How Asynchronous Standups Save Money and Time for Remote Teams
Patrick Bushe
October 7, 2024 · 5 min read
A daily standup is a short meeting where each team member says what they did, what they're doing next and what's blocking them. For remote teams spread across time zones, an asynchronous version, where everyone posts a written update, often works better and costs far less.
What it saves
A 15-minute live standup with eight people takes two person-hours a day, or about ten a week. In practice it often runs longer, and people stop work early to join. A written update usually takes each person a few minutes to write and a few more to read.
Meeting Cost Calculator shows what your live standup costs in salary time, based on attendees and an average salary.
Other benefits
- No time zone juggling: people post when their day starts.
- Fewer interruptions: no fixed meeting in the middle of focus time.
- A written record: easy to look back on what happened last week.
- More thoughtful updates: people write clearer updates than they say on the spot.
How to set one up
- Pick a channel or thread in your team chat, or a standup bot such as Geekbot or a similar app in Slack or Microsoft Teams.
- Agree a deadline, such as "by 10 a.m. your time."
- Use the same three questions every day.
- Ask the team lead to read every update and respond to blockers quickly.
Good questions
- What did you finish yesterday?
- What are you working on today?
- Is anything blocking you, or do you need help from someone?
Keep each answer to a line or two.
Making it work
- Act on blockers: if nobody responds, people stop posting them.
- Keep it short: it's not a status report.
- React and reply: a quick reaction shows updates are read.
- Meet when needed: if a blocker needs discussion, start a quick call with just the people involved.
When a live standup is still worth it
New teams, crunch periods and teams that rarely talk otherwise may benefit from a short live call, perhaps once or twice a week alongside the written updates.
