Cost of a 5-Person Daily Standup Meeting

The True Cost of a Daily Standup

A daily standup with 5 participants may seem cheap -- it is only 15 minutes, after all. But when you multiply that cost across every working day, the numbers become significant.

Quick Calculation

Assume an average fully loaded hourly rate of $75 per person:

Per standup:   5 people x $75/hr x 0.25 hr = $93.75
Per week:      $93.75 x 5 = $468.75
Per month:     $93.75 x 22 = $2,062.50
Per year:      $93.75 x 260 = $24,375

That is nearly $25,000 per year for a single 15-minute daily meeting with just 5 people.

Is It Worth It?

The standup is generally considered one of the most cost-effective meetings because it:

1. Surfaces blockers early -- catching a blocker on day 1 instead of day 5 can save days of wasted effort.
2. Replaces longer status meetings -- without standups, teams often default to weekly 1-hour status meetings.
3. Builds team awareness -- knowing what teammates are working on reduces duplicated effort and improves collaboration.

How to Maximize ROI

• Keep it under 15 minutes. If it runs long, the cost rises fast.
• Skip weekends and holidays. Obvious, but some teams forget to cancel recurring invites.
• Use async standups for distributed teams. A Slack bot or written update can replace the synchronous meeting for teams across many time zones.
• Limit to core participants. Observers who never speak should read the notes instead.