Susan's phenomenal. She is really, really, really good as a project manager. One of the best I’ve ever worked with – no joke. She’s very smart, sassy, a bulldog and doesn’t suffer fools. She’s very organized, fair, and is fanatical about meeting deadlines.

Before engaging Susan to document our processes, we were relying on the Vulcan Mind Meld. Needless to say, it wasn't very effective. I have peace of mind knowing that all of the steps have been handled. I can easily train a replacement. Susan added some steps that we didn't consider. Susan practices what she preaches. Since we all cannot have her on our day-to-day team, the next best thing is to have her procedures because they guide our day-to-day activities as though she were with us.

I am confident in describing Susan as genuine, competent, relatable, encouraging, and steadfast. Her knowledge of systems and processes is top notch, and her dedication to a killer, quality final product is resolute. She has the ability to be flat-out honest in her assessments, with a witty sense of humor, while never leaving you to flounder alone in tumultuous waters. She provides an exacting overview of your situation, provides clear steps toward refinement and cohesion, all while reinforcing your ability to make your goals achievable. 

I have so much more confidence in what I am doing. I try to utilize all the different tools and features that I learned, so I really feel like I am using what we pay for. Susan truly helped me learn a new skill with a platform that so many different people use. Because of that, I am a better worker and feel like I am doing my job more effectively.

Basecamp® is a lot more organized and easy to follow now, and as a result, I'm using it a lot more than I was before. Laura's help with following up on ongoing projects has freed up some of my time and made it easier to track progress. Having Laura in our weekly meetings is extremely helpful in keeping track of everything that needs to get done, and her meeting minutes are a very useful record of what we discuss. Keeping our Basecamp projects organized has helped me keep everything I need to see visible while allowing us to store ideas for the future in a separate project where they're accessible but not in the way. It's been very helpful to have an outside perspective on how to best organize our projects.

Susan was fantastic with our team.  We are a small software company who had a complicated tangle of systems and an out of control ticket backlog at the start of the project and within a few months were working smoothly and well with 100% compliance to our SLAs.  All this via a (surprisingly) very fun project with a consultant who is proactive, flexible, thoughtful and an absolute pleasure to work with. 

I have worked with Susan several times on projects that I can't seem to tackle on my own, and I am always pleased with how much we get accomplished. She is great to work with, pleasant and efficient, and she effectively keeps me on task. She gives tips and asks questions regarding what I need to keep, why, and where it should go if I do keep it. Plus, she doesn't make my decisions for me, but rather gives me the tools to make better decisions in the future.

My day-to-day process of checking up on everything with everyone is gone. Processes are improved with my being out of the way; clients have a single point of contact to make sure things are moving along and can have questions answered. I am involved when it is important. Both Susan and Laura add value to the business. They do this by being fun and professional at the same time. Both set clear expectations with clients and push to make things happen. They align with our business goals and offer suggestions and feedback for improvement. Very grateful to have both Susan and Laura as part of my team. They've kept me sane.

After my first opportunity of working with the Beyond the Chaos team, I realized how relaxed and confident it made me feel at the end of the day. Simple things like getting a summary with clear tasks and discussion summary calmed me. I was able to know what took place without being there. I knew what everyone is supposed to be doing. I knew where I wanted to ensure we didn't get off track. I knew when I needed to make a decision on how to proceed, and got the right level of detail I needed in order to make that decision. Working with BTC feels proactive, instead of me reacting after the fact, getting one story from my developer and another from the client. Thank you!

Before coaching with Susan, I was highly anxious and constantly frustrated. Now I'm feeling reduced stress and increased confidence in communication, plus hope for a more prosperous business! While it's still a work in progress, both the clients and I have noticed a big difference. Susan has a great combination of charm and frankness. She tells the hard truth but with a smile. Plus this stuff really works!!!

It was a lot of emotional and personal information that I employed Susan to help me untangle. It was something that needed to be done for six years. RELIEF! It's over! We did it! She was amazingly productive, proactive (of possible pitfalls), and just having her by my side provided solace. In the end, we got three days worth of work done in 24-hours. I'm so grateful it's done and over!! She also motivated me when I just didn't want to continue; that was invaluable. I was super happy she left me with an assignment after she left. She is supportive, thorough and really a joy to work alongside, rather than trying to tackle it alone.

We needed help to unlock key resources in support of our business plans. We needed someone who is selfless, tough-minded, able to execute on big ideas and unafraid of driving change — culture is company code, and we needed someone who could read and work with that code without the decades of professional development it takes to grow that resource. We were moving fast, making a lot of new things and trying to so do thoughtfully; it was vital that we had someone capable of keeping up and helping us push ourselves forward.

Susan brought a wealth of project management experience into her coaching. She was easy to work with, professional, humble, and always had a good sense of humor. She could be tough too, which we really needed (still do!) to replace old, inefficient habits.

I have a life! And as a company, we now have the capabilities to manage not only our existing project load but to add a few more here and there without folding under the pressure. We now have a place for the development team to store and manage ALL the information about our projects and a clear process to govern it. It is now easy for me to keep up on projects, manage developers, manage project details and process, and keep ourselves on track. I would wholeheartedly recommend Susan and this service!

The techniques are not textbook ideas to follow. Susan is required in the process because it's her understanding and judgment calls about my business that made all the difference. You can't ask a template, "What about this scenario?" But you can ask Susan! It's her insight that brings everything to life with real-world scenarios and experience. At first, I was thankful just to be getting some help. Then I was excited to see that this wasn't something simple I could have just Googled and done for myself. There was serious value here.

In some ways, we didn't know what we were missing until Laura brought more process, organization, and accountability to the team. Project management might seem like something a generalist can handle, but with a professional like Laura, it's a whole different game — kind of like Little League compared to pro baseball. Many thanks to Laura and Susan for lifting us up!