Why calculate the Standup Tax?

The daily standup is the most expensive meeting in software development, yet it is rarely treated as a budget item.

When 10 engineers spend 15 minutes talking, you aren't spending 15 minutes. You are spending 2.5 hours of engineering capacity.

But the cost goes deeper. The "Waste Factor" in our calculator accounts for:

• Context Switching: It takes ~23 minutes to regain focus after an interruption.
• Irrelevance: Most updates are only relevant to 1-2 other people.
• Performative Updates: "Yesterday I did X, today I will do Y" often becomes a status signal rather than a blocker removal session.

The Math

We calculate the direct labor cost based on the fully-loaded hourly rate (salary + benefits + overhead).

Cost = (Team Size × Duration × Hourly Rate) × Frequency

We then apply the Waste Factor to estimate how much of that spend generates zero value for the product.