Half the team is off today. Write the standup down.
2026-10-12 · The Scrums team
Today is Thanksgiving in Canada and a federal holiday in the US, and an ordinary Monday nearly everywhere else. Teams that cross borders run into this all year. A written standup doesn't need everyone in the room at 9:30.
Today is Thanksgiving in Canada and a federal holiday in the US. In London, Berlin and Bangalore, it's an ordinary Monday. If your team spans those places, this morning's standup is half empty, and it won't be the last time this year: every country has its own holidays, and every team that crosses borders has a calendar full of days like this one.
The daily standup was designed for a team in one room, as fifteen minutes at the same time every day. That still works well for some teams. For many others it now means someone joining at 7 am, someone else at 6 pm, and someone missing it entirely because they're on holiday.
The written standup
A written standup asks the same questions, but everyone answers when their day starts. It has some advantages a meeting doesn't:
- Nobody's day is shaped around it. People answer at the start of their own morning, in any time zone.
- It's a record. Yesterday's answers are still there tomorrow, for anyone coming back from a day off.
- Blockers get noticed. A written "I'm stuck on the payments API" can be answered by whoever knows, without waiting for tomorrow's meeting.
- It's shorter. Writing three lines takes two minutes. Listening to eight people takes fifteen.
Standups in Scrums
Set the days, the time and the question once in Team settings → Daily standup, and the standup opens by itself at that time in the team's own timezone. Everyone answers in their own time, with - for bullet points and links pasted freely. Teammates reply and react to each other's answers, and you can see who is writing and who hasn't answered yet.
Everyone answers when their day starts.
When the standup ends, everyone who took part gets all the answers by email, and the next scheduled standup closes the one before it.
Some teams keep a short call once or twice a week and write the rest. Some write every day and talk when a blocker needs it. Either way, the people who are off today won't miss anything.
Try a written standup in your browser, no account needed.
More on written standups in Scrums.