Usually a combination of the following: - Delivering on business goals - Hiring and retention - Growing and promoting engineers - Feedback from engineers O

Usually a combination of the following: - Delivering on business goals - Hiring and retention - Growing and promoting engineers - Feedback from engineers One big difference in determining performance for a manager versus an engineer is the length of the feedback cycle. A software developer can start getting feedback after a few code commits. A manager needs a few months at a minimum at most companies to assess progress towards goals, hiring, etc. Unfortunately this means a bad manager can wreak havoc and jump ship before upper management notices.