Scripts for Suggesting Standup Alternatives to Your Manager

Fifteen minutes times five days times fifty weeks. Sixty hours a year minimum—spent announcing what you typed into Jira yesterday.

That number gets worse when you count the context switch. The morning momentum you lose. The twenty minutes before the meeting where you can't start anything deep.

You know this is broken. Knowing isn't the problem.

The problem is that the moment you say "I think standups aren't working," your manager hears "I don't want accountability."

Before You Open Your Mouth

Three questions to answer first:

1. What does your manager actually care about?
2. What specific problem are you solving?
3. What are you proposing instead?

The 1:1 Opener (Low Stakes)

"I've been tracking my focus time lately, and I noticed that morning 
meetings—including standup—tend to fragment my first few hours. 

I'm not saying standups aren't valuable. But I've been wondering if 
there's a way to get the same visibility without breaking up the morning. 

Have you seen any teams experiment with async updates?"

Why this works:

• Opens with personal data, not ideology
• Doesn't attack the meeting—questions the format
• Asks for their perspective

The Trial Period Pitch

"What if we tried it for two weeks? Async updates every morning—same 
three questions, posted by 9:30. At the end, we check in: Did you have 
the visibility you needed? Did blockers get missed?

If it doesn't work, we go back. I'm happy to facilitate."

Managers say no to permanent changes. They're not trained to say no to "let's try it for two weeks."

Quick Reference

Say this:

• "I've been tracking my focus time..."
• "What if we tried it for two weeks?"
• "Same information, different format"

Not this:

• "Standups are a waste of time"
• "Nobody likes this meeting"
• "Studies show that..."

---

The full article with seven complete scripts—including retro suggestions, Slack templates, and escalation scripts at agilelie.com.