Out now: "10 simple steps" the book

10 simple steps to better archaeological management available as a 150-page paperback, £16 including P&P.or as a free ebook from Carreg Ffylfan Press.

"A cogent analysis of the problems inherent in archaeological management.  This book should be required reading for all archaeologists - at all stages of their careers"  The Historic Environment

** Buy it or download it free from Carreg Ffylfan Press  **

Preface

Acknowledgements

Section 1: Introduction
Why reading management books won't help archaeologists
Bad habits of archaeological managers and where they came from

Isn’t good management just common sense?

Exercise 1: Your beliefs and assumptions

Section 2: The 10 simple steps

Step 1: Identity

Step 2: Labels
Step 3: Image
Step 4: Training
Step 5: Communication
Step 6: Costs and risks
Step 7: Don’t overperform the spec
Step 8: Archaeology isn’t just excavation
Step 9: Take Health and Safety seriously
Step 10: Treat junior staff well

Section 3: The Manager’s toolkit
Email is your friend not your enemy
iGoogle can change your life
Getting Things Done
Time management
    Exercise 2: Review your current time-use
Microsoft Project
Excel cheatsheet
360 degree evaluation
   Exercise 3: Evaluation
A training buddy

Section 4: Action plan
Exercise 4: Love/hate map

Section 5: Practical management
Company health-check
Quality systems in archaeology
Succession planning and career development
How to fix a failing project
What is PRINCE2 and should I be using it?
Why do good Project Officers make bad Project Managers?
Being positive about business meetings
What not to say at a client meeting
Copyright for archaeologists
The archaeological marketplace
Commercial archaeology and the ethics of development
Preservation and ethics
Coping with the crunch: hard times are coming
Hard times economics
Bridging the skills gap and re-thinking evaluation
Curatorial practice after the crunch
Management gurus and the 10 simple steps

Afterword

Bibliography


Book links

Book proposal

I'm drawing up a book proposal at the moment:

Project Management for Archaeologists: A handbook

Contents

Introduction: archaeology and management

1 The archaeological manager
Ethics
Time management
Training and accreditation
Team leadership
Task management
Specialists

2 The project
Context Legislation and guidance
Documentation Briefs, specs, project designs, standards
Clients Contracts, meetings, reports, correspondence
Curators Roles, powers, styles
Fieldwork
Post-excavation and reporting
Publication
Archiving
Marketing


3 The responsibilities
Health and Safety
Employment law and administration


.. not sure whether to write it first or send the idea round to publishers.

Annotated book list

A Manager's Guide to Self Development by Mike Pedler, John Burgoyne, and Tom Boydell
Buy it from Amazon

Primers on a wide range of activities and tools, framed within a programme of self assessment and review. Although the chapters contain example exercises, the further reading recommended will be needed to pursue a topic in earnest; it is an excellent way to get a feel for the issues as an introduction.

The Definitive Book of Body Language by Allan Pease and Barbara Pease
Buy it from Amazon

Although presented in a chatty and populist format, this contains a lot of interesting insights into non-verbal communication. Many of their explanations for the origins of behaviour are derived from simplistic evolutionary and sociobiological determinism, but this does not devalue their observation and analysis.

Getting Things Done by David Allen
Buy it from Amazon

Discussed elsewhere: but in summary, well worth buying. I have carried it around with me for months, telling anyone who'll listen about the almost magical powers of the Two Minute Rule (if something takes less than 2 minutes, do it straight away; if not, put it on the list), the Waiting For list (tasks which you can take no action on until someone else does something, and which, therefore, there is no point you thinking about), Next Actions (listing not a big nebulous project like 'buy a house' but the immediate next step, like 'go to an estate agent'), and Agendas (places to note down things you need to say to people when you think of them). It really will change your life, leaving your mind clear to think and your time free to do stuff, not organise stuff.

[fuller review here]

The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
Buy it from Amazon

Simple, painless to read advice intended mainly for people managers in offices. The three secrets of the One Minute Manager are setting and agreeing goals, praising good performance, and reprimanding poor performance, within the context of a one minute conversation. A good reminder that leaving people to get on with their work is not the best approach.

Managing Archaeology edited by M A Cooper, A Firth, J Carman and D Wheatley
Buy it from Amazon

Collected papers from sessions on management and archaeology from the TAG 1992 and IFA 1993 conferences. Includes case studies from English Heritage, MOLAS and GGAT, but half the volume is concerned with archaeological resource management and related issues, so there is less emphasis on project management than might be expected.


... and finally
10 simple steps to better archaeological management by Martin Locock


The book of the blog: details here.