Here's a trick I learned a couple of years ago. A state agency here in SC received Obama stimulus money to do some archaeology at a plantation site and an associated African-American cemetery. "How much money do you have to spend?" I asked the arch. in charge. He quoted a figure that would fund an interesting project. I wrote a 10 page proposal that included interviews with local residents who still used the cemetery, remote sensing, as much excavation as possible, etc and still stayed within their budget. When the bid opening came the winner was notified within 10 minutes. No one even read my proposal. And the winner only bid about 2/3 of what I did, and did the most basic work possible... The trick? Don't waste time trying to do good research when the client is only interested in who made the lowest bid. 

 

Carl Steen
 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
To: HISTARCH <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed, Oct 31, 2012 9:26 am
Subject: Re: Tricks of the trade


While out in the field eating food from my favorite Chinese restaurant I opened
my fortune cookie and read the most interesting fortune, "If you keep too busy
learning the tricks of the trade, you may never learn the trade".  Think about
that.  If this offends you then you need to think about your chosen profession
in a field that demands passion.  In CRM it is difficult enough to learn and
master all of the different aspects you will encounter (prehistoric, historic,
industrial, and hazardous) to have firms who have mastered the tricks but not
the trade.

Bill Liebeknecht, MA, RPA