Data Center Handbook, 2nd Edition

31DATA CENTER PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Skyler Holloway

Facebook, Menlo Park, California, United States of America

31.1 INTRODUCTION

Projects are everywhere. Any time that resources and work are combined with an expected outcome, a project is created. These can differ wildly from quick tasks completed in succession on a project at home to multiyear, multiagency ventures that cost significant sums of money. Within the data center space, projects are no different: they are ubiquitous and can include building construction, physical network rack/stack/patching, systems provisioning, and many others. Because of how frequent projects are, successful project management can provide organizational benefits such as decreased timelines, efficient use of resources, and predictable outcomes. This chapter attempts to provide an overview of common attributes of all projects that is widely applicable across the data center space. Further, readers are encouraged to seek to implement the strategies and methods provided here to improve the outcomes of projects to which they are involved.

While many readers will understand or use the terms project management and program management interchangeably by mistake, they are not synonymous. Project management is the hands‐on tactical management of a project, whereas program management is typically a higher‐level oversight of multiple programs or projects. The two topics do have many common themes, such as schedules or budgets. This chapter will focus on principle ...