10 minute standup , woof
That's exactly how I run my standups. Everyone answers 3 questions: * Do I need something? * What is my _top_ priority for the day? * Am I blocked? The answers for the first and third question should always be "No" because you should have raised them before standup, but it's a relief valve if you didn't. What is your top priority should be short and focused. If you let people talk about what they did or didn't do yes…
How do you manage (if you have to) more research-heavy/blue-sky tasks that may take a few days or weeks without linear daily progress? Like, some days may just involve doing some sketches and playing around with code in order to internalise some data structure. Does that person just say "I'm continuing with task X" several days in a row?