[slavik81]

If you were waiting on Bob to finish xyz, why does he wait up to a day before telling you he's done?

After doing scrum for a few years, my impression is that stand-ups are useless because you can't depend on them. They're frequently too far away to be used for the purposes you're talking about, so you always need an alternative. If that alternative is good, you might as well always use it and cancel the meeting.

[Nursie]

I'm not sure I was waiting for bob, I probably have other tasks too.

I don't know of a better alternative that maintains the face to face element.