I think that relatively often part of the real motivation for standups is to put people on the spot a little bit to create pressure and/or accountability. You

I think that relatively often part of the real motivation for standups is to put people on the spot a little bit to create pressure and/or accountability. You can ask whether that's a good thing or true to the original vision, but if that's part of what someone aims to get out of standups, then that probably requires them to be face-to-face. I'm not a big fan of seeing negative emotions (shame, guilt, fear, envy) used to motivate employees (especially if it's the only thing in a manager's bag of tricks) but in small doses it can be OK. So maybe it's not ridiculous if part of the value of the standup is the threat of feeling like an ass if you have to say, "Sorry, I basically got nothing done since the last standup."