Jeff Sutherland Agile Daily Standup

The Jeff Sutherland daily standup is a crisp 15 minute alignment meeting where team members answer three core questions. Everyone shares what they finished, what they plan to do next, and what blockers stand in their way.

5 time blocks, 15 minutes in total.

Time blocks

  1. Gather and Time-Box: 1 min
    Assemble standing up or online, capping total time at 15 minutes
  2. Share Yesterday Progress: 4 min
    State the concrete work finished since the previous check in
  3. Commit Today Priorities: 5 min
    Declare the specific tasks you plan to complete today
  4. Surface Impediments: 4 min
    Name any blockers or external dependencies halting forward motion
  5. Flag Parking Lot Topics: 1 min
    Note complex side discussions to address offline after the sync

About this routine

Jeff Sutherland co-created Scrum and designed the Jeff Sutherland daily standup to eliminate long, unproductive status meetings. The practice relies on a strict 15 minute time-box held at the same time every working day. Instead of reporting to a manager, team members address each other directly to build peer accountability.

The meeting centers on three fundamental questions: what was completed since yesterday, what will be completed today, and what obstacles are preventing progress. Standing up keeps energy high and prevents people from settling into comfortable, rambling discussions.

When an obstacle or complex technical debate arises, the team moves it to a parking lot list rather than solving it during the standup. Only the people directly involved stay after the 15 minute mark to address those issues, leaving the rest of the team free to return to deep work.

Why this routine works

  • Keeps daily team alignment under 15 minutes
  • Surfaces work blockers early before they cause delays
  • Builds direct peer accountability across project team members
  • Protects focus by pushing detailed debates to separate side conversations

FAQ

What is the Jeff Sutherland daily standup?

It is a 15 minute daily meeting where Agile team members state what they finished yesterday, what they will do today, and what obstacles are blocking them.

How long should a daily standup take?

A daily standup takes a maximum of 15 minutes, regardless of team size.

What are the three questions in a Scrum standup?

The three questions are: What did I do yesterday? What will I do today? What obstacles are in my way?