Daily Standup
Yesterday / Today / Blockers
What is a Personal Daily Standup?
A daily standup template captures three prompts —what you did yesterday, what you will do today, and what blocks you —adapted from agile teams for solo knowledge workers who need a two-minute morning alignment.
How to Use
- Each morning, note yesterday's completed work in one or two lines.
- List today's top priorities —ideally your MITs or One Thing.
- Record blockers: waiting on others, missing info, or energy constraints.
- Glance at yesterday's entry to maintain continuity across the week.
How It Works
Agile standups synchronize team state in under fifteen minutes. Solo standups synchronize you-with-yesterday-you: they surface drift, celebrate wins, and externalize blockers before they stall the day. Writing beats mental rehearsal for accountability.
Why It Works for Productivity
Without reflection, days blur and repeated blockers go unaddressed. Standup notes create a lightweight journal for Weekly Review. Blockers written down often suggest their own next action once visible.
Tips
Keep entries under five sentences total. Do standup before email. Link today's line items to Kanban Doing column for execution alignment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a team for standup?
No. This is a personal template —the discipline matters even for solo work.
Standup vs. Weekly Review?
Standup is daily tactical sync; Weekly Review is strategic reflection on trends and priorities.