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Daily standup English guide

50 English Phrases You Can Use Today in Your Daily Standup

A ready-to-use phrase bank organized by situation. Each phrase is a template: replace the blanks with your own task, feature, or ticket.

54 phrases

The daily standup is 15 minutes, but it is the moment when your English is most visible to the whole team. You need to sound natural under mild pressure, with no time to prepare each sentence.

This is a phrase bank. Each phrase is a template with a blank you fill in. The examples next to each template show you what fits there. Bookmark it, practice it, use it.

📅Yesterday

Start with what you did yesterday. Your team needs to know if things moved forward, if something is still in progress, or if you were unavailable.

I finished something

Use this when you completed a task, closed a ticket, merged a PR, or shipped something. The key is to name what you finished and signal that it is done.

  • "I finished the ____ yesterday."

    e.g. login page, checkout flow, settings screen, analytics dashboard

  • "I wrapped up the ____."

    e.g. authentication refactor, database migration, code review for the payments PR

  • "I shipped the fix for ____."

    e.g. the cache bug, the login error, the broken pagination, the timeout issue

  • "I got the ____ working and opened a PR."

    e.g. feature, integration, payment flow, search functionality

  • "I merged the ____."

    e.g. database migration, hotfix, feature branch, dependency update

  • "I closed out the ticket for ____."

    e.g. the onboarding flow, the password reset, the email notifications

  • "I finished earlier than expected, so I picked up ____."

    e.g. another ticket, the next story, the failing tests, a code review

  • "It is in review now."

I did not finish it

Use this when you worked on something but did not complete it. Be direct: say you did not finish, then say what is left or when you will continue. Do not over-explain or apologize.

  • "I did not finish ____ yet. I am still working on it."

    e.g. the login page, the refactor, the tests, the migration

  • "____ took longer than expected. I will continue today."

    e.g. The refactor, The migration, The integration, The investigation

  • "I got most of it done. I just need to wrap up ____."

    e.g. the tests, the documentation, the edge cases, the error handling

  • "I made good progress but did not get to the end. I will finish ____ today."

    e.g. it, the tests, the last part, the review

  • "I ran out of time. I will pick it up this morning."

  • "I was close but hit a blocker. More on that in a second."

I kept working on the same thing

Use this when you were doing the same thing as the day before and there is nothing new to report. It is the shortest update and that is fine.

  • "I continued working on ____."

    e.g. the refactor, the integration tests, the API design, the migration

  • "I was heads down on ____ all day."

    e.g. the authentication issue, the performance bug, the integration tests

  • "I spent most of the day on ____. Still in progress."

    e.g. the API design, the code review, the migration, the investigation

  • "Nothing new to report. I was focused on ____."

    e.g. the same ticket, the refactor, the documentation

I was not working

Use this to explain why you have nothing to report. Keep it to one sentence. No need to justify or elaborate.

  • "I was out yesterday."

  • "I was in meetings most of the day. No coding."

  • "I had a day off."

  • "I was at a training session."

🎯Today

Tell your team what you are going to do. Be specific enough that people can flag if there is a dependency or overlap, but do not list every detail.

I have plans and goals

Use this to say what you intend to do. Start with "Today" or "I plan to" to signal you are talking about now, not yesterday.

  • "Today I am going to start ____."

    e.g. the checkout flow, the email notifications, the admin panel, the API integration

  • "I plan to open a PR for ____ by end of day."

    e.g. the login page, the refactor, the bug fix, the new feature

  • "My goal for today is to ____."

    e.g. have a working prototype, finish the tests, review all open PRs, get the feature merged

  • "I am going to focus on ____ today."

    e.g. reviewing the open PRs, writing the tests, the backend side, performance improvements

  • "I want to finish ____ today."

    e.g. the tests, the documentation, the refactor, the integration

I have meetings

Mention meetings when they will significantly reduce your coding time. Your team needs to know not to expect full output from you.

  • "I have ____ this ____, so my coding time will be limited."

    e.g. sprint planning / afternoon, a design review / morning, interviews / most of the day

  • "I have a 1:1 with ____ at ____. I will work on ____ in between."

    e.g. my manager / 3pm / the ticket, the tech lead / 2pm / the PR review

  • "I have a few meetings but I will try to make progress on ____."

    e.g. the ticket, the refactor, the tests, the PR review

  • "Most of my day is meetings. I will pick up ____ tomorrow."

    e.g. the implementation, the ticket, the review

I am debugging or investigating

Use this when you do not have a clear deliverable for the day — just an investigation. It sets the right expectations: you may not have something concrete to show by end of day.

  • "I am going to investigate ____."

    e.g. the performance issue, the login error, why the tests are failing, the memory leak

  • "I need to dig into ____."

    e.g. the failing tests, the memory leak, the timeout issue, the build failure

  • "I am going to spend some time debugging ____."

    e.g. the login error, the race condition, the flaky test, the production issue

  • "I will look into the issue with ____."

    e.g. the third-party API, the database, the cache layer, the auth service

I need focus time

Use this when you need uninterrupted time and want to signal that you may be slower to respond to messages. It helps your team plan around you.

  • "I am going to be heads down on ____ today."

    e.g. the refactor, the implementation, the migration, the performance work

  • "I need some focus time to finish ____. I will have it ready by ____."

    e.g. the implementation / end of day, the tests / this afternoon, the PR / lunchtime

  • "Today is a deep work day for me. I will be focused on ____."

    e.g. the implementation, the refactor, the architecture design

🔜Coming up

Use this to give context beyond today. It helps your team see what is coming so they can flag dependencies early. Keep it brief.

What comes next

Mention what you plan to work on after your current task is done, or later in the week. One sentence is enough.

  • "Later this week I am planning to ____."

    e.g. start the deployment, finish the integration, pick up the refactor

  • "Once ____ is merged I will move on to ____."

    e.g. this PR / the testing phase, the migration / performance improvements, the feature / the next ticket

  • "I am aiming to have ____ ready by ____."

    e.g. the prototype / Thursday, the PR / end of day, the feature / Friday, the fix / this afternoon

  • "After this I will pick up ____."

    e.g. the next ticket in the sprint, the notification system, the API documentation

  • "Once I get unblocked I will move fast on ____."

    e.g. this, the integration, the deployment

🚧Blockers

This is the most important part of the standup for your team. Be specific about what is blocked, what you are waiting for, and who can help. Do not skip this even if you think your blocker is minor.

I am waiting for something

Name the blocker clearly. Say what you are waiting for, who is responsible if relevant, and what the impact is on your work. The more specific you are, the faster someone can help.

  • "I am blocked waiting for ____ on ____."

    e.g. feedback / the design, approval / the PR, a response / the API spec, access / staging

  • "I am waiting for ____ before I can continue."

    e.g. the backend API to be ready, the design to be signed off, the migration to run, the PR to be approved

  • "I need access to ____ to move forward."

    e.g. the staging environment, the production logs, the third-party API, the repository

  • "I am waiting for a PR review. If anyone has ____ minutes, I would appreciate it."

    e.g. 10, 15, 5

  • "I have a question about ____. I will reach out to ____ after the standup."

    e.g. the requirements / [Name], the API contract / the backend team, the design / [Name]

  • "I am blocked on ____. Waiting for their response."

    e.g. the third-party integration, the security review, the vendor

  • "I need a decision on ____ before I can move forward."

    e.g. the architecture, which approach to use, the scope of the ticket, the API design

  • "I am stuck on ____. I might need some help after this."

    e.g. the database query, the race condition, the authentication flow

No blockers

Always say this explicitly if you have nothing blocked. It closes your standup update cleanly and confirms to the team that you are unblocked.

  • "No blockers. I am good to go."

  • "Nothing blocking me right now."

  • "All clear on my side."

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Roxana Lafuente

Written by

Roxana Lafuente

Lingua-e's founder

Roxana Lafuente is a software engineer with 8+ years of experience. At the beginning of her career, even though she had already passed the First Certificate in English, she still froze every time she had to speak up in the daily standup. That was a gap nobody was fixing. After 2,000+ standups, she figured out what actually builds fluency: practice that looks like your real work. She built Lingua-e so other developers wouldn't have to take the long road to feel confident working in an international development environment.