18th April 2011, 10:16 PM
P Prentice Wrote:delay may well be a costly factor in any industry but proper regard for project management should reduce unneccessary risk
archaeology is no different in this respect from diverse other specialisms involved in development. 'delay' is a mantra for the phillistine and should be expunged from archaeological vocabulary in favour of 'contingency'
Forgive me but if a proper regard was shown for professional project management there would only ever be the word "contingency".
There should already be a very close working relationship between commercial archaeologists and the contractors on a JOINT project plan as archaeology is always going to be a high risk to the dreaded time-cost-quality project management model.
(Sorry, slightly off topic, but some examples of commercial archaeology "project management" I have seen is laughable by industry standards. One size does not fit all - you can't copy and paste a project plan...)
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Merlot in one hand, Cigar in the other; body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, what a ride!