I put all the important steps in scripts (makefiles or as commands in package.json for JS projects) which can be run without Jenkins. Pipeline in the Jenkinsfil

I put all the important steps in scripts (makefiles or as commands in package.json for JS projects) which can be run without Jenkins. Pipeline in the Jenkinsfile only runs those steps separately in the correct container build stage to collect separate step results. If done correctly, the Jenkinsfile should be easy to read by a person who has never written a Jenkins pipeline before. With this approach it is hard to mess things up by creating a monster pipeline which no one can understand, and if necessary, you can quickly change to different CI runner at a later point in time.