Guides for engineering managers
How to run 1:1s with engineers (with a template)
How to turn 1:1s from status updates into the most useful half hour of the week, with a template and questions you can copy.
- Hold 1:1s weekly or every two weeks, 30 minutes, and protect them. Moving them is fine; cancelling them is a signal.
- The engineer owns the agenda. You bring a few things too, but their topics go first.
- A 1:1 is not a status update. Use it for blockers, feedback, growth and how they're doing.
- Write one or two dated lines after every 1:1. Those notes are what make your performance reviews fair.
Most engineers have had a manager whose 1:1s were a weekly status meeting with one person: "What are you working on? Any blockers? Great, see you next week." It wastes half an hour that could be the most useful time either of you spend all week.
A good 1:1 is where problems surface early, feedback gets given while it's still useful, and careers get talked about before someone starts interviewing elsewhere. This guide covers how to run them, with a template you can copy.
Cadence and length
For most engineering teams, 30 minutes every week works well, and every two weeks is fine for experienced people who are settled in their work. New hires, people new to the team, and anyone going through a hard patch usually benefit from weekly.
Whatever you choose, keep it. If you need to move a 1:1, move it, don't cancel it. A manager who keeps cancelling 1:1s is telling the team that they are the first thing to go when things get busy, and people hear that clearly.
If you manage a large team, the temptation is to stretch everyone to every two weeks. That can work, but watch for people who start saving things up or going quiet. Some people need weekly time even when the calendar says otherwise.
Who owns the agenda
The engineer does. It is their meeting. Keep a shared document per person where either of you can add topics during the week, and start each 1:1 with their items.
You can and should add your own topics: feedback, context about what's coming, a question about how a project is going. Put them after theirs. If they arrive with nothing, that's fine too; use the question list below rather than falling back to status.
Status updates belong in standup, the ticket tracker, or a channel. If you find yourself asking for status in a 1:1, it usually means you don't have another way to see the work. Fix that separately.
1:1 template (shared doc, newest at the top)
Date:
- Their topics. Anything they added during the week. Always first.
- How are things? One honest check-in on workload, energy and anything outside work they want to mention.
- Blockers. What's slowing them down that you can help with? Not "what are you working on".
- Feedback, both ways. One thing you noticed since last time, good or needing change. One question for them: "Anything I could do differently?"
- Growth (every few weeks). Progress on their growth goal, and the next step.
- Actions. Who does what by when. Review last time's actions first.
Not every section needs time every week. A typical 1:1 spends most of its time on the first two or three, with growth coming up properly about once a month.
Good questions, by theme
Asking "how's it going?" gets you "fine". Specific questions get real answers. Pick one or two per 1:1, not the whole list.
Work and blockers
- What's the most annoying part of your work right now?
- Is there anything you're waiting on someone else for?
- If you could drop one thing from your plate, what would it be?
- Are you clear on why the thing you're working on matters?
Team and collaboration
- Who on the team has been helpful lately?
- Is there any friction with anyone that I should know about?
- How are code reviews going, giving and receiving?
- What's one thing our team does that you'd change?
Growth and career
- What kind of work do you want more of next quarter? Less of?
- Where do you want to be in a year or two? What's in the way?
- What's something you've learned recently that you're proud of?
- Is there a project coming up you'd like to lead?
Feedback for you
- What's one thing I could do to make your work easier?
- Is there anything I do that gets in your way?
- Was there a decision recently that you disagreed with?
Wellbeing
- How's your energy compared to a month ago?
- Are your hours sustainable right now?
- Is anything outside work affecting things that you'd want me to know about? (Only if they want to share.)
Notes that help at review time
Most managers either take no notes or take long ones they never read again. Neither helps when you write a performance review six months later and can only remember the last few weeks.
What works is short and dated. After each 1:1, add one or two lines to a running note for that person, separate from the shared agenda:
Example running notes
- Mar 14. Maya flagged early that the search migration would slip a week because of the index rebuild. Exactly what we'd agreed in January. Worth calling out in review.
- Mar 7. Wants to lead a project end to end next quarter. Agreed: she'll own the notifications rework scoping.
- Feb 28. Gave feedback on PR comments coming across as curt to newer engineers. She took it well, asked for examples; sent two.
Three habits make these notes useful later:
- Write facts and examples, not impressions. "Flagged the slip a week early" is evidence. "Good communicator" is not.
- Record growth goals and progress. At review time you can show what they aimed for and what changed.
- Record feedback you gave. If something comes up in a review, your notes show it was raised months earlier, not sprung as a surprise.
Be thoughtful about what you write. Keep personal or health details out of anything work-related unless the person has asked you to note them, and assume the engineer could read your notes one day. Many good managers share them openly.
Common mistakes
- Turning it into a status meeting. If the first question is "what are you working on?", the rest of the half hour usually follows that path.
- Doing most of the talking. Aim for them to talk most of the time. If you've just spent fifteen minutes explaining the roadmap, that should have been an email.
- Cancelling when busy. Busy weeks are often when the 1:1 matters most.
- Saving feedback for the review. Nothing in a performance review should be news. The 1:1 is where it gets said first.
- Only talking about the current sprint. If careers never come up, people assume you aren't thinking about theirs.
- Not following up. Agreeing to fix something and then never mentioning it again teaches people that raising things is pointless. Review last week's actions at the start.
- Same format for everyone. Some people want structure, others want to talk. Ask them what works and adjust.
Keep going
If you are new to managing, our guide to your first 90 days as an engineering manager covers how 1:1s fit into the bigger picture. And when review season comes, how to write an engineering performance review shows how to turn notes like these into a fair, specific review.