The Daily Standup Meeting

I used to dread our daily standups. Seriously. They felt like this awkward ritual where everyone would mumble through what they did yesterday while checking their phones. Then I joined a team that actually knew how to run them properly, and it completely changed my perspective.

Now I’m that person who actually looks forward to our 15-minute morning sync. Weird, I know.

Why Do We Even Call It a “Standup”?

The name comes from the fact that everyone literally stands up during the meeting. It sounds gimmicky, but there’s actual psychology behind it - when you’re standing, you naturally want to wrap things up faster. Nobody wants to be that person shifting their weight from foot to foot while someone rambles about their weekend debugging session.

Most good standups clock in around 15 minutes, maybe 25 if you have a larger team. We do ours every morning right after coffee kicks in but before the day gets crazy. The whole point is keeping everyone on the same page without burning half the morning in meetings.

The Three Questions That Actually Matter

Every standup revolves around the same three questions. They’re simple, but when everyone answers them honestly, magic happens:

• What did you do yesterday?
• What will you do today?
• What’s blocking you?

That’s it. No fancy frameworks, no complicated processes. Just three questions that keep the team aligned.

The key thing to remember is that this isn’t problem-solving time. If someone mentions a blocker, you acknowledge it and move on. The actual fixing happens after the standup with the people who need to be involved.

What Did I Actually Get Done Yesterday?

This one’s about accountability, but not in a scary micromanagement way. It’s more like “hey, here’s what I moved forward so you know where things stand.”

Good update: “I finished the checkout page UI and started hooking up the payment API. The frontend stuff is ready for review.”

Not-so-good update: “I worked on various things and made some progress on the project stuff and had some meetings about the thing we discussed.”

See the difference? The first one tells me exactly what got done and what state it’s in. The second one tells me absolutely nothing useful.

What’s on My Plate Today?

This is where you lay out your game plan. It helps everyone understand what you’re prioritizing and where you’ll be focusing your energy.

Good update: “Today I’m finishing the payment integration testing and then moving on to the error handling for failed transactions.”

Also good: “I’m blocked on the API issue, so I’ll be working on documentation updates while we wait for that to get resolved.”

The second example shows how flexibility works in practice. Sometimes your original plan gets derailed, and that’s totally normal.

What’s Actually Stopping Me?

This is the most important question, and the one people are often hesitant to answer honestly. But here’s the thing - if you don’t mention blockers early, they just get worse.

Good blocker: “The staging API is returning 500 errors, so I can’t test the payment flow. I’ll need someone from backend to take a look.”

Vague blocker: “I’m having some issues with technical stuff.”

The first one gives the team something actionable. Someone can help, or at least acknowledge that it’s a known issue. The second one leaves everyone guessing.

How to Not Screw Up Your Standups

I’ve seen teams completely butcher standups in creative ways. Here’s how to avoid the common pitfalls:

Keep It Moving

Each person should take 1-2 minutes max. If someone’s going longer, they’re either solving problems (wrong meeting) or giving way too much detail (also wrong).

I’ve been in standups that turned into 45-minute technical discussions. Nobody wins in that scenario.

Actually Stand Up

This sounds obvious, but I’ve seen remote teams do “standups” where everyone’s lounging in their chairs with coffee. The physical act of standing really does make a difference in energy and pace.

For remote teams, try turning on your cameras and actually standing. It feels weird at first, but it works.

Start on Time, Every Time

This is non-negotiable. If the standup is at 9:30, it starts at 9:30. Not 9:35 when the last person finally joins. Not 9:27 because everyone happens to be there early.

Starting on time trains people to show up on time. Starting whenever people feel like showing up trains them to be late.

Don’t Try to Fix Everything Right Now

When someone mentions a blocker, resist the urge to jump into solution mode immediately. Acknowledge it, maybe identify who needs to be involved, and then move on.

“API issues - let’s get Sarah and Mike to look at that after standup” is perfect.

“Well, have you tried restarting the service? What about checking the logs? Did you look at the database connections?” is going to kill your standup.

Mix Up Who Runs It

Having the same person facilitate every standup can make it feel stale. Rotate who asks the questions and keeps things moving. Different people bring different energy to the role.

Timing and Remote Considerations

Most teams do standups first thing in the morning when everyone’s brain is still somewhat fresh. But honestly, find what works for your team’s schedule and time zones.

We tried afternoon standups once. Terrible idea. By 3 PM, half the team was deep in focus mode and the other half was in their post-lunch coma.

Others find an overlap time that’s not completely awful for everyone. There’s no perfect solution, but consistency is key whatever you choose.

The Real Value

When standups work well, they’re not just status updates. They become this rhythm that keeps the team connected and aware of what everyone’s working on. You start to notice patterns - like when certain types of blockers keep coming up, or when someone’s been stuck on the same thing for too long.

The best standups I’ve been part of felt less like meetings and more like quick check-ins with people I actually cared about helping succeed.

The three questions are simple:

1. What did you actually accomplish yesterday? Keep it concrete and useful.
2. What’s your focus today? Give people context for where your energy is going.
3. What’s in your way? Be honest about blockers so the team can help.

That’s it. No need to overcomplicate something that’s supposed to make your life easier.