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> “We have flexible working hours”, they say. Sure, but there’s also a stand-up meeting at exactly 8:30 AM to ensure everyone will be online early. This is the

> “We have flexible working hours”, they say. Sure, but there’s also a stand-up meeting at exactly 8:30 AM to ensure everyone will be online early. This is the thing about daily stand-ups which I hate the most. I work as a freelancer which requires me to do a dance around social expectation everytime I get on with a new project. Oftentimes I work with full remote internal teams which are used to dailies in the morning, even when a substantial number of team members hate them. The (private) feedback I get when I'm the one who tries to reschedule them later in the day at the kick-off meeting is very astonishing. I simply don't get why even many relaxed employers don't realize that dailies in the (early) morning can be a very good way to reduce overall productivity and sometimes even set wrong incentives. I know a good share of employed people who only came to terms with early stand-ups because it means they can clock in early without doing any meaningful work for the first hours of the workday. But I think it's just fair that those employers with proclaimed "flexible hours" pay them for involuntary getting up before their time. Make me get up early, pay for my breakfast time. Or just stop pretending that you have flexible hours.

flosstop 4y ago
I see the early stand-up in a different way. I don't derive anything other than interruption and inconvenience from a stand-up so I'd rather get it out of the way first thing then I can get on with my work for the rest of the day without interruption.
- hnfong 4y ago
  It can be done before lunch time
- Silhouette 4y ago
  One problem with daily meetings is that the two of you are making reasonable and yet incompatible arguments here. You can't have a meeting at the same time every day that is both conveniently out of the way for those who want large blocks of time free for real work and conveniently in the middle of likely working times for those who prefer flexibility. Personally I think the solution to this is obvious and apparently so do many others here. Daily standups within a mostly stable and well-functioning team are almost always redundant at best and actively disruptive at worst. So don't have daily standups. Instead work on a culture where people communicate freely whenever they need to and you bring people together for larger and longer meetings when (and only when) you have a specific reason for that.
  - schlowmo 4y ago
    You're right and I agree with your proposed solution. Having no (useless) dailies at all is even better than having them midday. But I'm fighting an uphill battle here, especially as freelancer. I'm always a bit amused when Product Owners are suprised that there's nothing to clarify at a daily since the team is constantly transparent towards each other about blockers etc.
    - Silhouette 4y ago
      But I'm fighting an uphill battle here, especially as freelancer. True. Whenever I've done freelance/consultancy stuff in the past my rule has been that if a client invites feedback then I'll test the water once. If they're receptive I'll elaborate. Otherwise I'll usually drop any process-related feedback and fit in as well as I reasonably can with everyone else since IME that is normally the most effective way to work in that kind of environment. It's always a bit disappointing if you can see a client making obvious mistakes and you know how to fix them but sometimes it happens and if they're not interested in changing then ultimately that's their decision and their responsibility.

flosstop 4y ago

I see the early stand-up in a different way. I don't derive anything other than interruption and inconvenience from a stand-up so I'd rather get it out of the way first thing then I can get on with my work for the rest of the day without interruption.

hnfong 4y ago
It can be done before lunch time
Silhouette 4y ago
One problem with daily meetings is that the two of you are making reasonable and yet incompatible arguments here. You can't have a meeting at the same time every day that is both conveniently out of the way for those who want large blocks of time free for real work and conveniently in the middle of likely working times for those who prefer flexibility. Personally I think the solution to this is obvious and apparently so do many others here. Daily standups within a mostly stable and well-functioning team are almost always redundant at best and actively disruptive at worst. So don't have daily standups. Instead work on a culture where people communicate freely whenever they need to and you bring people together for larger and longer meetings when (and only when) you have a specific reason for that.
- schlowmo 4y ago
  You're right and I agree with your proposed solution. Having no (useless) dailies at all is even better than having them midday. But I'm fighting an uphill battle here, especially as freelancer. I'm always a bit amused when Product Owners are suprised that there's nothing to clarify at a daily since the team is constantly transparent towards each other about blockers etc.
  - Silhouette 4y ago
    But I'm fighting an uphill battle here, especially as freelancer. True. Whenever I've done freelance/consultancy stuff in the past my rule has been that if a client invites feedback then I'll test the water once. If they're receptive I'll elaborate. Otherwise I'll usually drop any process-related feedback and fit in as well as I reasonably can with everyone else since IME that is normally the most effective way to work in that kind of environment. It's always a bit disappointing if you can see a client making obvious mistakes and you know how to fix them but sometimes it happens and if they're not interested in changing then ultimately that's their decision and their responsibility.