One small step for man....

[monitor lizard]

Good luck in your new post!

Being a good PM is tricky. You have to balance a lot of things.

Some things I learned when I was one:
1. some consultants are shysters and evil. And a quiet call to the county mountie may be a good option. But sometimes hold your cards - knowledge is power. Pick your battles.
2. always listen to your staff.
3. if in charge of staffing, try to make it easy for people. they will thank you in the long run, especially if they have to travel less far, or have better accomodation. same goes for motivation, and not working in really bad weather, and letting them see the relevent documentation
4. get to know your plant contractor - sometimes you get wicked deals
5. curators appreciate forewarning
6. if you have to lay off staff, do it in person and never make the supervisor do it on your behalf. Makes you look like a weasel, and makes the other PMs who do it look like really big weasels.
7. bring eveyone doughnuts if you're doing a site visit on a Friday.

and the most important, remember what it was like to be a digger on a really crap site, and don't let it happen on your watch.

And have fun![:p]

[Moby]

Hi all!

I made the jump from PO to PM 3 years ago, although to be honest it was more like a jump to company manager as I had to run pretty much every aspect of a fair sized archaeology unit. Was given no training whatsoever and found it to be a completely different job to project officer position (and also NOT what I had gone into archaeology for!).

Over the 3 years I found that I was becoming more and more driven to make the company a commercial success, and to expand its operations and skills base. By now I had totally lost sight of why I was in archaeology and was (as everyone else seems to be!) rather disgruntled.

I suddenly had the opportunity to direct a very nice wetland excavation late last year - well I argued with the owner of the company that I was the only one able to do it! He would only allow me to attend the site every other day though, and continuously gave clients my mobile number to ring me on site to deal with problems!!

During the work I remembered the buzz I used to get trying to work out what the hell was going on on a site, and the fun it could be working with other like-minded people on site. I also realised that if I stayed where I was I would NEVER get the opportunity to experience it again.

Sooo, when we completed the excavation I immediately handed in my resignation!

Now I have set up my own company that is less driven by money. Yes the commercial stuff pays the bills, however I want it to also pay for me to start researching some of my interests (LBA social economics, IA burial traditions around the Humber area, Arras style burials in Lincolnshire, for a start). I am also looking to start a few community-based projects, and am probably going to supervise a training excavation for a local heritage company this summer.

I realise that some companies do have an interest in research and community work, however they seem few and far between. Most seem to be driven to just making money which can leave the office staff feeling very jaded and bored with their lot in life

People need stimulation and the chance to exercise their brains!

[deepdigger]

Woohoo! good luck Moby mate, at last someone who's gone into buisness without money being the be all and end all of it!!

deep