Such early planning has become increasingly important.
Since 1933, United States presidents-elect have had 77 days to select White House staff, designate senior Cabinet officials, prepare an inaugural address and define an agenda. But before Mr Obama, they usually moved at a more leisurely pace.
In 2001, the new George W. Bush administration had only 30 per cent of its national security appointees in place nearly eight months after the inauguration in January, former Clinton secretary of state Warren Christopher writes in a commentary for the Los Angeles Times.
And while Mr George H.W. Bush unveiled his key transition team the day after the election on Nov 8, 1988, he picked his chief of staff, Mr John Sununu, only nine days later.
Mr John Burke in his book, Presidential Transitions: From Politics To Practice noted that the senior Mr Bush had wanted a strong chief of staff, but there was tension among his close associates about who should fill the position.
Mr Obama, by contrast, appointed Mr Rahm Emanuel the day after his election victory.
Perhaps he was taking a lesson from the most disastrous transition in memory - president Bill Clinton's.
In 1992, Mr Clinton did not appoint Mr Mack McLarty as his chief of staff until mid-December, writes Mr Christopher, who served as the Clinton transition director.
The delay, historians say, might have accounted for Mr Clinton's rocky first year. But his slow pace would have left his 19th-century predecessors in its wake.
In those days, a president-elect might need weeks just to travel from his home to Washington DC. Inauguration Day back then was on March 4.
The date was brought forward to Jan 20 in 1933 by a constitutional amendment.