Why Software Engineering Management Has Stagnated Over the Past Decade

During internal training sessions for various enterprises, the author collected participants' questions and observed that, over the past decade, domestic software engineering management has seen little advancement.

Viewpoint 1: Rapid Technological Development vs. Lagging Management Models The software industry experiences swift changes in languages, frameworks, and tools, while management philosophies often remain decades old; even agile methods have not been deeply or widely implemented, and many teams still rely on outdated models like the waterfall approach.

Viewpoint 2: Cultural and Human Challenges Management issues extend beyond technology to culture and human factors, such as insufficient emphasis on soft skills like collaboration, communication, and leadership, and a focus on short‑term results over long‑term team building, leading to widespread bottlenecks.

Viewpoint 3: Inadequate Education and Training Academic curricula tend to prioritize technical knowledge over software engineering management skills, resulting in new engineers lacking management experience; the industry also suffers from “underqualified” hires and the “small horse pulling a big cart” problem that hampers effective mentorship.

The article concludes with a compiled list of questions gathered from different companies (spanning 2012‑2024) that illustrate these challenges and invite further discussion.