Top 7 Standup Tools to Help You Manage a Remote Team
Top Standup Tools
Standup meetings are regular daily meetings where remote team members report on their work and receive instructions about the next assignments. Historically, they used to be held while people stood, which made sure that they are short and to the point. While nobody has to stand up to participate in an online meeting, the name is still applied to an entire class of software solutions.
During the pandemic and in its aftermath, the need for standup meetings in the digital arena arose as a necessity for good collaboration among remote teams. There is a plethora of different software tools that can help you with holding stand-up meetings online. Such solutions are usually cloud-based and allow remote access, allowing the team to enjoy the same level of cohesion as if they were sharing a physical office.
You can also follow the guide to Record your Daily Meetings easily >
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What are Standup Tools?
Agile and fast-paced international work environments require a different kind of communication. Teams are often constructed from members residing in different locations, so managers need a simple way to stay in touch with everyone and ensure that all tasks are completed on time. Software solutions that serve this purpose are often described as standup tools, even if in essence they are basically communication platforms that support multi-party conversations in real time.
Since the idea of a standup meeting is to be brief and focused on the most important things, software tools of this kind tend to emphasize a minimalistic approach to communication. This is a distinction between standup tools and virtual meeting platforms, which are mainly intended for longer meetings. Depending on the exact business model and practical procedures a company follows, it might stand to gain more from adopting specialized standup software than by relying on standard productivity or online collaboration suites to handle all meetings.
Features to consider when choosing a standup tool?
Before you decide which standup tool is the best for your business, you should formalize your expectations by putting together a list of key features you absolutely need. While this partially depends on your priorities, in general the software you choose should streamline your work procedure and empower all team members to contribute productively without wasting time on formalities.
With this in mind, we can define some of the most important features that good standup software must have:
- Broad compatibility and connectivity from different platforms
- The ability to hold real-time and asynchronous meetings
- Direct messaging system for individual conversations
- Task allocation and management tools
- Quick and effortless status updating system
- Time tracking and productivity monitoring tools
- Extensive customization and automation options
- Integration with mainstream project management suites
List of 7 Best Standup Tools
Geekbot
The Geekbot Interface
Geekbot is an excellent standup tool that can help automate standup meetings in Slack and Microsoft Teams. This non-intrusive chatbot will bring transparency to your team and keep everyone focused on the most essential tasks, regardless of whether your team is co-located, hybrid, or remote.
Key features
- You can easily navigate and complete actions with slash commands in any conversation.
- Users may choose the optimal time to fill their standup, which is particularly useful for freelancers and workers with flexible hours.
- This tool offers customizable polls, partaking surveys, daily check-ins, and many other tools that keep your work transparent and available to every team member
Drawbacks
- It lacks integrations with Jira, Trello, and other management software
- Geekbot can be costly for large teams because it charges per user rather than a flat monthly fee
Pricing: Start-up free, Scale-up $3, Enterprise customized price
Customer rating
- G2: 4.6 (65 reviews)
- Capterra 4.9 (121 reviews)
StandupBuddy
StandupBuddy Overview
StandupBuddy is another bot designed specifically for Slack. It offers a simple solution for team collaboration that doesn’t require complex functionalities to fulfill its purpose. It is designed to facilitate daily meetings in a concise, productive way and to liberate managers from administrative burdens while keeping productivity at a high level.
Key features
- Easy to set up and learn how to use
- Their servers provide maximum security via encrypted channels and don’t keep your data after uninstalling
- It enables communication across different time zones with meetings accurately scheduled based on local time for each user
- Automation of routine actions helps to save a lot of time
Drawbacks
- The basic plan could include more features
- The bot isn’t AI-powered and always provides the same answers
Pricing: Basic $19/month, Premium $49/month, Enterprise $129/month
Customer rating
- G2: 4.5 ( 4 reviews)
- Capterra: N\A
Standuply
Standuply Overview
Standuply is a bot rewarded with a high-performer award from G2, proving its quality and uniqueness. This standup tool automatically runs daily asynchronous standup via text, video, and voice. It is available both for Slack and Teams users and has the potential to transform the way teams organize their daily work.
Key features
- Collecting notes for the retrospective meeting asynchronously either during or after the session
- Daily standup can be nearly completely automated and executed with minimal effort
- It features an Internal Q&A System that records earlier replies, links team members with internal specialists, and it’s time-saving overall.
- Standuply links team members with internal subject matter experts when there is no response and saves repetitive answers from Slack/Teams.
Drawbacks
- Minor glitches and bugs can occur, but customer support resolves issues fast
- There is no rewards system for completing tasks on time
Pricing: Starter package is free, Team $1.5 per user, Business $3.5 per user: Enterprise – on demand
Customer rating
- Capterra: 4.7 (23reviews)
- G2: 4.8 (30 reviews)
Ricotta
Ricotta Interface
This could be the perfect answer if you are searching for a different way to hold your standup meeting in a fun way that can make your team happier and straighten the bond between your groups that works remotely and reduce the feeling of isolation. In that case, Ricotta is an excellent solution to turn your standup meeting into visual team-building sessions.
Key features
- Goal-setting application made for teams that work through Slack
- Each overview of the task boards, standups, company, and team OKRs
- It’s very simple to customize your to-do list
- The app includes break-time activities to increase workers’ motivation and build team culture
Drawbacks
- Notifications can sometimes be intrusive if the settings are not properly adjusted
- Integration with platforms other than Slack would be desirable
Pricing: Starter $0; Basic $24/month; Growth $39/month; Enterprise $79/month;
Customer rating
- Capterra: N/A
- G2: 4.3 (2 reviews)
Status Hero
Status Hero Overview
The benefits of using Status Hero can be instantly felt across the entire team, as it reduces the amount of meetings and introduces reports that contain all relevant info at a glance. It has excellent integration with practical project management tools such as Jira, Asana, and GitHub, as well as messaging channels like Slack and Microsoft Teams. Most importantly, Status Hero lets you can compile all your team’s activity and data into a single report.
Key features
- This app helps to compile all work details in one place and use them in standup meetings
- It works across different schedules and time zones
- Task management tools with project tracking let managers measure individual and overall productivity and identify potential problems that could slow down the workflow
- Great real-time activity stream that shows what happens across all integrated apps
- Organized team profiles that show each worker daily check-ins and accomplishments, mood scores, and daily goal progress
Drawbacks
- It is not always easy to apply all the data, and it requires the participation of the whole team to be accurate
- The dashboard can be hard to learn how to use
Pricing: Basic $3, Pro $5, Corporate $7;
Customer rating
- Capterra: 5.0 (3 reviews)
- G2: 4.1 (11 reviews)
Cadence
Cadence Overview
Organizing events and/or meetings on the web or in the real world is much less stressful if you are using a next-gen tool to deal with the logistics and administration. Cadence provides businesses with a smart way to keep their employees and their customers informed about all planned activities and focused on the next opportunity to connect.
Key features
- It is ecosystem-specific software, meaning that a collection of applications centered around core digital platforms makes Cadence highly integrable
- Highly customizable and allows a nondestructive approach to editing that will enable you to personalize even the branding
- It has real-time chat to facilitate an instant exchange of ideas and information
- Lots of management tools that can help you have better feedback and more accessible standup meetings
Drawbacks
- It is not easy to set up and register on the app
- Ux can be a bit better. Using different colors to mark mistakes and alerts would be appreciated
Pricing: PREMIUM $5k per event; PREMIUM PRO $15k per event;
Customer ratings
- Capterra: 4.6 (10 reviews)
- G2: 4.3 (17reviews)
Krisp
Krisp App Interface
This software is focused primarily on audio communication and uses AI to deliver crystal-clear calls across timezones and hardware platforms. This amazing software tool can be used to organize daily standups and conference calls and to facilitate natural conversations. Thanks to its unique technology, Krisp can be a realistic alternative to more complex communication platforms.
Key features
- Innovative and technologically advanced audio conferencing system
- AI-driven noise cancelling and echo removal for clear voice transmission
- Call summary can be distributed to all participants
- Highly secure solution with full encryption of all connections
Drawbacks
- Integrations with popular business platforms are not running smoothly
- It’s very easy to reach the daily time limit without noticing
Pricing: Free version is available, Pro $8.00 per month, Business $10.00 per month
Customer rating
- G2: 4.8 (521 reviews)
- Capterra: N/A
FAQs of Standup Tools
How are standup tools different from productivity platforms or virtual meeting software?
Standup meetings are intentionally short, and software for this purpose tends to emphasize simplicity and automation over richness of advanced features. While they may include some overlapping functions (i.e. chat or audio calls), standup tools are valued mostly for their time-saving capacities.
Is it possible to integrate standup tools with other business software?
In many cases, standup tools are designed to work in unison with productivity management software and provide additional functionalities that such solutions lack. The possibilities for integration are an important element of this type of software that impacts the choice of the most optimal suite.
Can standup meetings be completely automated?
Since daily meetings consist mostly of repetitive activities, the potential for automation is significant. The best standup tools enable managers to define the key parameters and execute the same procedure without the need for direct oversight in real time.
How difficult is it to adopt and set up new standup meeting software?
Depending on the chosen software product and the existing business communication systems, some expertise might be needed to properly set up a new standup tool and connect it with all relevant apps. The users also might require a brief adjustment period before they fully buy in.
Final Words
Businesses are highly incentivized to use their time productively and one of the best ways to do that is to minimize the number of daily meetings. Starting the day with a short standup session is a better alternative to spending hours in corporate boardrooms. Standup software can help organizations maintain team coherence and stay on pace and on budget with important projects while keeping the administration to a minimum. That’s why your organization would be smart to try some of the solutions recommended in this article.
