The stand-up meeting came out of software teams, but the idea travels well. A short daily check-in, done standing so nobody gets comfortable, where the whole team finds out in 10 minutes what is happening today and what is in the way.
Done well, it replaces a dozen interruptions and a long weekly meeting. Done badly, it becomes a daily round of people reciting their calendars while everyone else waits for their turn. This guide covers how to run a stand-up meeting for a small business or a small team, the questions worth asking, and when a daily stand-up is the wrong tool.
What a stand-up meeting is for
A stand-up has one job: find what is blocked, early. Everything else is secondary.
A task that is stuck on Monday morning and raised on Monday morning costs a few minutes. The same task discovered at Friday's weekly meeting has cost the whole week. The stand-up exists to close that gap.
It is not for:
- Reporting status to a manager. If the owner needs to know what everyone is doing, they can read the task list.
- Solving problems. A stand-up names problems and decides who will solve them. The solving happens afterwards, with only the people who need to be there.
- Planning the week. That is the weekly team meeting's job.
The 3 daily stand-up questions
The classic format asks each person 3 questions:
- What did I finish yesterday?
- What am I doing today?
- What is in my way?
They are a reasonable starting point, but in a small team the first 2 tend to turn into a recital. A version that works better puts the weight on the third:
- What is the one thing I will finish today? One thing, not a list. Naming it out loud is a commitment, and it tells the team where your attention is.
- Is anything blocking me, or about to? Include things that are not stuck yet but will be: a supplier that has not replied, a decision you need by Wednesday.
- Do I need anyone after this? Name the person and the topic. You will talk straight after the stand-up, not during it.
That is about 45 seconds a person. A team of 8 is done in under 10 minutes.
How to run it
Same time, every day, short. 10 minutes at the start of the working day, at a time that suits everyone. A stand-up that moves around the calendar stops happening.
Actually stand, or keep cameras on. Standing is not a ritual, it is a timer. Nobody wants to stand for 30 minutes. For remote teams, keeping cameras on does a similar job.
Go in a fixed order. Alphabetical, or around the room. Deciding who goes next wastes time and lets the quiet people get skipped.
Park everything that needs discussion. The moment 2 people start solving a problem, someone says "let's take that after". Keep a short parked list and run through it when the stand-up ends, with only the people involved.
Look at the list, not at each other's calendars. If the team's tasks live in a shared list, open it on a screen. "What is overdue" is a faster starting point than going person by person.
Rotate who runs it. It stops the stand-up becoming the owner's meeting and keeps everyone paying attention.
When a daily stand-up is the wrong tool
A daily stand-up earns its 10 minutes when the team's work depends on each other day to day. It is less useful when:
- Everyone works independently. A bakery's front-of-house and a bookkeeper do not block each other daily. A weekly meeting is enough.
- The team is 2 or 3 people who talk all day anyway. You already have a stand-up. It is called lunch.
- People are on different shifts. A written stand-up works better: each person posts their 3 answers by 10am, and anyone blocked gets a reply by noon.
- It has become status theatre. If the stand-up has turned into people proving they are busy, stop it for 2 weeks and see what breaks. If nothing does, you did not need it.
A good middle ground for many small businesses is a stand-up 2 or 3 times a week, on the days the work is most connected, plus the weekly team meeting.
The written stand-up
For remote, part-time or shift-based teams, the written version is often better than the spoken one. Each person answers the same 3 questions in writing by a fixed time. It takes 2 minutes to write and 5 to read everyone else's.
The one rule: blockers get a reply the same morning. A written stand-up where nobody responds to the blockers is just a diary.
Running stand-ups in EvyOS
A stand-up is fastest when the team's work is already visible. In an EvyOS shared workspace, the Today view puts overdue work at the top and today's work underneath, so the stand-up can start from what is actually slipping rather than from memory. Tasks are assigned, so "whose is this" is already answered.
The things raised in the stand-up go straight onto the list: a blocker becomes a task for whoever is unblocking it, with today's date. If you run a written stand-up, a shared note per week, with a line per person per day, keeps it in one place.
And if the stand-up itself is something the team wants to hold, make it a habit in the workspace. Each person gets their own record, so it is clear whether the stand-up is a habit or a nice idea.
The set up team rituals template is worth running first if you are not sure whether your team needs a daily stand-up at all, because it asks what each meeting is for before you commit to it.
The short version
A stand-up meeting is 10 minutes, at the same time every day, to find what is blocked while it is still cheap to fix. Ask each person what they will finish today, what is in their way, and who they need afterwards. Park every discussion. And if your team does not depend on each other day to day, run it less often, or in writing.