Stand-Up Meeting vs. Daily Scrum: What's the Difference?

By Indeed Editorial Team

Updated June 3, 2022 | Published October 26, 2021

Updated June 3, 2022

Published October 26, 2021

When your team works on developing software or other applications, you may want to meet regularly to get consistent feedback and project updates. Two common gathering types are the stand-up meeting and the daily scrum. Choosing the right one to implement can help you ensure good collaboration and successful project results.

In this article, we compare a stand-up meeting versus a daily scrum to help you determine which is right for your team.

What is a stand-up meeting?

A stand-up meeting is a brief gathering for team members to discuss progress and seek assistance. Most sessions last around 15 minutes. Team leaders can also use this opportunity to share announcements or provide updates on a project. While stand-up meetings are popular among teams who use the agile framework and complete software development projects, teams from other industries, such as marketing and operations, can also use this meeting to manage their projects.

What is a daily scrum?

A daily scrum is a short meeting where each member summarizes what they completed the day before, what they plan to do for the current day and what obstacles they might encounter. Meetings occur every day and last for 15 minutes or fewer. Teams from various industries can implement a daily scrum, but the technique is most popular among software developers who use the scrum framework. The Scrum Guide notes that a good daily scrum focuses on the sprint goal while emphasizing key principles like collaboration and self-organization.

Stand-up meeting vs. daily scrum

Here are some significant similarities and differences between a stand-up meeting and a daily scrum:

Length

A daily scrum is 15 minutes or less. While there are no strict requirements for a stand-up meeting, this type of gathering also tends to be short. Stand-up meetings rely on leaders to keep participants focused, while the daily scrum depends on team members being self-sufficient. Teams that use either tool can adhere to a time limit by setting a timer and encouraging participants to communicate efficiently.

Time and place of meeting

Stand-up meetings and daily scrums usually occur at the same time and place every day. This consistency makes it easy for team members to attend. Morning meetings can help team members recount the previous day's work while it's still relevant and prepare for the current day's tasks. The ideal place is usually a break room or the team's workplace. For a daily scrum, you can ensure team members have access to the scrum board to update it as necessary.

Compatible with virtual gatherings

Remote teams can implement the stand-up meeting or the daily scrum into their virtual gatherings. Consider providing participants with the questions you want them to address before the meeting, allowing them to prepare responses. During these meetings, participants can briefly share their responses by turning on their microphones.

Emphasis on brevity

One of the most important goals of the stand-up meeting and the daily scrum is brevity. Teams usually want to hear from all participants and address general topics rather than focusing on specific problems. If participants want to discuss a topic in more detail, they can schedule another meeting for later in the day.

Attendees

The only attendees of a daily scrum are the developers or team members. The product owner, scrum master or project manager may attend if they participate as a developer or team member. Stand-up meetings are more flexible, as they permit stakeholders and other professionals outside of the team to attend.

Leadership

Even when the product owner or scrum master attends a daily scrum, they rarely act as a leader. The daily scrum relies on all team members to facilitate productive discussions and stay on topic. This self-sufficient structure is consistent with scrum principles like quick decision-making and problem-solving. A stand-up meeting may be more hierarchal and have a leader who plans the gathering's agenda. This leader is often the project manager and facilitates discussions, asks questions and provides project updates.

Topics

During a daily scrum, each participant speaks about what they did the day before and what they plan to do for the current day. They also acknowledge any obstacles they may face, allowing other participants to provide brief responses. A stand-up meeting may use this approach to facilitate discussions but can also be more flexible. For instance, the project manager might summarize general updates or discuss a new procedure for team members to implement.

Uses

Stand-up meetings are often practical for teams in industries like software development, marketing, HR or operations. Participants are encouraged to remain attentive and concise. Additionally, this meeting style allows teams to discuss various topics and invite attendees outside of their team.

Because the daily scrum adheres to scrum principles, it's ideal for teams who want to prioritize collaboration and self-sufficiency. This approach can help software development teams meet sprint goals and increase overall productivity. While a daily scrum doesn't follow a strict agenda, it offers some structure by facilitating discussions between team members by having them answer these three questions:

What did you do yesterday?
What do you plan to do today?
What obstacles might you encounter today?