Emotional Intelligence for Release Managers

by Shahid Mukadam // Last updated on January 30, 2025  

Emotional Intelligence For Release Managers

Key Highlights

  • Understand the role of emotional intelligence at work.
  • Improve collaboration and leadership skills.
  • Enhance decision-making with practical insights.
  • Learn ways to apply emotional intelligence daily.

I have been working for 15 years now. During this time, I have taken on various roles, including Automation Tester, Test Manager, Agile Coach, and Release Manager, to name a few. Each role has presented its challenges, but the role of a Release Manager keeps me on my feet more often than the others. While some roles require me to keep my brain engaged and others primarily my mind, as a Release Manager, I must keep both engaged at all times.

The brain and mind are synonymous with the left brain and right brain that we all possess. The left brain is our analytical powerhouse, while the right brain is responsible for our Emotional Intelligence.

Building my Emotional Intelligence is close to my heart, especially because many of us, including myself at times, approach work as merely completing tasks and returning home. We often try to keep the right brain disengaged. However, this disengagement eventually spills over into other aspects of our lives.

Emotional Intelligence is like a muscle that requires practice. There are times when we need to use one muscle more than the other, but keeping a muscle disengaged in a place where we spend more than a third of our day—and half of our waking hours—feels wrong to me.

Understanding the importance of Emotional Intelligence is key, and applying it effectively is where the role of a Release Manager becomes both challenging and rewarding.

The Role of Release Managers

As release managers, we build a lot of technology skills. We have to keep in touch with the latest improvements in CI/CD, code management, environment management techniques, and infrastructure updates, to name a few.

The Importance of Continuous Learning

One of the key traits of a good release manager is the ability to keep learning. If the resume of a release manager lists multiple tools and technologies, and the person is well-versed in them, it means they have an aptitude for continuous learning and up-skilling.

We all spend a lot of our time reading and up-skilling as good release managers. However, there is an unmeasurable characteristic of a release manager that I believe is equally important: emotional intelligence. It is an underrated skill, which, unfortunately, is also unmeasurable.

Emotional Intelligence And Brain Functions

Balancing Left-Brain and Right-Brain Thinking

Cognitive science suggests that our brain works in two complementary ways: the left brain, which processes facts, logic, and structure, and the right brain, which handles intuition, emotions, and creativity.

Release managers, like most roles in tech, often default to left-brain thinking—focusing on tools, structured workflows, and efficiency. But our work goes beyond processes; we deal with people. Code, features, and processes are just frameworks for that. Most of the time, release managers, including myself, focus on the process and tech but not the people behind them. We often forget the reason behind the process.

The Overemphasis on Data in Decision-Making

Society has doubled down on data. It’s a common factor across humanity, and we’ve benefited greatly from focusing on tangible results. But if we want to push the envelope, we must now focus on the intangible. I would argue that it is more important now than ever.

For example, if you are a software developer, your primary job could be abstracted as writing good code. But why do we get more satisfaction from some coding projects than others? If value were purely a tangible metric, then only developers writing code adopted by millions would be happy. However, I have gotten more satisfaction from writing code for personal projects that no one has ever used. Many of us derive pleasure from side projects we’ve taken up, even though they have no tangible value.

The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

The same applies to emotions. The entire population that generates tangible data also generates intangible data simultaneously. Unfortunately, the right side of our brain, which is responsible for emotions, is not great with words. That is why we struggle to express what is going on within ourselves fully.

Not incorporating intangible data, like emotions, into our decision-making algorithms means leaving useful data out.

We must understand that people are more than numbers, programs, or processes. Their emotions define how these tangible parameters make them feel.

Emotional Intelligence for Release Managers

In the software industry, release managers interact with a more varied background of people than most roles. We work with Product, Business, Developers, QA, Infra, and many more teams almost daily.

Each role has unique demands and viewpoints. While taking solace in technology and processes might sound like a safe approach, not all information can be abstracted into data, which means we are omitting key insights.

Most workplaces optimize for left-brain thinking, which involves measurable outputs, process improvements, and efficiency. However, emotional intelligence is a right-brain ability, and it plays an equally critical role in making decisions, managing teams, and understanding the human side of technology.

Applying Emotional Intelligence in Daily Work

How can we then incorporate emotional intelligence into our daily work? First, do not dismiss any idea outright, even if the numbers don't make sense. Try to ask more questions to understand the reasoning behind a request. In many cases, the reason is the emotion of the person behind it.

Sometimes, a person dealing with a VIP request feels pressured to get it out quickly. As release managers, we are right to inspect the request on its merits and not allow a half-baked solution to go through. However, we can handle the situation better if we understand the emotion behind the request and help the person appropriately. We could suggest ways to accelerate the request or provide data to support not taking it up.

Being emotionally intelligent or appreciative in the workplace means that you are not only dealing with a request but also managing the emotions around it. In my opinion, that is the most complete way to handle anything.

An example from my experience is a product owner who wanted to push through an A/B test without having a proper thesis behind it. He wanted to do it because he had a hunch that he would learn something from the experiment. We eventually launched the A/B test when it was safe do to so. I am sure we could have eventually uncovered the reasoning behind the hunch, but we might have lost too much time. A hunch, after all, is tacit knowledge that is not yet put into tangible terms. It is also an emotion.

Here are a few things I tried to build my emotional awareness, which in turn is building my emotional intelligence.

Prioritize yourself:

Listen to yourself, your emotions, and your thoughts. Usually, our brain goes into flight or fight responses when it perceives a threat to itself. If we take time to listen to our thoughts and emotions more often, we would have defined our safe place and boundaries. Our brains would react only if these actual boundaries are under threat, which honestly happens a lot less than we react.

Listen more often:

Listen to others. Go with a blank slate to a conversation. Don’t add anything to the conversation. Why? Imagine going to a class on the theory of relativity by Albert Einstein. I would allow him to teach as much as he can and let his thoughts pour out on the topic, or would I try and give him my take on it? People are the Einsteins of their world, allow them to pour themselves out. You will learn a lot more about them and only ask questions which will allow you to learn more.

Don't choose favorites:

Remember your favorite co-worker? He would often always have a solution and is simply there to tell you what he has done. The ones we should be talking to more often than what we already do are the ones who are there with problems. They are the ones that need to be heard.

Last thing: Celebrate the wins!

Big or small, every success deserves a shoutout. Maybe the team nailed a tricky release or just stayed on top of things without drama. Take a moment in retrospect to say, “Great job, everyone.” It boosts morale and reminds people why they love working with you.

The Need for Emotional Awareness in Remote Work

Beyond all this, our roles, workplaces, and careers, we are primarily human beings and social creatures. If we are unable to deal with emotions or at least be receptive to the emotions of the people around us, it is a travesty. With the shift toward remote work, many of us have lost the emotional indicators that a physical workplace provides. However, this is no reason for us not to develop newer ways to recognize and respond to the emotions of our colleagues and family.

At its core, Emotional Intelligence is about connection—understanding ourselves, understanding others, and bridging that gap with empathy and awareness. It is a muscle that requires continuous exercise, not just at work but in every interaction we have. Whether in a remote setting or face-to-face, the effort we put into developing our emotional intelligence will define the quality of our relationships and, ultimately, our success. Let’s commit to listening actively, reflecting on our actions, and embracing every opportunity to build stronger, more empathetic connections around us.

About the author

Shahid Mukadam

With over 14 years of experience driving smooth deployments across global teams, Shahid Mukadam is a PMP-certified Agile Delivery Manager with expertise in establishing Agile practices, managing release trains, and delivering complex projects. Passionate about quality and efficiency, Shahid excels in transforming delivery pipelines and mitigating operational risks

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