If your standups are broken, it is time to fix it. Start this week. Your team will thank you.
Standups can balloon to 20+ minutes, people ramble about every detail, discussions spiral into problem-solving sessions, or nobody actually listens to anyone else. The team checks out. You don't surface real blockers. And everyone walks away thinking "I could have done actual work instead."
But it doesn't have to be this way. Today we look at the most common challenges, and consider easy to implement practical solutions.
### **What Broken Standups Look Like**
**The Rambling Standup:** People give detailed explanations of every task, how they're feeling, their entire week's plan. By minute three, everyone's checking out mentally.
**The Micromanagement Trap:** You interrogate each person about exactly what they did, why it took that long, are they on track? Your team becomes defensive. Trust erodes. Real problems go underground.
**The Endless Standup:** It starts focused but discussions spiral. By minute 20, half the team has left. You've lost the original purpose entirely.
If any of these sound familiar, you're leaving coordination and visibility on the table. But the fix is simpler than you think.
### **The Solution: Three Questions, Five Minutes**
A truly effective standup answers three questions, and nothing else:
**1. What did I COMPLETE yesterday?**
Not "work on"—completed. This forces clarity about actual results. When someone says "I didn't complete anything," you know immediately there's a blocker. It also naturally flags if someone is spinning wheels on the same task for days.
**2. What am I FOCUSING on today?**
Not a to-do list—one or two key priorities. This forces clarity about focus and lets you spot dependencies, redundancies, and opportunities to help.
**3. What's BLOCKING me?**
This is the magic question. Blockers are things like: waiting on another team, unclear requirements, broken tools, stuck decisions. When someone names a blocker, you can solve it immediately, flag it for offline discussion, or escalate it. The point: blockers surface while they're fixable, not on Friday when they've been festering for days.
That's it. Three questions. Five minutes. Done.
### **Why This Works: A Real Example**
Let's say your software development team currently has a 25-minute standup. Marcus always launches into a detailed explanation of his authentication module refactor—why it was tricky, what he tested, his concerns about the approach. By the time he finishes, three minutes have passed.
With the three-question framework:
**Manager:** "Marcus, what did you complete yesterday?"
**Marcus:** "The authentication module refactor."
**Manager:** "Today's focus?"
**Marcus:** "Database layer."
**Manager:** "Blockers?"
**Marcus:** "None currently."
Done. Marcus said everything necessary in 30 seconds. His detailed concerns about approach? That's a 1-on-1 conversation, not a standup topic. His uncertainty about correctness? He can ask Sarah for a code review offline, not burn everyone's time. Now, of course. you might need to faciliate and teach Marcus to ONLY ANSWER the question he is being asked. But you can do this, and so can Marcus.
Same information surfaces. Zero time wasted.
### **Five Pro Tips for Actually Making This Stick**
**1. Stand up.** Standing creates urgency. People stop getting comfortable and rambling. Use a visible timer.
**2. Same order every day.** Predictability reduces side conversations and keeps focus.
**3. Don't problem-solve in standup.** This is the biggest time-killer. Your mantra: "Let's tackle that offline." Acknowledge the blocker, note the owner, move on.
**4. Make blockers visible.** Keep a simple list. At the end of standup, review: "We have three blockers today. Here are the owners." Now blockers have accountability.
**5. Celebrate the blocker mentality.** When someone surfaces a problem early, show appreciation. You want a culture where problems surface early, not where people hide problems until they explode.
Coming soon, quick tips to introduce your effective standup meeting strategy.
Until then,
Wishing you every success,
Margaret Meloni
pmStudent
