How long should a stand-up update be?

On a fifteen-minute stand-up with eight people, ninety seconds is a safe ceiling. If your third sentence is longer than your first two together, you have started explaining, and explanation belongs in the thread with the one person who needs it. Check yourself with a stopwatch once a week, and if you keep passing ninety seconds, cut the middle sentence first — the "what I did" story is usually in the ticket already.

If the round has no timekeeper, ask for one line at the start: "Shall we give each person ninety seconds?" A visible limit makes a long update self-correcting, because the speaker can hear the clock. People who go last often lose their slot; if that is you, ask to go second on alternate days and keep your three sentences ready before the call starts, so the turn takes eleven seconds rather than forty.

English for a Daily Stand-Up: A Three-Sentence Status Update →