inches of space in the back, front, and sides of racks (I believe this is an ADA requirement).
14. Power in the IT Closet
    How much, and where do you want it? On the wall, on the rack, how do you calculate how much you need? I add up all hard-to-locate details of watt usage for each device that will go in the room. Your mileage may vary. It’s not usually hard to add power circuits later, btw.
15. HVAC in the IT Closet
    Similarly to power, make a list of all the equipment that’s going into the room today, figure out the BTU load for each device (at average and max), then figure out what could be added to the room during the lease duration, and make a guess at how much the BTU’s would be for those future devices. Adding HVAC later is complex and expensive. Best to err on the side of more now.
16. How much time do things take?
    Like how long will it take your ISP to install the circuit?
    How long will it take to have the riser management company pull cables from the MPOE?
    How long will it take for the cabling, electrical, construction, etc.
    Use all this to build a schedule.
17. How much time do I have?
    Before people will be sitting in the new space, happy that they can browse the Internet and check email.
18. Audio-visual — cabling, TV’s, projectors, and more!
    This could be a post unto itself, so I’m not going to bother with it now, except to remind you to think about what you need, and where.
19. Phones
    Do you even have office phones? Hosted VoIP is great in that you can pick up the phone and plug it in to any Internet-fed ethernet jack. If you have an onsite PBX, things get complex. I can give you some pointers, leave me a note →
20. Email
    In house or cloud? In house = harder, causes downtime. Cloud = easy.
21. Security
    What do you need in terms of access cards, intercom systems, cameras, door release buzzers, and the like?
22. Shopping list — the small stuff that makes things easier — cabling, velcro tape, …
23. Who can I ask for help?
    Depending on your budget, you can hire folks to help you. If not, try to bribe knowledgable or strong coworkers with something suitable.
24. Lastly, what experience do you want people to have when they arrive on the first day? Do you want everything to be easy? Plan for everything you can think of, using whatever tool you prefer for planning, and communicate constantly with everyone. If you don’t feel like you’re herding cats, you’re probably missing something.

About that finesse …

Imagine finesse like glue, providing the connections and links between all of people and technology involved, easing the way for everything to happen, on time, and effectively. When there are problems, trust your team to resolve them, and appreciate every small thing they do.

Always, always acknowledge the players, especially the ones cleaning the (real or symbolic) floors.

Good luck!