Stand-up Meeting: Format, Purpose, and Remote Alternatives
A brief, time-boxed team meeting (typically 15 minutes or less) where each member shares what they worked on, what they'll work on next, and any blockers, originally designed to be held standing to keep it short.
A stand-up meeting is a short daily team meeting, usually lasting 15 minutes or less, where team members gather (traditionally while standing) to share updates. Each person answers three questions: What did I work on yesterday? What will I work on today? What’s blocking my progress? The format originated in Agile software development to keep teams aligned without lengthy meetings.
stand-up-meeting
A stand-up meeting (or daily standup) is a brief, time-boxed synchronous meeting where team members share progress updates, plans, and obstacles. The name comes from the practice of physically standing during the meeting to encourage brevity and focus. While traditionally held in person, remote teams often conduct standups via video call or asynchronous written updates.
- Stand-ups typically last 15 minutes or less and follow a strict three-question format
- The standing format was designed to create natural discomfort that keeps meetings brief
- Common problems include updates turning into problem-solving sessions or status reports for managers
- Remote teams face challenges with timezone differences and video call fatigue
- Many distributed teams have replaced synchronous standups with async written updates or Slack bots
The Classic Standup Format
The traditional stand-up meeting follows a simple three-question structure that each team member answers in turn:
What did I work on yesterday? This provides context on recent progress and helps the team understand what’s been accomplished. It’s not meant to be a detailed report, just a quick summary of the main tasks completed.
What will I work on today? This shares your immediate plans and helps identify potential overlaps or dependencies with other team members. It keeps everyone aligned on daily priorities.
What’s blocking my progress? This surfaces obstacles, dependencies, or issues that might require help from teammates or management. The standup itself isn’t for solving these problems—it’s for identifying them so they can be addressed separately.
The key principle is that standups are for coordination, not problem-solving. If a discussion starts going deep into technical details or troubleshooting, it should be taken offline with only the relevant people.
Remote Standup Challenges
When teams shift to remote work, the traditional standup format reveals several pain points:
Timezone conflicts make synchronous meetings difficult or impossible. A team spread across San Francisco, New York, and London has no time that’s convenient for everyone. Someone always ends up in an awkward early morning or late evening slot.
Video call fatigue compounds when standups are just one of many daily video meetings. The pressure to be “camera ready” every morning, combined with the cognitive load of video calls, makes daily synchronous standups exhausting for remote workers.
Reduced spontaneity means the informal conversations and quick problem-solving that happened naturally after in-person standups don’t translate well to scheduled video calls. People tend to drop off the call immediately rather than lingering for casual discussion.
Async Standup Alternatives
Many remote and distributed teams have moved away from synchronous standups in favor of asynchronous alternatives:
Written updates in Slack or similar tools allow team members to post their three answers in a dedicated channel on their own schedule. This works across timezones and creates a searchable record of daily progress.
Standup bots like Geekbot or Standuply automate the process by sending questions to team members at scheduled times and compiling responses in a channel. These tools can prompt people in their local timezone and aggregate updates for the whole team to review.
Loom or async video updates provide a middle ground where team members can record short video summaries on their own time. This preserves some of the personal connection of video while maintaining async flexibility.
Written daily summaries in project management tools or shared documents let teams post updates directly alongside their work. Some teams do this in Notion, Linear, or GitHub, keeping context close to the actual tasks.
The async approach works best when there’s clear documentation, team members are disciplined about posting updates consistently, and there’s trust that people will read and respond to blockers without a synchronous check-in.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should a stand-up meeting actually last?
The standard recommendation is 15 minutes maximum, regardless of team size. For smaller teams (3-5 people), 5-10 minutes is often sufficient. If your standup regularly runs longer, it's usually a sign that discussions are going too deep or the meeting is being used for problem-solving rather than quick coordination.
Do remote teams really need to do standups over video?
No. Many successful remote teams use async standups instead, where team members post written updates in Slack or similar tools. This works better across timezones and reduces meeting fatigue. Video standups can still be valuable for team connection, but they're not essential for the coordination purpose standups serve.
What if someone doesn't have updates to share every day?
That's completely normal, especially for longer-term projects or deep work. It's fine to say "Still working on the same thing as yesterday, no blockers." Forcing people to manufacture updates creates busywork. Some teams do standups 2-3 times per week instead of daily for this reason.
Should standups include discussions or just updates?
Standups should primarily be quick updates. If a blocker or topic needs discussion, note it and schedule a separate conversation with only the relevant people afterward. The "parking lot" technique—writing down discussion topics to address after the standup—helps keep the meeting on track.