Stas DmitrukProject Manager| Remote.Team LTDTA' XBIEX, Malta
With async work and deep focus becoming the norm, is the classic daily sync the best use of time? What modern rituals (e.g., weekly async check-ins, focused "war rooms," AI-powered dashboards) have you successfully implemented to replace or augment them? Share your experience — let's debate the future of team cadence.
This is where I prefer to go with Disciplined Agile's approach of having teams define their working agreements for things such as coordination sessions rather than have a method which explicitly forces a cadence on them. For teams who work extremely closely together with each other and with their stakeholders on a daily basis, coordination sessions can be quick get togethers multiple times each day.
As usual, any delivery event shoud be fair game for regular feedback cycles (e.g. retros) to ensure they continue to add value and are able to be tweaked if needed.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
In highly distributed virtual teams and work they are not obsolete. Which is obsolete from 1995 is the way they are running because the misunderstanding about what they are and how to run them. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
It is a personal preference, and you should understand why you are doing such a 'ritual'.
You need a mental home for a team, and it should be a habit, an automatism, a jourfixe, and frequent enough to serve its purpose (need to be daily), condensed enough not to bother people. Consider fairness when scheduling, set some base rules of behavior. It does not replace 1:1 meetings with core stakeholders, and the core is fluctuating. Saving Changes...
Stas, this is a good question. Daily stand-ups are not obsolete, but they stop adding value when they are treated as a fixed ritual rather than a coordination tool.
In distributed and async-heavy teams I have worked with, we kept stand-ups lightweight and flexible. Some teams used async updates for routine status and reserved live stand-ups for dependency management and blockers. In other cases, brief ad hoc syncs during the day were more effective than a single daily meeting.
What mattered most was not the cadence, but whether the session actually helped the team coordinate and make decisions. Regular retros were key in deciding when to keep, adapt, or drop the stand-up altogether.
I am curious, in the teams you are seeing now, what signals tell you a stand-up is still adding value versus becoming a habit? Saving Changes...
Stas DmitrukProject Manager| Remote.Team LTDTA' XBIEX, Malta
In our team, work is organized as follows:
On Mondays, I create a thread with a pool of tasks that we need to complete and assign responsible people for each.
Throughout the week, tasks get completed and crossed off the list.
On Friday, we review which tasks remain open and I ask the assignees: why didn't it get done?
We do all this in text format so nothing gets lost or forgotten. Essentially, we work and operate without audio/video calls =) Saving Changes...
Armando HerreraProject Manager| ONEJOON INCRoswell, Ga, United States
Hi Stas,
Daily stand-ups aren’t necessarily obsolete, but their effectiveness depends on having a clear purpose. Every meeting pulls resources and impacts the project budget, so it must deliver value. Stand-ups work when they are short, focused, and aligned to a specific goal such as removing blockers or syncing on critical priorities. Problems arise when meetings drift into covering multiple topics in an unorganized way; the negative impact grows exponentially as time and focus are lost.
I’ve seen success with weekly async check-ins, AI-powered dashboards for real-time visibility, and focused “war rooms” for high-impact problem-solving. Ultimately, the question isn’t whether stand-ups are obsolete. but, if it’s whether your team cadence is intentional, goal-driven, and optimized for value.
In summary, I recommend assessing the efficiency and impact of your meetings to determine whether daily stand-ups are truly adding value or if they should be replaced with a more effective approach or tool. Saving Changes...
Product Operations Program ManagerBarcelona, Cataluña, Spain
Excellent question!
Daily stand-ups make sense in certain situations; for example, during the implementation phase of a complex system, when frequent and fluid communication about work status is essential.
During normal project execution, I’ve found that two stand-ups per week are usually sufficient. As Kiron pointed out, however, this can always be adjusted to fit the needs of the team and the project. Saving Changes...
Program Manager| HARPER SRLSanto Domingo / Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic
Daily stand-ups aren’t disappearing, but their value depends on context. In async or distributed teams, lightweight written updates and shared task boards often cover routine coordination better. Live syncs still help when dependencies, blockers, or complex integration issues appear. The key is adjusting the cadence so it supports focus and decision-making instead of becoming a habit. Saving Changes...
Senior IS Project Manager| Baycare Health SystemsClearwater, Fl, United States
For Agile projects I like a short 15 minute daily stand-up. It allows a chance for all of the team members to work together, share their progress, and identify blockers. Each team member should have a focused response, you do not want the first person to talk for 12 minutes and then not have adequate time for the other team members. Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
The real question isn’t whether daily stand-ups are obsolete, but whether they still solve a real problem.
Stand-ups exist to enable fast alignment, early detection of blockers, and shared accountability.
When those needs are reliably met through other means, the ritual loses its value.
In practice, in distributed and high-trust teams, I’ve seen better results when:
Async is used for status, sync for decisions
Cadence adapts to context, rather than being fixed by default
AI amplifies visibility and foresight, without replacing human judgment or leadership
Fewer rituals by inertia. More intention, context, and continuous learning.
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