Why your daily standups need to evolve (And how to make it happen)
2 min read

Why your daily standups need to evolve (And how to make it happen)

#guides #team-productivity

Remember those daily standup meetings where everyone took turns answering the same three questions, day after day? If you’re still doing that, you might be missing out on something better.

Agile development is shifting away from traditional formats, and this evolution actually improves effectiveness.

Breaking free from the status quo

The classic standup format asks three questions:

  1. What did I do yesterday?
  2. What will I do today?
  3. What’s blocking me?

For many teams, these sessions have become monotonous status report experiences. The 2020 Scrum Guide finally acknowledged what many teams had already figured out: there’s a better way.

What actually works

The revised approach centers on a single question: “How can we move closer to our sprint goal today?”

This shift changes team dynamics significantly. Rather than delivering routine updates, members naturally highlight meaningful information while focusing forward. It’s like the difference between reading a weather report and actually planning a picnic.

When you anchor the conversation to a shared goal, something interesting happens. People stop listing tasks and start having genuine conversations about what matters. Blockers surface naturally because they’re obstacles to the goal, not just items on a checkbox.

Leadership’s new role

For Scrum Masters and managers, roles are being reconsidered. Instead of functioning as the meeting’s traffic cop, leaders become coaches fostering collaboration.

The reality is that if managers rely solely on 15-minute meetings for visibility into their team’s progress, it suggests inadequate tracking infrastructure. Modern teams need better systems for transparency—not more meeting time.

Here’s a reflection question worth sitting with: When was the last time the meeting actually changed someone’s plans for the day?

If the answer is “rarely,” that’s a strong signal your standup format needs evolution.

Moving forward

High-performing teams treat standup formats flexibly, like recipes requiring adjustment based on results. Abandoning outdated approaches aligns with Scrum’s core purpose: solving complex problems through adaptation and learning.

The next time your team gathers for a standup, try asking: “How could these meetings work better for us?”

Effective processes ultimately serve team success. The evolution toward human-centered standups represents a return to agile development’s intended purpose—not a departure from it.

This is part 1 of the “Daily Standups Through the Lens” series: