4 exercises — Yesterday / Today / Blockers format, writing async stand-up updates in Slack, and raising blockers clearly and professionally.
0 / 4 completed
1 / 4
Which daily stand-up update correctly follows the Yesterday / Today / Blockers structure?
Option B is the ideal stand-up update because it is:
Specific about what was done: "finished the auth token refresh endpoint and merged PR #214" — not just "worked on auth" Action-oriented about today: "starting integration tests for the login flow" — not "continuing the same thing" Precise about the blocker: Names the dependency (DevOps), specifies the action already taken (pinged them), and indicates what's blocking whom.
Option A — too vague to be useful. "I was busy" tells the team nothing about progress or blockers. Option C — mixes Yesterday and Today into one; drops the blocker check entirely. Option D — no update on progress. "Everything is going well" is not a stand-up update.
The golden rule of stand-ups: Each sentence should give your team actionable information — what changed yesterday, what you'll be accountable for today, and what you need from others.
2 / 4
Your team uses async stand-ups via a Slack bot (e.g., Geekbot). The bot asks: "What did you do yesterday?" Which response is best?
Option B is ideal for async stand-ups. Here's why:
It names specific artifacts: PR #301 (not just "reviewed a PR"), 12 tests (not just "wrote tests"), 30-min design review (not just "had a meeting"). It gives reviewers context: A teammate reading this knows exactly what happened and can follow up if needed. It's scannable: Three clear, parallel items — easy to read quickly in Slack.
Async stand-ups require more detail than live ones because there's no real-time clarification. If you write "backend work," your teammates have no idea if you finished something, got blocked, or made a major decision.
The async stand-up formula: What I finished (with artifact names) + What I started + Any blockers or risks the team should know about.
Pro tip for Slack updates: Use a consistent format like ✅ Done: [task description] 🔧 In progress: [current task] 🚧 Blocked: [if applicable]
3 / 4
During a live stand-up, you have a blocker that requires input from a colleague. Which update handles this best?
Option B demonstrates the ideal way to raise a blocker in stand-up:
Names the specific task: "database migration script" — not just "my code" Describes the symptom: "foreign key constraint error" — enough for a colleague to instantly know the domain Shows prior investigation: "I've checked the schema and the migration order seems correct" — team knows you're not asking prematurely Makes a concrete request: "10 minutes after stand-up" — not an open-ended "help me" Addresses it to a specific person: "Ana?" — respects everyone else's time
Why this matters: Stand-ups are not debugging sessions. The goal is to surface blockers quickly. If you say "I'm blocked, someone help" — the whole team goes on alert without knowing if it concerns them. If you say "I can't explain it here" — nothing gets solved.
The blocker formula: What I was doing → What I hit → What I've tried → Specific ask → To whom.
4 / 4
A teammate gives this stand-up update: "I'm working on the login bug." What critical information is missing?
"I'm working on the login bug" is the most common type of useless stand-up update. Here's why it fails:
Missing: yesterday's progress Is this the same bug from last week? Did they make progress? Hit a dead end? Started fresh? The team has no idea.
Missing: today's specific plan "Working on it" could mean anything. Will they open the debugger? Write a fix? Write a test to reproduce first? Have a PR ready by noon?
Missing: blocker check Do they need anyone? Is there something blocking them? Or are they blocked but didn't mention it because they didn't want to seem stuck?
A better version: "Yesterday: reproduced the login bug in staging — the issue is a race condition in the session token refresh. Today: writing the fix and a regression test. No blockers, should be done by end of day."
Stand-up anti-patterns to avoid: ❌ "Same as yesterday." ❌ "Still working on it." ❌ "Been busy." ❌ "All good." (with no specifics) ❌ "Nothing to report."