Herding Smart Cats: Project Management Reimagined
Finally! A highly readable book that explores how and why we need to reimagine projects – the singular most important way we transform businesses. And why not reimagine work entirely and transform people’s lives?


Quick Details
TITLE
Herding Smart Cats: Project Management Reimagined
AUTHOR
Suzanne S. Davenport
CONTACT INFO
Suzanne@smartprojex.com
DETAILS
Publication date: September 28, 2022
Paperback: 350 pages
ISBN-10: 1735635405
ISBN-13: 978-1735635408
Item Weight: 1.32 pounds

Book Summary
25 WORD BOOK SUMMARY
Herding Smart Cats: Project Management Reimagined is the story of what, why, and how we could transform project and work management to reduce chaos and improve the bottom line.
75 WORD BOOK SUMMARY
In Herding Smart Cats: Project Management Reimagined, Suzanne S. Davenport argues that the technologies and tools that got us where we are today won’t get us where we want to be in the future. In this book, Davenport delves into the science behind effective leadership and a project management methodology that she has been crafting for over a decade. She offers a vision of how twenty-first-century technologies, such as artificial intelligence and blockchain, could help us transform project and work management to improve performance.
225 WORD BOOK SUMMARY
Are you struggling to create a reliable project schedule while the scope keeps changing, overcommitted team members can’t forecast their future availability, and uncertainty abounds? Are your project teams missing deadlines and falling increasingly behind, or are projects failing to deliver the planned benefits? Are you looking for better ways to manage your “smart cats,” those savvy, dynamic, and innovative people who cannot be easily herded?
In Herding Smart Cats: Project Management Reimagined, Suzanne S. Davenport argues that the technologies and tools that got us where we are today won’t get us where we want to be in the future. She posits that there is simply too much ambiguity and unpredictability to manage today’s complex projects with detailed schedules and that we need to transition from schedule management to relationship and benefit management.
After delving into the science behind effective leadership and a project management methodology she’s been crafting for over a decade, Davenport offers a vision of how twenty-first-century technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain could help us build analytics, simulations, visualizations, and tracking tools that can guide teams, leaders, and executives in their quest to successfully manage all work in their organizations.
Whether you are an executive, a professional, an experienced project manager or a novice, this book will help you better understand how to herd smart cats and dramatically improve project performance.
Author Bios

Suzanne S. Davenport
Project Manager and founder of Smart Projex
BRIEF AUTHOR BIO
Suzanne S. Davenport, professional project manager and founder of Smart Projex, brings decades of business, project, academic, and life experiences to her passion for reimagining project management for the 21st century. She and her husband live in Richmond, VA.
DETAILED AUTHOR BIO
Suzanne S. Davenport has worked for years with project teams struggling to successfully complete projects. Over ten years ago, she created Smart Projex, working project management software that helped teams move project ideas from conception to reality, and provided the kinds of project and portfolio metrics that executives need to make solid business decisions. To do this, she went back to first principles and questioned everything she had been taught and thought she knew about project management. She used the software as a stepping-stone to the creation of a methodology that works on all kinds of projects and offers agility and accountability. She continues to experiment with and promote this methodology.
She enjoys herding smart cats and readily admits that she learned much about what works and what doesn’t work from watching her own five children learn to communicate, collaborate, experiment, fail, and grow; and by brainstorming with her husband, a retired litigator, about the ways that attorneys work on cases.
Davenport holds an undergraduate degree from East Carolina University, an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University, and multiple project management certifications. When she is not herding smart cats, she might be pondering current events, business trends, or her faith in God.
She believes there is a huge opportunity for reimagining work and project management software by incorporating twenty-first-century technologies like blockchain, smart contracts, voice technologies, and artificial intelligence, and drawing upon what we have learned through advanced scientific studies about project management, work management, change, biases, and human behavior.
Davenport publishes extensively on her own blog, as well as on Medium and LinkedIn.
AUTHOR PHOTOS
(click image to download)
Downloads
I tried to anticipate what you may need. If there is any additional information I can provide, please email me at suzanne@smartprojex.com
In the News
i.e. catchup: Smart Projex
Reading Time: 2 minutesby Jacob Geiger
After years in project management jobs, Suzanne Davenport became frustrated with the existing tools for managing projects, especially creative ones.
Last year she created Smart Projex, a web-based project-management system designed specifically for managing projects that have many […]
Startup competition heats up
Reading Time: 2 minutesby Burl Rolett
And then there were 15.
Fifteen businesses are finalists for a $10,000 prize and free office space in the Greater Richmond Chamber’s inaugural startup competition.
The finalists advanced from a field of 143 contestants after a round of public online voting last […]
Profile: Suzanne Davenport, Mother of 6 (5 Kids, 1 Company)
Reading Time: 2 minutesRICHMOND – When we arrive to meet Suzanne Davenport, she confides in us that she hasn’t told many people about her stealth startup. She’s afraid someone will steal her idea because she’s sure that there’s a […]
Social Media
SAMPLE SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
Why are we settling for a 30% success rate on projects around the globe?
Can we use AI and blockchain to find a better and more profitable way to work?
SOCIAL MEDIA HASHTAGS
LINK TO BUY THE BOOK
https://amzn.to/3WNCp7n
SOCIAL MEDIA GRAPHICS
download all >