The term standup originated from the idea of standing up during this daily sync meeting, with the goal of making it short. It's a common principle many teams try to abide by in their standups: keep it crisp and to the point. But we're now seeing teams challenge that principle and rethinking remote standups. When co-located, there are lots of opportunities during the rest of the day to sync up with each other spontaneously, as a complement to the short standup. Remotely, some of our teams are now experimenting with a longer meeting format, similar to what the folks at Honeycomb call a “meandering team sync.”
It's not about getting rid of a daily sync altogether; we still find that very important and valuable, especially in a remote setup. Instead, it's about extending the time blocked in everybody's calendars for the daily sync to up to an hour, and use it in a way that makes some of the other team meetings obsolete and brings the team closer together. Activities can still include the well-tried walkthrough of the team board but are then extended by more detailed clarification discussions, quick decisions, and taking time to socialize. The technique is considered successful if it reduces the overall meeting load and improves team bonding.
