You inherited a signed lease. Start here.

Someone handed you an office opening. Maybe the lease was signed last week, maybe last month, and now the calendar is moving whether you’re ready or not. If your stomach dropped a little — that’s normal, and you’re in the right place.

Here’s the first thing to know: you do not need to become an expert. You will not turn into a broker, an architect, a contractor, an IT engineer, or a facilities manager in the next 30 days, and you don’t have to. Your job is different and very doable: create a clear picture, make the next right action visible, coordinate the people who do the actual work, and get the office open safely.

The reframe that makes this manageable

Signing the lease feels like the finish line. It isn’t. It’s the starting gun for a second project — the opening — and that project is now yours. (We explain this in The two clocks.)

The good news: a lot is already decided. The space exists. The deal is done. Many constraints — the location, the size, often the basic layout — are set. You’re not designing from a blank page. You’re taking something mostly defined and making it usable by a specific date.

Three things are true right now

1. Some things are already decided. The lease, the space, often the drawings and some vendors. You inherit these. Find them and read enough to know what they say.
2. Some things are still open. Dates, owners, orders, approvals. These are where your attention goes.
3. Some things can still break opening day. Usually a small set of items — building access, power, connectivity, a missing certificate of insurance. Find these early and protect them.

Most of what feels overwhelming on day one is just unsorted. The work ahead is mostly sorting: decided vs. open vs. at-risk.

Your job is not to learn the deal. It’s to control the opening.

Resist the urge to go read the entire lease cover to cover. You need to know what exists, where it lives, and who has the latest version — not memorize it. The real estate transaction is behind you. The opening is in front of you, and it runs on coordination, prioritization, and follow-through.

What to do in the next hour

Don’t try to solve everything. Do this:

1. Open The First 24 Hours — it’s a short, concrete script for stabilizing the project.
2. Start one Open-Item Tracker — the single list where every loose end lives so nothing falls through.
3. Read Minimum Viable Opening — the standard you’ll use, again and again, to decide what truly matters for day one and what can wait.

That’s it for now. One hour, three steps. You’re already moving.