How to run a daily standup

A daily standup has one job. Everyone leaves knowing what the others are doing today, and what is stuck. It is not a status report for a manager, and it is not the place to solve problems. Keep it to that one job and it stays short.

The format

Hold it at the same time every day, early in the working day. Use the same room or the same call. A fixed slot means nobody has to ask when it is. Fifteen minutes is the ceiling for a team of up to ten, and most teams need less.

Go around the group one person at a time. Each person gets the same time, a minute or ninety seconds, and the next one starts when it is up. This go-around has a name: an Update Round.

Use a random order, not the seating plan or the list in the invite. When the order changes every day, the same people stop going first. The person at the end of the list is not always the one talking to a tired room.

Put a timer where everyone can see it. When the seconds are on the shared screen, nobody has to cut a colleague off. The Standup timer draws a fair order and gives each person their own clock. A timebox covers the whole standup.

The three questions

The classic standup asks each person three things:

1. What did you finish since yesterday?
2. What will you work on today?
3. Is anything in your way?

The third is the one that matters. The first two give context, but a blocker is something the team can act on. If people tend to skip it, ask it once more at the end: anything blocking anyone?

Some teams swap the three for one question. What is the most important thing you will do today, and what could stop you? It is shorter and keeps the focus on today. Pick one set and keep it, so people can prepare without thinking about it.

What to leave out

Most standups that run long have the same cause. A discussion starts in the middle of the round. Two people find a problem they share, and the other eight wait. Note it, and take it up straight after with only the people it concerns. “Let’s take that after” is easier to say when everyone can see the clock.

Leave out detailed status too. Once the standup turns into reading tickets aloud, people stop listening. A sentence per question is enough, and the detail lives on your board.

A daily standup agenda you can copy

Paste this into your calendar invite. It fits a team of up to ten in fifteen minutes.

Daily standup (15 minutes)

1. Start on time
   We begin at the set minute, whoever is there.

2. Updates, 12 minutes
   Random order, 60 to 90 seconds each:
   - What did you finish since yesterday?
   - What will you work on today?
   - Is anything in your way?

3. Blockers, 3 minutes
   Who helps with what. Anything longer moves to a follow-up.

4. Follow-ups, after the standup
   Only the people involved stay.