herded cats

Verb

herd cats (third-person singular simple present herds cats, present participle herding cats, simple past and past participle herded cats)

1. (idiomatic) To attempt to control the uncontrollable; to attempt to manage a great many unruly factors or people to a single end.
   • Managing volunteers from fourteen different organizations is like herding cats.
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see herd, cat.
   • It would be hard teaching a shepherd dog to herd cats, or even to herd sheep, before he leaves off his puppy ways and shows himself ready to become a good shepherd.1924, Daniel Wolford La Rue, The Child’s Mind and the Common Branches, →OCLC, page 36