A standup is a fifteen minute meeting typically held while standing up, not sitting, to keep it short.
It is normally held daily. It comes from the Scrum methodology, where it has three topics – and only these three topics, no digressions or additions!:
- what we as a team got done since the last standup. It is a summary discussion not a roll-call of individual tasks completed.
- what we intend to get done for the next one.
- what may prevent us from doing that in the next 24 hours.
Don’t get into HOW, stick to WHAT. No problem-solving: spin that off into subsequent discussions with only those who need to be there.
Standups have an essential effect on a new team or an immature one. As maturity increases, a team might decide they don’t need standups, at least not daily. But they’ll probably regret it later when circumstances change but they don’t reintroduce the ritual.
The maximum maker block for the average person is three hours. A team should agree amongst themselves when to have a standup based on their preferences for when they like to block out time. The manager has no need to be present, but if they want to, they bend their schedule, not set it.
When a team own the standup, they’ll make it valuable. When it’s a child-like roll-call, they won’t.
See also the benefits of a daily standup