Daily Scrum vs Standup: 10 Most Notable Differences

Despite bringing some controversy to the scene and being seen as a waste of time or a nuisance by some, there’s no denying the importance of a daily meeting for your entire team. It can benefit your whole organization, helping you share project updates, start discussions, and engage in critical conversations with your development team, product owners, board members, remote teams, and more. 

However, your teams can engage in more than one type of everyday meeting. Daily Scrum and Standup meetings are two of the most common meeting types among agile development teams, but they’re often seen as the same. 

Is there a difference between the two, and if so, how will your choice between Daily Scrum vs. Standup affect your teams? Let’s find out. 

Daily scrum vs. Standup: Which one will fit my team? 

Though they might seem similar, Daily Standups and Daily Scrum meetings are used for different purposes. 

As a general rule of thumb, a Daily Scrum meeting is best for: 

• Individual updates

• Creating actionable plans for the following workday

• Quick, 15-minute updates

• Developer communication

• Sprint plan progress update

The Daily Scrum team members usually consist only of developers. Product owners, board members, and others aren’t included in it. 

As opposed to the Daily Scrum, Daily Standup meetings are best for: 

• All-team-member daily meeting

• Status update sessions

• Updates for stakeholders

• Elaborate discussions of completed and upcoming work

• Discussions of problems and issues

• Handoff coordination

In the Daily Scrum vs. Standup debate, neither type is better or worse for your organization. You’ll need both to create agile teams that perform all tasks and processes without much fuss. That’s where AI tools for project management and time orchestration come into the picture.

With AI-driven project and task management tools like Ayanza, you can seamlessly stay on top of both your daily scrum and standup meetings to improve your team’s efficiency.

Top 10 most notable Daily scrum vs. Standup differences 

Though the terms Daily Scrum and Daily Standup are often used interchangeably, you should be aware of significant differences between these two meeting styles. 

1. Meeting length 

A Daily Scrum meeting must respect specific time limitations, lasting only up to 15 minutes. On the other hand, there isn’t a standardized Daily Standup meeting in Scrum, so Standups don’t have such strict time limits. 

With that in mind, an efficient Standup meeting still lasts around 15 minutes but can easily exceed this limit when a lengthy discussion is needed. Even so, lengthy Standups aren’t all that common. 

2. Attendees 

As mentioned, Daily Scrum is designed as a status update meeting for developers. As such, only a software developer can join it as an active attendee (though, as the Scrum master, they can invite any other relevant member as a passive participant). 

Daily Standup meetings are more comprehensive, including all relevant attendees, such as development team members, other team members, stakeholders, project managers, and more. 

3. Agenda 

Agile software development teams typically have a simple agenda with their Daily Scrum meetings—assessing what they accomplished yesterday, reviewing the plan for today, and having a discussion about any challenges or concerns the development team may have. 

The daily standup agenda is to bring all the team members on the same page, communicating the agile software development processes, providing updates for stakeholders, expressing thoughts and concerns, and more. Standups, especially Standups in person, can also include any necessary side discussion in the agenda. They could even leave some time for building relationships between members of different teams. 

4. Meeting leaders 

Perhaps one of the more surprising differences between Scrum and Standups is the difference in who the meeting leader is. 

The Daily Standup, whether conducted in person or using online standup software, and whether we’re talking about synchronous or asynchronous Standups, always has a meeting leader. Most commonly, the leader is a project manager, team leader, or superior. 

While these meetings present a communication opportunity for all members of an organization (or a specific project), they always have a pre-specified leader. 

Scrum meetings are different. They don’t have an actual leader because they rely on the agile method that prioritizes collaborative effort and focuses on self-organization. Whether the focus is Sprint planning or discussing Sprint backlog items, the group effort, not a designated superior, leads the meeting forward. 

5. Time and location 

According to the Scrum guide, every Daily Scrum meeting needs to be conducted at a consistent time and location. It should essentially become a development team’s daily habit. After all, that’s the crucial feature of these meeting types. 

Still, it does leave some flexibility for different types of Scrum teams. Distributed teams, for instance, can still adhere to the agile framework and schedule remote Scrum meetings with team members who are physically present at the typical meeting location. 

However, in terms of time, the meetings should still always be scheduled at the same convenient meeting time for all team members. With distributed teams, you might need to schedule a different meeting time for time zone inconsistencies. 

The Daily Standup routine is different. Since this meeting type doesn’t follow the somewhat rigorous Scrum guide, it presents much more flexibility in terms of time and location. 

Remote Standup meetings are always possible, and even async Standups are common. The location can change frequently since team members don’t have to be physically present. 

Unfortunately, this lack of standardization can lead to issues such as the meeting being scheduled at an inconvenient time for some team members, especially if there are time zone differences between the attendees. It could pose problems even with the asynchronous standup process. 

Ayanza can help you streamline and automate your daily async standup, giving you access to templates and project management features that can eliminate these potential inconveniences. In addition, Ayanza is also an AI calendar assistant for streamlining your day-to-day meeting schedule.

6. Meeting frequency 

Both meeting formats are referred to as “daily,” but that’s not necessarily the case for one of them. 

As mentioned, Scrum adheres to the rigorous Scrum guide, whose essential component is consistency. That means that all Scrum meetings are scheduled on a consistent, reliable frequency. With Daily Scrum, that, of course, means daily meetings. 

Although the Daily Standup can refer to daily status update style meetings, that’s not always the case. Standups are simply frequent meetings. At times, that can mean they’re scheduled daily. However, they can also be scheduled weekly or even biweekly. 

As a general rule of thumb, their frequency depends on the overall project progress. If there’s a need for a status meeting or more frequent additional discussions, a Daily Standup can mean a daily meeting. If there’s no need for a detailed discussion or another status update meeting, then Standups can be less frequent. 

7. Scrum and Daily Standup questions and processes 

Until recently, the template for the Daily Scrum always included three standup questions: 

• What did you do yesterday? 

• What will you do today? 

• Is anything blocking your progress? 

The idea was that these questions would help eliminate Sprint backlog by providing a clear overview of the task board and having all team members aware of processes finished so far, the goals for the following day, and the problems that could be getting in the way. 

However, the 2020 Scrum guide no longer contains these questions. Development teams are now encouraged to use any questions, structures, and techniques they want—provided the focus is still on progressing with the Sprint goal and creating an actionable plan and approach to product development for the following workday. 

On the other hand, Daily Standups usually have a predetermined set of questions and processes that must be followed through. While participants can pose an alternative Standup question or two, the point of these meetings is to be concise, so most attendees prefer to stick to what they have planned. 

8. Goals and objectives 

The goals and objectives of Daily Scrum vs. Standup meetings are quite different. 

On the one hand, we have the Daily Scrum, which aims to minimize the need for other meetings or distractions that would pull the developers’ attention away from the primary task. The goal is to help developers deliver value throughout their Sprints. 

On the other hand, we have Standups, whose goal is to enable managers and other superiors to examine if a project is progressing as expected. 

9. Topics discussed  

By now, the topics discussed at Daily Scrum meetings should be pretty straightforward. In Scrum meetings, every participant is to review the Sprints completed the day before, the plan for today, and obstacles that may hinder their performance. That’s it. 

In Standups, topics can vary greatly. The meeting leader might make room for an opportunity among team members to discuss their obstacles and the challenges they face. They might introduce new procedures, ask for updates on active projects, or provide summaries of the overall progress. Though everyone is encouraged, only some meeting attendees are required to speak. 

10. Existence of a definitive format 

Finally, one of the most notable differences between Scrum and Standups is the existence of a definitive format. 

All Daily Scrum meetings are tied to the Scrum framework and rely on the Scrum guide. They’re almost entirely standardized, with the attendees, time, location, topics, and more all following the same format every time. 

While the Daily Standups can have a specific routine or format within a given organization or team, they don’t always have to adhere to it. The attendees may differ from one meeting to the next. The meetings could be scheduled at different times. The location may vary. The topics might differ. All in all, there’s no standardized format they need to follow. 

Daily scrum vs. Standup: Comparison 

Daily scrum vs. Standup: Pros and cons 

No daily meeting type is perfect, nor does it meet every team’s needs. Such is the case with both Daily Scrum and Daily Standups. 

Here’s a quick overview of the pros and cons of these two meeting formats. 

Consider these pros and cons when determining which meeting type better suits your needs. 

Conclusion 

In the Daily Scrum vs. Standup debate, there isn’t one clear winner. Both meeting types could serve you and your team well. It all depends on your specific needs and preferences. 

As mentioned, Daily Scrum is generally most helpful to development teams that need frequent status updates that help them reduce Sprint backlog. On the other hand, Daily Standups are excellent for project managers and supervisors who need to gauge project progress. 

As a general rule of thumb, depending on the circumstances, you’ll likely need to conduct both meeting types for greater efficiency. 

Ayanza can help you stay on top of daily scrum meetings and standups, ensuring that your teams have everything they need to improve performance and boost efficiency.

FAQ 

What information is usually shared during a daily scrum versus a standup?

During a Daily Scrum, developers discuss the work they accomplished the day before, the plan for the upcoming workday, and any obstacles that may prevent them from completing their Sprint plan. 

During Daily Standup meetings, the topics may vary. Usually, managers and supervisors use these meetings to gauge project progress, share and summarize relevant updates and changes, and share project information with stakeholders. 

Are there any differences in roles and responsibilities during a daily scrum versus a standup?

Yes, there are differences in the roles and responsibilities during Daily Scrum vs. Standup. Most notably, while Standups always have a meeting leader (a supervisor or a manager), Scrum meetings have no hierarchies. The Scrum master is there to oversee the project, but the meeting itself is a group effort. 

How do the frequencies of daily scrums and standups differ?

Daily Scrum meetings always occur at the same time and place. They are part of the developer team’s daily habit and, as such, are scheduled every workday. 

While Standups can be scheduled daily, they don’t follow a routine. They can also turn into weekly, biweekly, or simply irregular meetings scheduled when needed.