That’s All Folks!

Wow, is this really the end of our time together? We’re at the end of the chapter and also at the end of the entire book. But before I get emotional, let’s quickly review what we learned in this chapter:

• We saw that having a compelling vision for the future, backed up by a short-term actionable plan, is a key ingredient for the success and happiness of you and your staff.

• We went through a multistage exercise in which you were able to create these for yourself, culminating in a skills backlog that you can continually work on.

• Then, we looked at how you can provide this same exercise for your staff through a series of coaching sessions. You can be more than just their manager: you can be their career coach too.

In the ​Introduction​, we said that the technology industry was facing a skills crisis—not because we don’t know how to write code, but because we don’t know how to manage humans. I hope that now you’ve been through this book, you feel like you’re on your way to being a confident, productive, effective manager, ready to make a real difference in the lives of your staff. What’s more is that you’re in a great position to help others who may want to take the same path as you in the future. One by one, we can make the technology industry better. We really can.

Now it truly is time to say goodbye. I’ve enjoyed sharing this journey with you. I hope that the skills you’ve learned in this book take you far in your career and that you’re able to continually build upon them until you’re able to make whatever you dreamed up in your vision a reality.

If you pick up these pages in the future, we’ll be in touch again then. However, until next time, let me say this—it’s been a pleasure. Best of luck. And remember, you’ve got this.