[dd82]

For me, they are. More so in my current role with a fully remote company. All calls are video calls, with RingCentral, Slack or Google Meet. We get to see each other face to face, get some social time and chit-chat a few minutes before diving into the standup.

Other teams do async standup via Slack, via Standup Alice. It seems to work for them.

I also really like the addition of an "open forum" in my team. Is there anything you've heard from other teams that will probably have an impact on this sprint's tickets or ones in the queue for the next one? Its also a good time for the PMs to relate any relevant conversations had with other PMs that we should know about.

The real key to this is there's no power play involved, and to have a good sense of scope about what's appropriate to bring up and what isn't. We're also a hybrid core/product team, so regular checkins are beneficial overall.