Matrixx0070 Standup Summary
When to use
Use this when you have a brain-dump, a list of commits, or rough notes about recent work and need the update a good teammate gives: short, concrete, honest about status, with blockers stated plainly enough that someone can actually unblock you.
Not for: performance self-reviews or promo packets (those need scope and impact over time, not yesterday's tasks); detailed status reports for stakeholders who need narrative and risk; or padding a slow day into false productivity. If nothing happened, say so briefly - inventing activity is worse than a short update.
Method
- Sort every note into done / doing / blocked. Decision point: when unsure whether something is finished, downgrade it to Doing - "done" is a promise, not a hope.
- Apply the done test: merged, shipped, sent, or verified. "Almost", "just needs", "nearly" all mean Doing.
- Make each item concrete. "Fixed the login timeout (PR #214, merged)" beats "worked on auth". Keep ticket and PR numbers.
- State blockers as what / who / since when. Decision point: a blocker with no owner is a complaint - name who can clear it and when you asked. If nothing is blocked, omit the section entirely; no "no blockers" ceremony.
- Cap each section at three lines. If there are more, keep the three that matter and roll the rest into one "plus small stuff: ..." line.
- Order by what the audience cares about, and cut filler ("continued to make progress on", "various tasks").
Example
Input (raw): merged the retry fix finally, started poking at the flaky e2e suite its something with timeouts, waiting on Dana for the API key to test payments, also reviewed two PRs
Output: Done: Merged the retry fix; reviewed 2 PRs. Doing: Investigating flaky e2e suite - looks timeout-related, narrowing it down. Blocked: Payments testing needs the API key from Dana (asked yesterday).
Pitfalls
- Done inflation. Filing in-progress work under Done because it is "basically finished" - then it slips and trust erodes.
- Vague items. "Worked on the backend" tells the team nothing and invites a follow-up question standup exists to avoid.
- Orphan blockers. "Blocked on stuff" with no owner or ask - nobody knows how to help.
- Filler and over-length. Ten low-value lines bury the two that matter; trim ruthlessly.
Output format
**Done:** <finished, concrete, with PR/ticket ids>
**Doing:** <in progress, one line each, max 3>
**Blocked:** <what - who can clear it - since when> (omit if nothing is blocked)