There aren’t many things as disruptive to your work flow than your office moving. But if you’re a top-notch organizer and you’re in charge of the move, it will go more smoothly. Having a detailed office move plan will make your job much easier.

Moving office will be different for everyone, but here are some basic things to have on your office move checklist.

1. Delegate.

It’s reasonable to expect people in specific areas, like IT, to organize their part of a move. Management and staff will have different roles. But as the person in charge of the move, you will be overseeing their parts.

2. Be sure to schedule the move at the end of the week.

That way, you give staff the weekend to unpack and set up for work on Monday.

3. Start with your new floor plan.

In a sense, you’re going to be working backwards, but start your office move plan at the new office destination. Using a floor plan of the new office (and it’s possible your office movers have one), mark where desks will be located. Start a numbering system and assign a number to each person’s desk and office furniture.

4. Inventory.

No matter how organized and detail-oriented you are, you can’t keep track of everything. Make an inventory sheet for each person to fill out for their area  before moving office.

5. Management can make room/cubicle assignments.

Don’t get involved in the office scramble. Expect staff to be maneuvering for the best offices or cubicle areas. Leave these decisions to management. That’s why they make the bigger bucks.

6. Out with the old.

Moving office is a great opportunity to have a general housecleaning. A few weeks before your move date, hire a mobile shredding company if your company doesn’t have a shredding system in place. Ask staff to go through their areas and throw out, recycle or put things in the shred bin.

7. Make sure moving boxes and labels are available.

Ten moving boxes per office or cubicle should be enough. Professional office movers will likely have directions about how they want you to pack up the office. Get advice from them as needed.

8. Advocate personal responsibility.

Shortly before the move, staff needs to clear out personal items, especially breakable items, from their offices and cubes and be responsible for moving this stuff themselves. That way, only work-related contents will be packed up and need to be unpacked.

9. Distribute a copy of the master layout.

Each employee should have a copy of the layout of the new office with the numbering system. That way they can mark their numbers on the moving box labels.

10. Have you ever lifted a file cabinet?

File cabinets are monsters. Unload and pack all but the bottom drawer and stick a label with the number on the front top of the cabinet. Be sure to label contents of the drawers along with any items you remove from a storage cabinet or bookshelf.

11. Move the computers.

Everyone will be responsible for their laptops and should remove them from the office before the move. Pro office movers know how to move computers, so don’t pack those up. Your IT department will need to be in that loop.

Don’t get flustered when unexpected crises pop up while moving office. There is an unpredictable element to every move. Just go with the flow.