Command Center Setup
The one place your whole move lives. A setup checklist for the single source of truth — what it must contain and who keeps it current.
Command Center Setup
The command center is the one place where the move lives. It can be a Google Sheet, a Notion workspace, a project board, or a shared folder — the tool matters far less than the habit: one place, one current version, one owner for keeping it clean.
What it’s for
A compressed move spins off documents, threads, and trackers fast. Without a home, they scatter, and you lose the thread the week you can least afford to. The command center is the front door everyone — you, vendors, leadership — goes to for the current picture.
Use the simplest tool your team will actually keep current. A perfect system nobody updates is worse than a plain sheet everyone trusts.
How to use it
- Stand it up on day one, before the work piles up.
- Name one owner whose job is keeping it clean and current.
- Link everything into it — don’t duplicate. One Open-Item Tracker, one Vendor Directory, one punch list, each linked once.
- Make it the meeting view — run the daily standup and weekly update straight from it.
What it must contain
- Critical path — the dated plan
- Minimum Viable Opening definition
- Contacts — internal team and decision-makers
- Vendor Directory
- Open-Item Tracker
- Building requests — certificates of insurance (COIs) / access (COI Tracker)
- Punch list
- Purchases / budget
- Employee communications
- Hypercare Tracker (ready for opening week)
Tips
- One owner of the space. Shared ownership of “keeping it tidy” means no owner.
- Link, don’t copy. Duplicated trackers drift out of sync within a day.
- Keep it skimmable. If a newcomer can’t find the current status in 30 seconds, it’s too cluttered.
See the full workstream: Project Control.