Engineering managers are continually seeking the best tools to enhance team productivity, streamline processes, and maintain code quality. With a myriad of options available, it can be challenging to identify which tools truly stand out. This post highlights five standout tools that every engineering manager should consider integrating into their workflow.

Why I Wrote This Blog Post

I often hear the question, “What are tools I can use as an Engineering Manager?” so here is a post answering this question. I frequently talk to engineering managers and listen to their requirements and experiences with tools. I also check the pulse of the market and try new tools as a product leader in this field.

Before diving into the list, I want to clarify a few points about its creation. This list excludes tools commonly used by teams, such as Jira, Linear, Git tools, and Slack. Instead, I've highlighted the most innovative and exceptional tools across various categories like employee experience, engineering intelligence, code quality, security, and team collaboration. This article is not driven by any hype.

1. Packmind (Collaboration)

Amplify knowledge improve engineering performance: Accelerate your team skill growth and improve coding standards by intelligently integrating the best coding practices directly within your familiar coding places and tailored to your unique context.

Packmind is a standout tool for enhancing collaboration and knowledge sharing within engineering teams. It offers a comprehensive approach to embedding coding standards and best practices directly into your workflow.

Key Features:

• Coding Standards: Automatically scans your repository to identify good coding standards and problematic patterns.
• Best Practices: Provides a comprehensive set of best coding practices based on clean code principles.
• Onboarding: Effortlessly onboard new developers on your coding standards.
• Knowledge Sharing: Breaks down knowledge silos within teams, promoting better collaboration.

Discover more about Packmind here.

Packmind

2. Oobeya (Engineering Intelligence)

Accurate Metrics. Clear Insights. Data-Driven Decisions: Empowering engineering leaders to identify SDLC bottlenecks, assess team productivity, and improve engineering efficiency with top-notch data-driven insights.

Oobeya stands out with its innovative approach to automatically detecting and addressing software development and delivery symptoms. By leveraging key engineering metrics and hundreds of data points, Oobeya enables software organizations to effortlessly identify recurring anti-patterns, poor practices, bottlenecks, and roadblocks. With actionable insights derived from in-depth metrics and data analytics, Oobeya empowers engineering leaders to take proactive steps toward optimizing their processes and cultivating healthy, effective teams.

Key Features:

• Advanced Analytics: Provides in-depth analytics for coding repositories, pull requests, delivery pipelines, issue tracking, agile boards, etc.
• Key Metrics: Measures and tracks over 50 key engineering metrics effortlessly (DORA, SPACE, agile metrics, cycle time, pull request analytics, etc.).
• Integration: Integrates with over 20 DevOps tools (Git tools, Jira, Azure Boards, CI/CD tools, APM tools, Sonarqube).
• Team Insights: Assesses the current situation of engineering excellence and provides smart suggestions for improvement areas.

Explore the benefits of Oobeya here.

Oobeya Symptoms

3. DeepSource (Code Quality)

The Code Health Platform: Build maintainable and secure software with the power of static analysis and AI.

DeepSource stands out with its ability to automate the code review process, catching issues before they become costly problems. Its real-time feedback loop helps developers adhere to best practices, ensuring a high standard of code quality across the team. This tool's extensive language support and integration capabilities make it a versatile addition to any engineering manager's toolkit. You may replace all other tools you use to write clean and secure code with the DeepSource platform.

Key Features:

• Automated Code Reviews: Analyzes every pull request to find and fix code quality issues before merging to the main branch.
• Security Detection: Identifies and highlights potential security risks.
• Continuous Integration: Integrates seamlessly with your CI/CD pipeline for continuous code analysis.
• Multi-language Support: Supports multiple programming languages including Infrastructure-as-code analysis.

Check out DeepSource here.

4. CultureAmp (Employee Experience)

An employee experience that people love: Get the employee engagement, performance and development tools and insights you need to build a category-defining culture.

CultureAmp is an employee engagement platform that helps engineering managers foster a positive work environment and enhance team morale. By providing insights into employee satisfaction, CultureAmp enables managers to take proactive steps to address concerns and improve overall team dynamics. Its detailed analytics enable engineering managers to pinpoint specific areas for improvement, ensuring targeted and effective interventions.

Key Features:

• Employee Surveys: Conducts regular surveys to gauge employee satisfaction and gather feedback.
• Comprehensive Analytics: Provides deep data and insights across your entire employee experience.
• Feedback Tools: Customizable feedback tools, goal-tracking features, and ready-to-use surveys.
• Employee Development: Aligns individual development with company goals, driving personal growth and business success.

Learn more about CultureAmp here.

5. Invicti (Application Security)

Application Security Testing For Tech Companies: Secure every website, web app, and API. Even if you have thousands of them. Only with Invicti.

Invicti is a leading web application security tool that helps engineering managers ensure the security of their applications. By providing comprehensive security testing and real-time vulnerability detection, Invicti helps teams maintain robust security standards. Its easy-to-use platform and powerful features make it a top choice for managing application security. This tool's detailed reports and actionable insights enable engineering managers to address security issues swiftly and effectively.

Key Features:

• Comprehensive Security Analysis: Performs automated scans to detect security vulnerabilities.
• Detailed Reports: Provides detailed reports with actionable insights to fix security issues.
• Continuous Monitoring: Continuously monitors applications for new vulnerabilities.
• Integration: Integrates with tools and workflows your developers use daily (50+ integrations).

Explore Invicti here.

The Final: The Productivity Eaters

In 2024, engineering managers have access to a range of powerful tools designed to enhance productivity, streamline workflows, and maintain code quality. By integrating these standout tools into your engineering management strategy, you can ensure that your team operates at peak efficiency and delivers high-quality results. From project management and team dynamics to code quality and security, these tools provide comprehensive solutions to the challenges faced by engineering managers today.

I have picked my favorite five for you, but you can research each market and find alternatives to these products. Packmind defines the problem as "Poor knowledge sharing & coding practices are productivity eaters". Engineering Managers cannot measure productivity in software development, but they can find all the "productivity eaters" for their organizations. These five tools help you identify productivity eaters and build healthy and effective development teams!