Treat Your Move Like an Official Project for Optimum Results

by Kevin Smith Author

There are a ton of websites and blogs that will show you step-by-step what you need to do to get ready for your office move, but most overlook one very important element of any successful move. That is treating it like any other work project. Too often, the move is treated almost as an afterthought, even if it looks organized and there are a lot of “cooks in the kitchen” so to speak, which leads to a chaotic hodge-podge. Before you start looking at office moving companies in Atlanta and before the first office is packed up, you need to lay some groundwork.

Appoint a Project Manager

This should be one person and they should be given the authority as it pertains to this move, to call the shots. They also should be allowed to set up their own leadership team, even if that team is only two people. When they are selected, it should be explained to everyone in the company, along with their line of authority and consequences if they are ignored.

Set a Budget

Your Move Project Manager should first do some research to get an idea of what an average move looks like. They then should call around to moving companies and get a ballpark estimate; it does not have to be complete and in fact, you do not want it to be precise. Once you have that, though, use the two resources to come up with an estimated price tag, then add 25%.

Build that Team

Even small companies have departments. They might not be officially named or even have dedicated staff, but every company has areas of the company that serve specific business needs. The Project Manager should enlist one person per department or business area and they should be responsible for getting their area ready to move when the time comes.

Decide Who Has to Go First ... and Last

Not every department has to move to the new site at the same time. In fact, doing it that way is a prescription for chaos. Identify and designate an order of moving priority for each business section. Give each person heading the move for their department a schedule.

Develop a Critical Path

Critical paths help determine how long a project will take and what, if any cushion you have to include in it to make sure you hit your target. Use a standard Critical Path Template and map out the various steps for the move in general. You can fill in the details later.

You should have each of these decisions finalized before you contact any office moving companies in Atlanta. Taking the time to set up your move like you would any other project is critical to making sure your move goes off as planned, or at least as close to plan as possible.