1:1 questions · free template and generator
One-on-one meeting questions for engineering managers
One-on-one meeting questions are the prompts a manager brings to a recurring private conversation with one person on the team. This page has 58 of them for engineering managers, sorted into 5 kinds of 1:1, plus a 1:1 meeting template to copy and a generator that turns the questions into an agenda. No email, no signup.
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1:1 question generator
Pick the kind of 1:1 and its length. You get an agenda with their topics first, a fresh set of questions and a slot for actions. Generate again for a different set.
Questions for your first 1:1
The first 1:1 sets the contract. Ask how they work, how they want feedback and what they want from these meetings, then write the answers down. You will need them in month three.
- What should I know about how you like to work that would take me three months to find out?
- How do you want feedback from me: in the moment, in our 1:1, or in writing?
- What did your last manager do that you want me to keep doing?
- What did your last manager do that you want me to stop?
- What are you working on right now, and which part of it worries you?
- Where do you want to be in two years, even if the answer is "not sure yet"?
- What does a good week look like for you?
- How will I know you are overloaded if you do not tell me?
- Which meetings on your calendar are worth it, and which are not?
- Who on the team do you go to when you are stuck?
- What would you change about this team tomorrow if you could?
- What should we talk about in these 1:1s, and what should stay in Slack?
Questions for a weekly 1:1
A weekly 1:1 slides into a status update fast. These pull the conversation back to the person: what slows them down, what they are proud of, what they need from you. Status belongs in the standup or the ticket.
- What is on your mind this week that we have not talked about?
- What slowed you down since we last met?
- Is there a decision you are waiting on, from me or from someone else?
- What are you proud of from the last two weeks that went unnoticed?
- Which piece of work feels like busywork right now?
- From 1 to 10, how was your energy this week, and what would make it one point higher?
- What did you learn from the last incident or release?
- Is there a conversation with someone on the team you keep postponing?
- What would you cut from your plate if you could?
- Where do AI tools save you time this week, and where do they waste it?
- What is one thing I could do differently that would help you?
- What should I know before my next meeting with my own manager?
Skip-level meeting questions
A skip-level meeting is a 1:1 between a leader and someone who reports to one of their managers. Ask about the team, not about the manager, and say up front what you will do with the answers. People talk openly when the last skip-level led to a change they could see.
- What is the best part of working on this team right now?
- What slows the team down that your manager might not see?
- If you ran this team for a month, what would you change first?
- How clear is it to you why your current project matters to the company?
- What do people complain about at lunch or in DMs?
- How does your manager help you grow, and where could they do more?
- Which leadership decision from the last quarter made the least sense to you?
- What do you know about our users that leadership should hear?
- Who on your team deserves more recognition than they get?
- Which process or tool would you remove if it were your call?
- How safe does it feel to disagree in team meetings?
- What question did you hope I would ask today?
Career and growth questions
Career questions work best every four to six weeks, in a 1:1 with nothing else on the agenda. The answers become the growth plan, so keep them in the same doc as the 1:1 notes.
When a report asks where engineering management goes with AI, the AI engineering manager role is a useful page to read together.
- What kind of work makes you lose track of time?
- Which skill would make the biggest difference to your next year?
- Do you want to go deeper as an engineer or move towards managing people, or are you still deciding?
- Whose job in this company would you want in three years?
- What would you need to see from yourself to feel ready for the next level?
- What stretch project would you take on if it appeared tomorrow?
- What feedback have you received that you still disagree with?
- Who outside the team would you learn the most from?
- Which part of your current role would you happily hand to someone else?
- How do you want to be recognised for great work: in public, in private, or in your review?
- What do you want to be known for on this team?
- What is holding you back from the next step, in your own words?
Questions for when something feels off
Use these when someone goes quiet, misses things they usually catch, or snaps in a code review. Ask one, then stop talking. The answer tends to come in the silence after the question.
- You seemed quieter in the last few meetings. How are you doing?
- What is draining your energy at work right now?
- Is your workload realistic for the next month?
- Is anything outside work making this month harder? You do not have to share details.
- What would make next week 20 percent easier?
- Is there a person or a process that frustrates you more than it should?
- Have you thought about leaving? I would rather hear it from you first.
- What would help most: less on your plate, more clarity, or a different project?
- What did I do recently that did not land well?
- What should I do differently starting tomorrow?
1:1 meeting template
Paste it into a shared doc, one doc per person, newest meeting on top. The report adds their topics before the meeting and you add yours below theirs. 30 minutes, every week or every two weeks.
1:1 · [Name] · [Date] · 30 min THEIR TOPICS: added by them before the meeting, they go first - - HOW ARE YOU, REALLY? 1 to 10 this week, and why that number: WORK What is blocked, what is slow, what is noise: GROWTH One step on the growth plan since last time: FEEDBACK One thing I should do more of, one thing less: ACTIONS: who, what, by when - - CARRIED OVER FROM LAST TIME -
What to do with the answers
- Write one line within the hour. What they said and what you promised. Unwritten 1:1s blur together by the third week.
- Open the next 1:1 with last week's actions. Say what you did with their ask, even when the answer is "not yet, and here is why".
- Look for patterns once a month. Three people naming the same slow process is a team problem. Take it to your staff meeting or your own manager without names.
- Keep the private part private. Health, family or a job offer stays between the two of you unless they say otherwise.
- Change something people can see. A 1:1 where nothing changes teaches people to stop answering.
Some 1:1 problems keep coming back: the report who wants your job, the senior engineer who has checked out, the skip-level that surfaces a problem with one of your managers. Engineering leaders work through those with peers in ELC Circles, small facilitated groups that meet every two weeks. For a one-to-one view from someone who has done the job, there is an engineering mentor. The manager-as-coach questions at marian.coach cover the rest: what to ask to grow a report, and what to bring to your own manager or mentor.
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Questions people ask
What is the purpose of a one-on-one meeting?
A one-on-one meeting gives one person private time with their manager to raise what they would not raise in a group. Done well, it catches problems early: a blocked project, a frustrated engineer, a resignation that is still only a thought. Status updates fit better in the standup or the ticket.
Why hold a skip-level meeting?
A skip-level meeting shows a leader what the team sees and its manager may miss. It also gives engineers a direct line one level up. Run them quarterly, tell the middle manager before you start, and share afterwards what you changed, or people stop talking.
How often should an engineering manager hold 1:1s?
Weekly for 30 minutes with a new report, during a reorg or in a hard quarter. Every two weeks once things are steady, and skip-levels once a quarter. Moving a 1:1 is fine. Cancelling it twice in a row tells the person they rank below everything else on your calendar.
Who sets the agenda for a 1:1?
The report sets most of it. They add topics to the shared doc before the meeting and their topics go first; the manager adds a question or two and the open actions. If the report keeps arriving with nothing, ask what they want these meetings to be for.
What should you not do in a one-on-one?
Do not turn it into a status update, a performance review or your own monologue, and do not read Slack during it. Be careful with confidentiality: say up front that safety, legal and harassment issues go further, so you do not promise secrecy you cannot keep.
What are good 1 on 1 questions for engineers?
Questions with a story in the answer, such as "What slowed you down since we last met?" or "Which piece of work feels like busywork right now?" Skip yes-or-no questions and anything about ticket status. The five lists on this page hold 58 of them.