Daily standup cost
Meeting Time Calculator for Time Wasted
A 15-minute standup is a small block on the calendar. This meeting time calculator adds it up: how much time is wasted across a year, then the daily standup cost of those hours at fully-loaded US engineering salaries.
The hours table shows how much time is wasted in a 15-minute daily standup. The salary table is the daily standup cost of those hours. For another salary, length, or attendance, use the wasted money meeting calculator.
How much time is wasted
Hours per year = people × 5 standups a week × (15 ÷ 60) hours × 48 working weeks. Vacation is already baked in as 48 weeks, not 52. One person spends 60 hours. The table is that same meeting for the whole team.
This is a worked example from those inputs: 15 minutes, full attendance, no overrun. The number is time spent in the meeting.
| Team size | Hours a year |
|---|---|
| 3 engineers | 180 |
| 5 engineers | 300 |
| 8 engineers | 480 |
| 12 engineers | 720 |
| 20 engineers | 1,200 |
Daily standup cost of that time
Annual standup cost = the hours above × a fully-loaded hourly salary. Five people at $100/hour is 300 × $100, which is the highlighted $30,000 cell.
Hourly rates are US engineering fully-loaded bands: cash compensation plus benefits and overhead, not take-home pay. A $150k engineer often lands near $75 to $120/hour once loaded. Figures are modeled meeting cost from the inputs above, not Git Digest traffic or revenue.
| Team size | $75/hrMid-level (~$155k loaded) | $100/hrSenior (~$210k loaded) | $125/hrStaff (~$260k loaded) | $150/hrStaff+ (~$310k loaded) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 engineers | $13,500 | $18,000 | $22,500 | $27,000 |
| 5 engineers | $22,500 | $30,000 | $37,500 | $45,000 |
| 8 engineers | $36,000 | $48,000 | $60,000 | $72,000 |
| 12 engineers | $54,000 | $72,000 | $90,000 | $108,000 |
| 20 engineers | $90,000 | $120,000 | $150,000 | $180,000 |
The default 1.2× overrun on the wasted money meeting calculator raises that highlighted $30,000 cell to $36,000 and the 300 hours to 360. Use it when the standup runs long, or when you want a different length for planning or the weekly sync.
What 300 hours and $30,000 buy
A five-person daily standup at $100/hour fully loaded is the highlighted $30,000. Twelve people at $150/hour is $108,000 on the same table.
Git Digest replaces that status round with team GitHub and Slack commit digests. The source of truth is what landed in git.
The async standup playbook covers how to roll that out: cadence, timezones, blockers, and where form bots fall short.
Meeting time calculator FAQ
Common questions about time wasted in meetings, standup cost, and replacing status meetings with digests.
How much time is wasted in a daily standup?
One person in a 15-minute standup, five days a week, for 48 working weeks, spends 60 hours a year. Five people spend 300 hours. The hours table uses those inputs, with full attendance and no overrun.
How does this meeting time calculator work?
Hours = people × meetings per week × (minutes ÷ 60) × 48 working weeks. This page runs that formula for a 15-minute daily standup. Multiply the hours by a fully-loaded hourly rate for the standup cost. The wasted money meeting calculator changes salary, attendees, and duration.
Why use fully-loaded salary instead of take-home pay?
A standup consumes paid time, benefits, and overhead, not just the number on an offer letter. The salary table uses US engineering fully-loaded hourly bands so the cost matches what the company actually spends.
Does this include meetings that run long?
The hours and the salary table are the scheduled 15 minutes, with full attendance and no overrun. The wasted money meeting calculator can add attendance and overrun. Its default 1.2× overrun turns the five-person, $100/hour standup from $30,000 into $36,000 a year, and the 300 hours into 360.
Can Git Digest replace our standup?
Git Digest turns GitHub activity into team commit summaries for Slack and email. Engineering leads get an async standup from shipped code instead of another calendar invite.
Is Git Digest the same as Gitingest?
No. Gitingest turns a repository into text for LLMs. Git Digest is a team product: daily or weekly GitHub commit digests for Slack and email that replace status meetings.
Replace the standup with GitHub digests
Connect GitHub and get daily or weekly team commit summaries in Slack and email. Same alignment, without the standup on the calendar. Then price any other meeting.
Start with GitHub