How To Make Stand-Ups More Productive

“I’m working on it. No blockers.” My go-to standup update when I first joined as a new engineer 😅 I thought I was being efficient. Turns out… I was being vague. And the result? 🌀 Follow-up questions from my team 🌀 Too much technical detail when it wasn’t needed 🌀 Feeling clueless when I had questions, but didn’t know who to ask 🌀 And worst of all, coming across as less confident than I actually was Looking back, I wish someone had told me: Standup isn’t a status dump. It’s a chance to show progress, ask for help, and get aligned. What helped me get better? ✔ Listening to how experienced teammates shared updates ✔ Separating technical deep-dives for 1:1s or dev-only chats ✔ Asking specific questions, to the right people ✔ Sharing blockers early instead of silently struggling Now my standup updates sound more like: 🧠 What I did 🔍 What I’m doing 🚧 What I’m blocked on (and who I’m syncing with) And surprise: I started getting better help, faster feedback, and more visibility for my work. If you’re new and feel awkward during standups, you’re not alone. But this is your space to be seen, supported, and unblocked. ✨ Take a couple of minutes before standup. Think through what your team needs to know. Then speak up. You’ve got this. 💬 What’s the most awkward or funny standup moment you’ve had? 🔔 Follow me for more insights you won’t find in tutorials. #SoftwareEngineer #StandupTips #EarlyCareer #DevLife #EngineeringGrowth

🚨 A Hard Truth: Nothing has been abused more than the Daily Scrum 👉 The Daily isn't open mic night for managers, Product Owners, and Scrum Masters. It’s supposed to be for the Developers to plan out the next 24 hours so they get a step closer to the Sprint Goal. Over the years we’ve: - Forced people to stand up - Made people answer the 3 infamous questions like zombies - Turned it into a status meeting for managers, Scrum Masters, and Product Owners - Stretched it into a 30 to 60 minute problem-solving workshop - Endlessly reviewed Jira tickets one by one - Scheduled it at a time that works for others, not the Developers - Crushed self-management as Scrum Masters by facilitating it for the Developers - Let stakeholders "observe" silently, turning it into surveillance - Treated it as optional, with people wandering in late or skipping entirely 🦃 Guilty as charged! I'm truly sorry I was part of that. Here’s a story from the trenches: A few years ago I was invited to consult with an organization that thought they only needed to "make a few small adjustments." For 45 minutes, a team of project managers sat in front of the team during the Daily, interrogating them, taking notes, and updating Microsoft Project plans in real time. That wasn’t a Daily Scrum, it was a daily status interrogation disguised as Scrum. Here are several ways to make your Daily Scrum effective: ✅ Protect the 15 minutes: ask managers, Product Owners, and even Scrum Masters to allow Developers to have this time without interruption. ✅ Keep it simple: 15 minutes, same place, same time. ✅ Always work toward a Sprint Goal. Stop committing to a fixed number of PBIs. ✅ Use the time to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal, adapt the Sprint Backlog, and move forward together. ✅ Don't use a Sprint Goal? Start next Sprint. ✅ The three questions are not required. Drop them if they don’t add value. ✅ Scrum Masters, stop inventing "cute" replacements for the three questions. You are impeding self-management. Let Developers design their own structure. ✅ The Daily is not a synchronization meeting. Synchronization should be happening all day long. ✅ Impediments should not wait for the Daily. Raise them as soon as they appear. ✅ Scrum Masters are not required to attend or facilitate the Daily. ✅ If you do attend as a Scrum Master, observe quietly. Stand back, stay silent, and let the Developers own it. ✅ If the Daily is off the rails, use the Retrospective to figure out how to get back to it's purpose and make it healthy. Share your observations and ask Developers how they want to improve it. ⚠️ A plea to all Scrum Masters: For the next week, do not attend your team’s Daily Scrum. 🚪 Seriously, stay out. Hand it back to the Developers. 🤸 If they stumble, good. If it feels awkward, even better. 💡 That is how self-management grows. I promise you this: the world will not end, and your team will survive without you.

I've sat through thousands of standups over my 25+ years building software companies. Elite tech leaders don't listen for status updates, they listen for these 3 warning signals: 1️⃣ The Timeline Explosion When you hear: "I thought it would take a day, but it's been three days already..." This isn't just a delay—it's a warning that your entire project timeline is built on fantasy. Smart teams immediately recalibrate ALL connected deadlines, not just that task. 2️⃣ The Silent Dependency When someone says they're "almost done" for the third standup in a row. This reveals hidden technical debt or dependencies nobody wants to admit. Top teams create a "blocker buster" role with authority to eliminate these roadblocks immediately. 3️⃣ The Integration Blindspot When two developers describe the same feature completely differently. This misalignment guarantees integration chaos later. Successful leaders pause immediately for alignment—even if it means a longer standup. Want to transform your standups? ☑️ Track patterns across days, not just daily updates ☑️ Make "What's blocking you?" more important than "What did you do?" ☑️ Create consequences for repeated blockers ☑️ Measure success by problems prevented, not updates given Your standups should prevent disasters, not just report on them. What warning signs do you look for in your team's standups?