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PSA: The 15-minute standup rule saved my mornings
My team's standups ran 45 minutes for months. Nobody said anything. Finally I set a hard 15-minute timer and started sticking to it. Daily meetings dropped by 30 minutes across 12 people. Has anyone else tried time-boxing meetings to force focus?
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grant.kevin15d ago
What kind of meeting is so important it needs a whole 45 minutes every single day? I once ran a standup that turned into a full argument about coffee machine etiquette, and that was the moment I realized we had a problem. Time-boxing is the only thing that saved my sanity - now I set a timer on my phone and when it goes off, I literally walk away from the Zoom call. It feels RUDE at first, like you're being a jerk, but everyone secretly thanks you for it. My team went from rambling stories about their kids to actually saying what they needed in under 60 seconds, which is kind of magical. Honestly, if you don't force the focus, people will happily yap about nothing until the pizza arrives.
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the_lee15d ago
Timers work because they force people to get to the point. Rambling is a sign nobody wants to be the bad guy who cuts someone off. A hard stop is the only way to keep standups from turning into a coffee chat.
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