Daily Standup

Purpose

The Daily Standup (Daily Scrum) is a 15-minute time-boxed event for developers to synchronize work, surface blockers, and re-plan the day. It keeps the team aligned without the overhead of a lengthy status meeting.

At a glance

How to run

1. Gather (1 min) — Everyone stands (or joins the call) at the agreed time. Latecomers join in progress, no waiting.
2. Walk the board (10 min) — Move right-to-left across the Sprint Board. For each in-progress item: what happened, what is next, any impediment? Alternatively, each person answers three questions: What did I do? What will I do? What is blocking me?
3. Flag follow-ups (2 min) — Note any topics that need a deeper discussion and schedule them after the standup.
4. Close (2 min) — Confirm who is pairing, who needs help, and any calendar conflicts for the day.

Materials needed

• Sprint Board (physical or digital)
• Timer set to 15 minutes
• Parking-lot notepad or chat channel for after-standup threads

Pitfalls & common mistakes

• Turning it into a status report to the manager — The standup is peer-to-peer, not a report-up.
• Exceeding 15 minutes — If discussions run long, move them to the parking lot.
• Skipping when nothing changed — Even on quiet days the sync surfaces assumptions.
• Only the Scrum Master talks — Everyone should contribute; silence often hides blockers.
• Remote team members on mute — Ensure equal airtime for distributed participants.

Inclusion & accessibility

• Rotate who speaks first so the same voices do not always dominate.
• For distributed teams across time zones, consider async standups via Slack/Teams with a sync call 2–3 times per week.
• Keep the language simple and avoid jargon for multilingual teams.
• Allow written updates as an alternative for team members with speech difficulties.

Variations

• Walk the board — Focus on work items rather than people; move right-to-left on the Kanban board.
• Async standup — Each person posts a written update in a shared channel by a set time; sync only when blockers arise.
• Round-robin — Each person speaks in turn, useful for new teams still building the habit.

When NOT to use this

• If the team is co-located and already communicates continuously — the standup adds no new information.
• If the team is one or two people — just talk.
• If it has become a ritual without value and the team dreads it — redesign the format before continuing.

Source & further reading

• Schwaber, K. & Sutherland, J. (2020). *The Scrum Guide*. scrumguides.org
• Fowler, M. (2004). "It's Not Just Standing Up." martinfowler.com