Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/522582
16 | THE DATA CENTER JOURNAL www.datacenterjournal.com ing both sides of the fence, responding to two separate customers with different criteria, while always keeping the original new product goals in the forefront. A tight, lean hybrid project management team was established to manage both contracts and to build efficiencies while minimizing any conflicts across the boundaries of the two projects. remain nimBle anD reaDy to aDaPt In the high stakes, rapidly changing market of data center design, construction and deployment, clients are constantly looking for ways to reduce costs, minimize risk, and improve speed and reliability of their facilities. While the challenges en- countered during project development and planning can be substantial, the hurdles can become much bigger once construction gets underway. For example, a major construction roadblock on one project was related to the early electrical work on the job. It turned out that the electrical subcontractor had vastly misgauged their depth and access to quality skilled labor for this project. Simply put, the work that was initially installed was of extremely low quality. No sooner were electrical installations put in place than they had to be ripped out because they did not meet strict quality control standards. e albatross of poor quality installa- tions produced the unthinkable: it brought the job to an abrupt halt. e team had to come up with a workable solution—and fast—to keep this critical project from fall- ing far off track. e only thing to do was rally, re- group and brainstorm potential solutions. e collaborative environment that had been fostered among the team members from day one proved even more critical as everyone worked to collectively solve the problem and bring the project back on track. Team members worked collabora- tively to determine where they could make up the lost time. A daily "war room" was set up to identify how many tasks would need to be accomplished each day to regain the four to five weeks that were lost as a result of the skilled labor issue. A second shi was added to recoup lost time. Ultimately, these efforts paid off to bring the project back on track and the team made up the lost time. In the end, the project completed on time, on budget and to the customer's satisfaction. lessons to Carry forWarD Even in the bottom of the ninth inning, perseverance, adaptation, a high level of collaboration and problem solving ultimately can help the team rally to win the game. Again, it is the experiences and exposure to a variety of challenges that help teams navigate a market sector and industry where the only true constant is rapid change. Some of the lessons learned over the years include: • rough collaboration, communica- tion and teamwork, the team must validate that they can successfully navigate working with multiple levels of the Owner's team—including both advocates and skeptics—and de- liver a successful project despite many challenges. • It is critical to verify—and then re-ver- ify—a subcontractor partner's market capability and access to the local labor market, and in turn, their ability to complete a complex job. • While it's always necessary to wear many different hats on projects, some- times you have to wear more hats than usual when operating as a stakeholder on a major data center project. • Not all parties will see risk in the same way. Some parties may only see risk as it pertains to their individual scope, rather than seeing the risks to the entire project. It's important for all parties to speak the same language and fully align as a team around risks and the potential impacts to the project. e onsite field team needs to have a clear system in place to continuously identify risk trends, and translate and communicate this to the team, so they can proactively resolve any discovered issues. All projects have different levels of complexity. Disruptive elements will always surface along the way, with varied degrees of influence over the project goals. In-depth, upfront planning allows for all deployment teams to identify the potential challenges and establish the right behaviors early on. Learning from these lessons, and establishing systems and tools to improve future endeavors is a critical step that contractors must take on to continuously progress and knock it out of the park. n about the authors: Mark Thompson and David Ibarra lead DPR Construction's National Advanced Technology Group. DPR, continually ranked among the top data center and telecommunications builders in the country, is a national technical builder with a passion for results. The privately held, employee- owned organization specializes in technically challenging and sustainable projects for the advanced technology, life sciences, healthcare, higher education and corporate office markets. For more information, visit www.dpr.com. For example, a major construction roadblock on one project was related to the early electrical work on the job. It turned out that the electrical subcontractor had vastly misgauged their depth and access to quality skilled labor for this project. Simply put, the work that was initially installed was of extremely low quality. No sooner were electrical installations put in place than they had to be ripped out because they did not meet strict quality control standards.