19 Software Engineering Management Best Practices

Becoming an engineering manager can feel like a fresh start, no matter how experienced you are as a software developer. While strong technical skills are crucial, the most effective engineering managers also possess people management skills that foster team growth and success.

Initially, it might feel like you’re navigating this new management role without a clear roadmap. With a little persistence and experimentation, however, you can build your leadership foundation over time.

If you’re not sure where to begin, start by defining what success looks like for both you and your team. From there, focus on building trust, aligning team efforts with business goals, and executing on those strategies. As you gain more experience, shift your attention toward in-depth iteration, continuous improvement, and empowering your team to take ownership of their own growth.

1. Define What Success Looks Like

This step lays the groundwork for how you want to operate as a manager. Do you define success purely by engineering productivity metrics? Do you care more about developer experience and team health? Or maybe a healthy mix of both?

No matter your management style, before any software development project or initiative begins, establish clear, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals. These will guide your own work, but also help developers know what you’re expecting from them.

Why it’s important:

• Lets you evaluate progress and performance objectively
• Sets expectations with your engineering team on desired outcomes
• Helps you prioritize tasks and allocate resources appropriately

How to implement it:

• Collaborate with stakeholders to define specific goals and KPIs, as needed
• Document the goals and make them easily accessible to the development team
• Regularly review and update the goals as needed

Example: Instead of saying “improve application performance,” get more specific. Try something like: “Reduce average page load time by 20% within the next quarter.”

2. Focus on Strategic Alignment

When you’re defining what success looks like for your team, make sure that your goals and efforts ladder up to your organization’s overarching business goals. This makes it easier for you to communicate the value of your team’s work to leadership and helps developers understand the “why” behind their work.

Why it’s important:

• Prevents the engineering team from spending too much time on projects that are not aligned with the company’s goals
• Ensures that resources are allocated to the most important projects
• Helps the engineering team understand the “why” behind their work, increasing motivation

How to implement it:

• Regularly communicate the company’s strategic goals to the engineering team
• Involve the engineering team in strategic planning and decision-making
• Prioritize projects based on their alignment with the company’s goals

Example: If the company’s goal is to increase customer retention, the engineering team might focus on improving the user experience of key features.

3. Build Trust With Your Engineering Team

Building trust with your team might be one of your most important initiatives as an engineering manager. That’s because trust is the cornerstone of effective teamwork and collaboration.

Building trust can take time, but you can lay the groundwork by creating a transparent and reliable environment where team members feel valued and respected.

Why it’s important:

• Fosters open communication and honest feedback
• Encourages team members to take risks and innovate
• Reduces conflict and improves team morale

How to implement it:

• Get to know individual team members, including their motivations, goals, and interests
• Be transparent about decisions and processes
• Keep your promises and follow through on commitments
• Listen to and value the opinions of team members
• Give credit where credit is due and celebrate team successes
• Address concerns fairly and promptly

Example: During a sprint retrospective, an engineer shares that they’re struggling with burnout. Instead of brushing it off or solely focusing on software delivery timelines, listen with empathy, validate their experience, and work with the team to rebalance workload. This shows that you prioritize the well-being of the team over short-term output.

4. Be Empathetic and Inclusive

You can build trust by creating an environment of psychological safety for your team. That means creating a supportive and welcoming workplace where every team member feels valued, respected, and heard.

Why it’s important:

• Boosts team morale and reduces conflict
• Encourages diverse perspectives and innovation
• Improves communication and collaboration

How to implement it:

• Actively listen to team members’ concerns and ideas
• Show appreciation for individual contributions
• Be mindful of cultural differences and perspectives
• Address any instances of bias or discrimination promptly

Example: During team meetings, you notice that a few team members rarely speak up. Instead of pushing them to contribute on the spot, start sharing agendas in advance and give everyone the option to submit thoughts asynchronously. This small shift makes space for different communication styles and helps quieter voices be heard.

5. Encourage a Culture of Ownership

Healthy engineering teams aren’t just made up of order givers and order takers. Instead of dictating every action your team should take, give engineers the opportunity to take responsibility for their work.

Why it’s important:

• Increases motivation and engagement
• Improves code quality and reduces errors
• Promotes proactive problem-solving
• Fosters a sense of pride in the team’s work

How to implement it:

• Delegate tasks and responsibilities clearly
• Give engineers autonomy to make decisions (but be available to support, if needed)
• Recognize and reward individual and team accomplishments
• Hold engineers accountable for their deliverables

Example: Consider letting your engineers choose the tools and technologies they use for their projects (within reasonable boundaries) and empower them to make key technical decisions.

6. Do Not Micromanage

One survey finds that nearly 3 out of 4 workers consider micromanagement as a workplace’s biggest red flag – and nearly half said they’d quit their job because of it. Remember, trust is a two-way street: grant engineers autonomy and trust them to find effective solutions.

Why it’s important:

• Boosts morale and reduces stress
• Encourages creativity and innovation
• Improves efficiency and productivity
• Develops engineers’ problem-solving skills

How to implement it:

• Set clear expectations and goals, but let engineers determine how to achieve them
• Provide support, feedback, guidance, and resources, but avoid dictating every step
• Focus on outcomes rather than processes

Example: Say you assign a complex feature to a senior developer. Outline the desired outcome, including performance benchmarks and user impact. Instead of prescribing how to implement it, check in at key milestones to offer support and unblock issues. Trust the developer to make architectural decisions.

7. Establish Real-Time Communication

People have different communication styles and preferences. Some might prefer to spend time crafting emails. Some want fast updates via Slack. As an engineering manager, you can set up open, transparent, and timely communication channels across all levels of the engineering team to make sure everyone feels comfortable sharing updates, feedback, and more.

Why it’s important:

• Reduces misunderstandings and errors
• Improves collaboration and coordination
• Enables faster problem-solving
• Increases team cohesion

How to implement it:

• Use a mix of communication tools like email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or other real-time messaging platforms
• Establish clear communication channels and protocols
• Hold regular team meetings and updates
• Provide timely feedback and updates

Example: Consider setting guidelines on how each communication channel should be used. For example, you might dedicate Slack for project updates and quick questions, and hold brief daily sync-ups to address more serious concerns.

8. Encourage Cross-Team Collaboration

Slack channels and email are great for collaboration – if teams use them. Build a collaborative culture on your team by breaking down silos between different teams and departments.

Why it’s important:

• Fosters knowledge sharing and innovation
• Improves efficiency and reduces duplication of effort
• Enhances problem-solving capabilities
• Promotes a holistic view of the project
• Improves overall team performance

How to implement it:

• Create opportunities for cross-team meetings and workshops
• Establish clear communication channels between teams
• Encourage knowledge sharing and code reviews across teams
• Define shared goals and responsibilities

Example: Holding joint planning sessions between the front-end and back-end teams can encourage seamless integration and alignment.

9. Ensure Deep Visibility Across All Levels of Production

It’s hard to solve a problem you can’t see. Whether it’s through an engineering management platform like Jellyfish or otherwise, try to provide insights into the development process, including progress, issues, and performance, to all relevant stakeholders.

Why it’s important:

• Enables proactive problem-solving and risk mitigation
• Improves transparency and accountability
• Facilitates informed decision-making
• Enhances project tracking and monitoring
• Allows for timely adjustments and improvements

How to implement it:

• Use software project management tools and dashboards to track progress and visualize data
• Implement continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines to provide real-time feedback
• Establish clear reporting mechanisms and communication channels
• Conduct regular status meetings and reviews
• Provide access to relevant metrics and analytics

Example: You use Jellyfish to analyze your team’s allocation data and notice that a significant amount of time is going toward unplanned work. You share this insight in a leadership meeting to explain recent delivery delays and guide a conversation about reprioritizing the roadmap.

10. Use Data to Inform Decisions

Going with your gut on key decisions can work, sometimes. But other times, our best guesses are informed by unintentional biases. Leveraging data-driven insights can help you make more informed choices and optimize processes with confidence.

Why it’s important:

• Reduces bias and subjectivity in decision-making
• Improves the accuracy and effectiveness of decisions
• Enables data-driven optimization and improvement
• Facilitates performance measurement and analysis
• Supports continuous improvement and innovation

How to implement it:

• Collect and analyze relevant data to identify trends and patterns
• Use data visualization tools to present data in a clear and understandable format
• Establish clear metrics and KPIs to measure performance
• Incorporate data analysis into decision-making processes
• Use A/B testing and other data-driven techniques to optimize processes

Example: Consider using analytics to track the performance of different features and prioritize development efforts based on user engagement and feedback.

11. Balance Support and Accountability

Effective engineering managers know their job is a balancing act. You must strive to provide the necessary support and resources to engineers while also holding them accountable for their responsibilities and deliverables.

Why it’s important:

• Creates a supportive and productive work environment
• Encourages ownership and responsibility
• Promotes continuous improvement and growth
• Ensures that projects are completed on time and within budget
• Fosters a culture of high performance

How to implement it:

• Provide clear expectations and goals
• Offer training and resources to support engineers’ development
• Provide regular feedback and coaching
• Recognize and reward achievements
• Address performance issues promptly and fairly

Example: You notice an engineer on your team is struggling with a new technology that’s critical to an upcoming release. Instead of immediately reassigning the work, you might pair them with a mentor and give them access to training resources, while communicating the importance of meeting the project deadline. By offering support without lowering expectations, you can help them grow while still driving the project forward.

12. Encourage Knowledge Growth

When individuals learn and grow, it benefits the entire team. Invest in continuous learning and development to keep engineers up-to-date with the latest technologies and best practices.

Why it’s important:

• Keeps the team’s skills relevant and competitive
• Fosters high-quality software products
• Fosters innovation and creativity
• Increases employee satisfaction and retention

How to implement it:

• Provide access to online courses, conferences, and workshops
• Encourage participation in internal and external training programs
• Facilitate knowledge sharing through presentations, workshops, and documentation
• Support participation in open-source projects and communities
• Provide time for self-study and experimentation

Example: Consider allocating a portion of each sprint for engineers to learn new technologies or skills. You can also organize internal workshops to share technical expertise and best practices.

13. Cultivate Leadership Skills

When engineers are encouraged to lead, they gain confidence, build critical thinking skills, and contribute more meaningfully to the team’s success. Find ways to foster leadership for the individuals on your engineering team.

Why it’s important:

• Fosters a culture of ownership and accountability
• Enables the team to adapt to change effectively
• Develops future leaders within the organization

How to implement it:

• Provide leadership training and development opportunities
• Delegate responsibilities and empower engineers to lead projects
• Encourage mentoring and coaching
• Create opportunities for engineers to present their ideas and lead discussions
• Recognize and reward leadership qualities

Example: You identify a senior engineer with strong technical skills and pair them with a newer team member as a mentor. At the same time, you assign them ownership of a key project component, including leading sprint planning and stakeholder check-ins. By giving the senior engineer both responsibility and visibility, you help them grow as a leader while reinforcing a culture of ownership and collaboration.

14. Automate Workflows Where Possible

One of your key duties as a software engineering manager is to make it easier for your team to do their work. This might include implementing automation for testing, deployment, and other repetitive tasks in the software development lifecycle to improve efficiency and reduce errors.

Why it’s important:

• Reduces manual effort and frees up engineers for more strategic work
• Improves the speed and reliability of deployments
• Reduces the risk of human error
• Enhances the efficiency of testing and quality assurance
• Enables continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD)

How to implement it:

• Implement CI/CD pipelines to automate build, test, and deployment processes
• Use automated testing frameworks to ensure code quality
• Automate repetitive tasks such as code formatting and documentation generation
• Explore and implement automation tools for infrastructure management
• Regularly review and optimize automation processes

Example: Consider using Jenkins or GitLab CI/CD to automate the build, test, and deployment of new code changes, and using Selenium or Cypress for automated UI testing.

15. Encourage the Use of AI With Appropriate Precautions

Integrating AI into your engineering workflows can significantly boost productivity and code quality – but only when approached thoughtfully. As a leader, it’s your job to guide your team in leveraging AI tools responsibly so they enhance rather than compromise the integrity, security, or ethics of your development process.

Why it’s important:

• Improves code quality and reduces errors
• Enhances project planning and estimation
• Enables data-driven insights and decision-making
• Increases overall efficiency and productivity

How to implement it:

• Explore and evaluate AI tools for code generation, testing, and other tasks
• Establish best practices and consider what aspects of bias in training data could affect your product and teams
• Implement robust security measures to protect data and systems
• Provide training and support for engineers using AI tools

Example: If you plan to introduce an AI-powered code analysis tool to help your team catch bugs earlier in the development cycle, first review the tool’s data handling policies, set clear usage guidelines, and run a few test cases to validate accuracy.

16. Establish a Robust Feedback Loop

Regular, quality feedback improves product quality and can also build a culture of trust on your teams. Put in place a system for gathering and acting on feedback from team members, stakeholders, and users.

Why it’s important:

• Improves communication and collaboration
• Enhances product quality and user satisfaction
• Enables continuous improvement and innovation
• Identifies and addresses potential issues early on

How to implement it:

• Conduct regular retrospectives and feedback sessions
• Use surveys and feedback forms to gather user feedback
• Establish clear channels for reporting bugs and issues
• Incorporate feedback into development and planning processes

Example: You might hold regular sprint retrospectives to gather feedback on the development process, and leverage user surveys to collect feedback on new features.

17. Document Everything 

Good documentation is one of the most underrated tools in engineering management. It preserves institutional knowledge, helps your team move faster, helps onboard new members smoothly, and reduces errors caused by unclear or outdated information. From codebase conventions to architecture decisions to onboarding guides, documenting thoroughly and consistently creates a more resilient, collaborative engineering culture.

Why it’s important:

• Facilitates knowledge transfer and onboarding
• Improves code maintainability and reduces errors
• Ensures consistency and clarity in processes and decisions
• Enables effective troubleshooting and problem-solving
• Reduces reliance on individual knowledge

How to implement it:

• Establish clear documentation standards and guidelines
• Use documentation tools and platforms (like GitHub wikis of Confluence) to create and manage documentation
• Encourage engineers to document git workflows, processes, and technical decisions
• Regularly review and update documentation
• Make documentation easily accessible to all team members

Example: You might create a shared Confluence space where your team documents everything from API contracts to deployment runbooks. After each sprint, set aside time for the team to update documentation related to new features or changes.

18. Learn to Manage Up

Managing up means proactively communicating with your own managers or executives, providing visibility into your team’s work, and ensuring leadership understands the challenges, trade-offs, and value your team delivers.

Why it’s important:

• Builds alignment between engineering and business leadership
• Helps secure resources, remove blockers, and influence priorities
• Improves visibility into team accomplishments and challenges
• Strengthens your credibility and leadership influence
• Creates opportunities for team growth and recognition

How to implement it:

• Present data-driven insights that connect engineering work to business goals
• Set clear expectations and flag risks or trade-offs early
• Advocate for your team’s needs (e.g., headcount, tooling, roadmap clarity)
• Share wins and progress regularly, not just during reviews

Example: You notice your team is consistently asked to pick up last-minute work that derails sprint goals. Gather data from Jellyfish to show how much time is going to unplanned work and bring this insight to your leadership team, along with a proposal to revisit the roadmap and improve planning processes.

19. Conduct Regular Performance Reviews

By creating a regular cadence for feedback and development conversations, you can show your team that you’re invested in their success and can provide the clarity they need to thrive in their roles.

Why it’s important:

• Provides opportunities for feedback and growth
• Increases employee engagement and motivation
• Identifies areas for improvement and development
• Facilitates career planning and advancement

How to implement it:

• Conduct formal performance reviews at least annually
• Use a standardized performance evaluation process
• Focus on both strengths and areas for improvement

Example: Schedule quarterly one-on-one meetings to provide feedback and discuss career development goals. Use a standardized performance review template so developers know how you’re measuring success and performance.

Common Management Mistakes Software Engineering Managers Make (and How to Avoid Them)

Even experienced engineering managers can fall into habits that unintentionally harm their teams. Recognizing these common pitfalls – and taking steps to avoid them – can help you foster a healthier, more productive engineering culture.

Mistake 1: Neglecting Team Morale

It’s easy to get caught up in deliverables and deadlines, but ignoring the well-being of your team can have long-term consequences. When morale suffers, it often leads to burnout, higher turnover, and a drop in overall team performance.

How to avoid it:

• Create a positive work environment where team members feel valued and respected
• Recognize and celebrate achievements to foster a sense of accomplishment
• Address conflicts promptly and fairly to maintain a healthy team dynamic
• Organize team-building activities to strengthen collaboration and trust

Mistake 2: Providing Poor Communication or Inconsistent Feedback

Infrequent, unclear, or inconsistent communication can leave your team in the dark, unsure of expectations and disconnected from their progress. And without clear and actionable feedback, engineers may struggle to improve or feel undervalued in their roles.

How to avoid it:

• Hold regular one-on-ones to provide consistent feedback and discuss progress
• Offer both positive and constructive feedback to guide development and boost motivation
• Make feedback specific and actionable to help team members improve effectively
• Set clear expectations and goals so everyone understands their priorities and responsibilities

Mistake 3: Prioritizing Projects over People

When project deadlines take precedence over your team’s capacity or well-being, it can create a culture of stress and disengagement. Productivity may rise temporarily, but the long-term costs – burnout, resentment, and turnover – aren’t worth it.

How to avoid it:

• Balance project deadlines with team capacity to avoid overloading your team
• Listen to team concerns regularly to identify and address issues early
• Advocate for your team’s needs to ensure they have the resources and support to succeed
• Encourage work-life balance to help prevent burnout and maintain long-term productivity

How Jellyfish Helps You Be a Better Engineering Leader

Effective engineering managers must balance multiple (sometimes competing) priorities: team morale, project deadlines, resource allocation, and alignment with business goals. With Jellyfish, you can elevate your leadership by gaining deeper insights into every aspect of your engineering process.

Here’s how Jellyfish can help:

• Gain visibility for data-driven decision-making by offering comprehensive views of team activities, project progress, and resource allocation.
• Align engineering with business goals by connecting engineering metrics to business KPIs, ensuring your team’s work impacts the bottom line.
• Optimize resource allocation with insights into team workloads and project dependencies, preventing bottlenecks and maximizing productivity.
• Improve project tracking and predictability using dashboards and real-time data to identify delays and proactively address issues.
• Enhance team productivity and efficiency by quantifying unplanned work and improving the overall developer experience.

Ready to transform your engineering leadership? Book a demo with Jellyfish today.

Engineering Management FAQs

What are the best practices for managing software engineering teams using Agile?

Agile best practices include holding regular stand-ups, breaking work into small deliverables, prioritizing work in sprints, and maintaining close collaboration between developers, product managers, and stakeholders. Emphasis is placed on adaptability, transparency, and delivering working software frequently.

How do different methodologies impact software engineering management?

Methodologies like Agile, Scrum, and DevOps influence how teams plan, execute, and deliver software. Choosing the right methodology depends on your team’s size, goals, and product complexity. Managers should match methodologies to their team’s workflow and encourage continuous improvement.

What role do product managers play in software engineering best practices?

Product managers bridge the gap between business goals and engineering efforts. They define priorities, clarify requirements, and ensure that development aligns with user needs. Effective collaboration between engineering managers and product managers is essential for timely, high-impact releases.

How does Scrum improve team performance?

Scrum structures work into short, focused sprints with defined roles (Scrum Master, Product Owner, Developers) and ceremonies (sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, retrospectives). It promotes accountability, fast feedback, and iterative progress, which helps teams deliver value consistently.

What are the benefits of continuous deployment for engineering teams?

Continuous deployment enables teams to release code changes to production automatically after passing tests. This reduces time-to-market, increases deployment frequency, and encourages smaller, safer changes. Managers should ensure strong test coverage and rollback mechanisms are in place.

How should a CTO approach software engineering best practices?

CTOs should set the technical vision, define architecture standards, and foster a culture of quality and innovation. They should balance short-term delivery with long-term scalability, invest in team growth, and support modern practices like DevOps, CI/CD, and automated testing.

How does DevOps contribute to engineering team efficiency?

DevOps combines development and operations to streamline delivery pipelines. It emphasizes automation, monitoring, and continuous integration/deployment. Managers should encourage collaboration between developers and ops, reduce silos, and invest in tooling to accelerate feedback loops.

How can teams effectively use Jira to support best practices?

Jira helps teams manage work through customizable boards, issue tracking, and reporting. Best practices include keeping tasks granular, using epics to group related work, maintaining clear status updates, and using dashboards to monitor sprint progress and bottlenecks.

What are the best podcasts for software engineering managers?

Popular podcasts include Engineering Culture by InfoQ, Software Engineering Daily, The Manager’s Path Podcast, and CTO Think. These shows offer insights into leadership, scaling teams, and navigating the intersection of technology and management.

When should engineering teams prioritize code refactoring?

Refactoring should be prioritized when code becomes difficult to maintain, extend, or test. Managers should encourage regular refactoring as part of the development process to reduce technical debt, improve performance, and prevent long-term slowdowns.

Why is unit testing critical in modern software teams?

Unit testing ensures that individual pieces of code function as expected. It increases confidence in changes, enables safe refactoring, and reduces the number of bugs reaching production. Managers should advocate for test coverage and integrate testing into CI pipelines.

How should use cases be documented and used in software projects?

Use cases should clearly describe how a user interacts with the system to achieve a goal. Well-documented use cases help align product managers and engineers, clarify requirements, and guide test planning. They are vital for designing intuitive and effective software.

Why are version control systems essential for software engineering teams?

Version control systems like Git enable collaboration, change tracking, and rollback capabilities. Managers should enforce good practices like frequent commits, pull requests, and code reviews to maintain code integrity and facilitate team collaboration.

How can managers help teams identify and mitigate vulnerabilities?

Managers should ensure security is a shared responsibility. This includes integrating static code analysis, dependency scanning, and security testing into the CI/CD pipeline. Regular code reviews, threat modeling, and education on secure coding practices also reduce risks.