Standups
Note: The video covers material not in the guide below — please watch in full.
Action Step
Complete this before moving on.
Watch the full video and take note of the three parts of a daily standup: the team check-in, engineer work review, and priority alignment. When you start shadowing standups in your second week, identify how each part shows up and pay attention to how engineers raise blockers and how the architect sets priorities for the day.
What Is a Daily Standup
The daily standup is a 15 or 30-minute call that happens every single day of the week. It is the team's chance to connect, overcome blockers, discuss scope questions, and align on what matters most that day.
Attendance includes the go-to-market architect leading the pod, the dedicated systems engineer, any floating engineers supporting your accounts, and at least one partner — Jake or Cam — who joins to provide support and additional resourcing when needed.
The Weekly Rhythm
Monday's standup is 30 minutes — longer than the rest of the week to flush out key priorities, knock out questions, and get everyone on the same page at the start of the week. The remaining days are 15-minute standups.
These calls typically happen between 8am and 9am Arizona time. Starting the day this way means blockers get cleared early and engineers can get straight into execution.
Why We Do It
The standup serves two purposes beyond just task review. First, it is a daily opportunity to connect with the team and build rapport. Everyone is attacking the same mission — providing world-class operations for customers — and checking in together every morning keeps that energy alive.
Second, it gives the team focused alignment time at the start of the day. Without it, questions and blockers trickle in throughout the day, creating inefficiencies. The standup is designed to remove as many blockers as possible up front so that everyone has the green light to execute.
How the Standup Runs
The architect kicks things off with a team check-in — quick rapport building to start the day. Then each engineer takes the microphone and reviews what they have assigned for that day.
This is where engineers own the meeting. They walk through their tasks, flag anything where they need more context or scope from the architect, and surface capacity concerns. If an engineer looks at the planning workload view and sees they are overbooked, this is where they raise it: "What are the highest priority items? Not all of this is getting done today — what should I focus on?"
Closing with Clear Priorities
The architect wraps the standup by making sure engineers leave with clear priorities — what you need, when you need it, and in what order. If blockers came up that need a deeper conversation, you can schedule a quick one-on-one with the engineer right after.
The goal is that by the time the call ends, every engineer knows exactly what to work on and has everything they need to execute. No ambiguity, no waiting around for answers.
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