[ratherbefuddled]

Simple answer: You're doing it wrong.

The standup (in Scrum at least) should be three questions everybody answers: What you did yesterday, what you're doing today, any blockers? This should take a team less than 10 minutes easily.

These meetings are not supposed to generate actions points, or problem solve, or discuss anything. They are merely supposed to make sure everybody knows what's going on.

Follow up specifics later with only the people who need to be involved.

The time of the standup should be set by the team not imposed on them. Consensus is needed.

[tristan_juricek]

Right, the group I'm in often will have "coordinating members" join as well, from designers, QA, the PM, even the VP will stop by to see whats going on, and sometimes we get 10-15 people. The only times it takes more than 10 minutes are when there are tons of announcements being made.

Most folks just state what they're doing today, and announce significant deliveries. But not everyone has the instinct to keep it short, especially when asked questions.

Doing this takes some minor training. Someone does need to be active in "gently reminding" people to move the debate/discussion somewhere. (This usually takes the form of, "maybe you should meet at X to hash that out in 15".) Whenever there are new people, you have to get them comfortable asking "I'd like to talk to you about XYZ after the standup". A lot of folks are rather timid at first, and often need to get used to it.

[mankyd]

I can second this. We do a stand up around 11:45, before we head to lunch. We each answer what we're working on that day, bookended by what we did yesterday and/or what we're working on over the next few days.

Any bigger questions which arise get discussed over lunch (sometimes) or in later one-on-ones.