The Cyber-Unit

[Windbag]

Coming at this from a slightly different angle, I can see another business model starting to develop that might make its way into archaeology. I'll call it the project manager monster. It consists of a small coterie of well paid, male, middle-aged project managers with excellent links in the (pick at random) industry, supported by a handful of (usually female) administrators who actually run the thing. They then farm out all the non-project management work to self-employed "consultants" working on short-term contracts (not really contracts) in the field or lab. When times are bad, they shed the short-term staff, tighten their belts (don't buy a convertible that year) and wait for the next big project win.

This description started off as a description of a project management company I know, but then evolved into a description of an archaeological unit. I'll not be naming names of course!