Do companies need daily standups?

I once had the pleasure of working in a company where we all came together for a team sync at 10 am. We were a group of 15, including everyone from project managers to designers, copywriters, localizers, and more. And we had another daily catch-up at 5 pm. Every single day.

How did that work? In the morning, you proclaim your grand plans for the day, and by evening, you're a storyteller of what you actually did. And it's mandatory to have all cameras on. Judging by the faces of my colleagues, it was also mandatory to have fatigue in the eyes and a desire to skip this meeting forever.

This was a clear example of micromanagement. It's when management's trust is so scant that they demand not just your daily to-do list, but also expect you to progressively cross off items. If anything remains incomplete, they require an end-of-day apology letter.

Did I feel like an independent working unit in that team, responsible for my own direction? Barely.

Is it necessary to have daily meetings where you outline your plans for the day or week? It really varies from team to team. However, in my experience, I've found it to be more beneficial to have a meeting at the end of the week where the team can share their actual accomplishments.

The same applies to morning dailies — I had experience working in a team that had a call at 9 am every day. And nobody was interested in what the job description said: "A person can start work at 9 or 10 at their own discretion". And this call was not just 4 minutes between heads and their teams. It was a call for everyone who worked in this company. A lawyer, frontend, copywriter, designer, HR. Every morning at 9, we played an hour-long round of "What I did yesterday and what I'll do today".

Did these stand-ups boost productivity? Indeed, they frequently did. But could they be jazzed up to be more efficient? Absolutely! After all, dedicating an hour each morning to a symphony of nearly 40 voices feels like a daylight robbery of time. Especially when the DevOps' daily plan sounds as comprehensible as Old English to the marketing team.

Asking how many syncs a team should have each week is like asking how many grains of sand make a beach. It's not a one-size-fits-all kind of question. It's a bit of a dance, really. Each manager leads the waltz with their rhythm, shaped by their past experiences, the tune of their methodology, the trust in their team, the team's groove, and, well, their gut feelings about their dance partners.

So far, I have found peace in one end-of-week sync. There, the team indulges in a show-and-tell of weekly achievements and battle scars. But I also make it clear to everyone on the team that if there's a burning question or a cry for help necessitating a sync, we'll rally. However, if it's a query that could be slain with a single message, then I won't clutter up our calendars and minds.

How often do you like to have syncs in your team?