Replace daily standup meetings with async updates that respect maker time and surface better information. This guide covers when async standups work, how to run them, what questions to ask, and the tools that make it easy.
What Are Async Standups?
Async standups replace the traditional daily standup meeting with written updates submitted throughout the day. Instead of gathering everyone at the same time for a 15-minute call, team members post their updates to a shared channel or tool when it works for their schedule.
For remote engineering teams, async standups solve several problems:
Timezone flexibility
A team split between San Francisco, New York, and London can't find a meeting time that doesn't ruin someone's day. Async lets everyone update in their own morning.
Maker schedule protection
Engineers do their best work in uninterrupted blocks. A 10am standup meeting fragments the morning. Async updates can be posted in 2 minutes between tasks.
Better information quality
Verbal standups encourage brevity (nobody wants to be the person who talks too long). Written updates can include links, details, and context that get lost in meetings.
Searchable history
Last month's standup meeting is gone forever. Last month's async updates are searchable, referenceable, and useful.
Async vs Sync: When to Use Each
Async standups aren't universally better. Here's when each approach works:
Use Async Standups When:
- Your team spans multiple timezones
- Engineers complain about meetings fragmenting their day
- Standups have become status theater
- You want searchable, written records
- Team members are experienced and self-directed
Use Sync Standups When:
- The team is new and building relationships
- You're in a critical phase requiring tight coordination
- There are complex blockers needing real-time discussion
- Team members are junior and benefit from face time
- The team is small (3-4) and co-located
Hybrid Approach
Many teams use async standups 4 days a week with one sync meeting for deeper discussion. This gives you the efficiency of async with the connection of sync.
How to Run Async Standups
Step 1: Choose Your Timing
Decide when updates are due. Options:
- Morning deadline: Everyone posts by 10am their local time. Good for managers who want updates before their day starts.
- Flexible window: Updates due anytime before end of day. Good for teams with very different schedules.
- Triggered by tool: A bot prompts each person at their preferred time. Good for consistency without rigidity.
Step 2: Pick Your Channel
Where will updates live?
- Slack channel: Simple, visible, native. The #standup channel approach.
- Slack DMs to bot: Updates collected privately, then posted as a summary. Better for honesty.
- Dedicated tool: Vereda, Geekbot, DailyBot, etc. More structure and features.
Step 3: Set Your Questions
Keep it simple. Three questions max for daily standups:
- What did you accomplish yesterday?
- What are you working on today?
- Any blockers or concerns?
Step 4: Model the Behavior
As the manager, post your own updates. This shows it's a team practice, not surveillance.
Step 5: Actually Read and Respond
The fastest way to kill async standups is to never respond to them. If someone shares a blocker, acknowledge it. The updates need to feel read, not ignored.
What Questions to Ask
The Classic Three (Scrum-style)
- What did you accomplish since last standup?
- What will you work on before next standup?
- Are there any blockers or impediments?
The Forward-Looking Two
- What's your main focus today?
- Anything that might get in the way?
The Honest Four
- What's your main focus today?
- How confident are you about making progress? (1-5)
- Is there anything you need help with?
- Anything else your manager should know?
Questions to Avoid
- • "Rate your productivity today" (Invites gaming and guilt)
- • "How many hours did you work?" (You're not tracking hours)
- • "Did you hit your goals?" (Save for weekly/monthly reviews)
Choosing the Right Tool
Native Slack (Free)
Just create a #standup channel and ask people to post.
Pros: Free, no new tool, everyone knows how. Cons: No reminders, no structure, no analytics.
Vereda (Free standups for your whole team, $15/seat for full platform)
Standups with private/manager-only modes, DM collection, AI parsing. Grows into full performance platform with 1:1s, goals, and AI insights.
Learn more about Vereda →Geekbot (Free for 10 users)
Solid standup bot with good analytics. Public-only, no private modes.
DailyBot (Free for 10 users)
General chat assistant with standups included. Lots of features, can feel bloated.
What to Look For
- • Reminders: Does it prompt people automatically?
- • Privacy options: Can responses be private to manager?
- • Timezone handling: Does it send prompts in local time?
- • Analytics: Can you see participation rates and trends?
- • History: Is everything searchable and archived?
Measuring Success
How do you know if async standups are working?
Participation Rate
What percentage posts daily? Below 80% means something's wrong.
Blocker Surface Rate
Are blockers actually being surfaced? "No blockers" for weeks is suspicious.
Time to Blocker Resolution
When a blocker is shared, how quickly is it addressed?
Meeting Time Reclaimed
Track how much meeting time you've eliminated. 1-2 hours/person/week adds up.
Common Problems and Solutions
"People forget to post"
Solution: Use a bot with automatic reminders. Vereda, Geekbot, and others can prompt people at their preferred time.
"Updates are useless copy-paste"
Solution: Change the questions. If "What did you do yesterday?" gets robotic answers, try "What's your biggest focus today?"
"Nobody reads the updates"
Solution: As manager, visibly respond to updates. Quote specific things. If updates feel read, people write better ones.
"Engineers see it as surveillance"
Solution: Frame it as communication, not tracking. Post your own updates. Use private modes so it's between manager and engineer.