Done, not done yet: the present perfect for daily standup updates
About this lesson
The present perfect for standup updates is the grammar of this B1 English for IT lesson plan: what's done, and what isn't done yet.
- Grammar
- The past simple with a finished time (Yesterday I opened the pull request.), the present perfect with just, already and yet, irregular participles and going to for plans.
- Topic
- Daily standups and written status updates on the mobile team of a fictional payments startup, with words such as on track, behind schedule and wrap up.
- Activities
- A story on the Scrum Guide's three questions, a team chat of written updates, a live standup, self-checking drills, a chat and open boxes, then an update to write and record.
What's inside
Chapter 1Warm-up: What Did You Do Yesterday?
Chapter 2The Story: Three Questions, Fifteen Minutes
Chapter 3At Work: The Written Standup
Chapter 4Listen: One Clear “Done”
Chapter 5Grammar: Done or Not Done Yet?
- Study the scheme: done, not done yet, todayGrammar schemeTry it
- Choose the correct option: past simple or present perfectChoose the optionUnlock
- Choose the correct option: just, already or yetChoose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the table: past simple and past participleFill in the tableTry it
- Fill in the gaps: rewrite each update with just, already or yetFill in the gapsUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: complete Beatriz's updateFill in the gapsUnlock
Chapter 6Speak Up: Your Update
Chapter 7Homework: Your Next Standup
- Read your phrase bankReal-life documentUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: plans for today with going toFill in the gapsUnlock
- Find the matching pairs: standup wordsMemory gameUnlock
- Write your standup update for todayWriting, checked by the teacherUnlock
- Record your standup updateSpeaking, checked by the teacherUnlock
Daily standup vocabulary
12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.
+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words
- a fix
- in progress
- on track
- behind schedule
- an impediment
- merge
- deploy
- break the build
- wrap up
Grammar: past simple, present perfect and going to for updates
A good update covers three times: what you did at a finished time, what is done or not done now, and what comes next. With a team's written and spoken standups as examples, learners choose the right form for each part of an update, place just, already and yet, and learn the irregular participles of everyday work.
Done, not done yet: past simple, present perfect and going to
In written updates: a finished time (yesterday) → past simple; just, already, yet, so far → present perfect; today's plan → going to.
A finished time, no time, or a plan?
A finished time such as yesterday or two hours ago takes the past simple: Yesterday I opened the pull request. Done, with no time, takes have or has + past participle: I've already written the tests. The plan for today takes going to: I'm going to open it.
Your standup update: which form?
| Part of the update | Form | Time words | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Done, with a finished time | past simple | yesterday, last week, on Monday, two hours ago | Yesterday I opened the pull request. |
| Done, no finished time | have / has + past participle | just, already, so far, since… | I've already written the tests. |
| Not done yet | haven't / hasn't + past participle … yet | yet | I haven't opened the pull request yet. |
| Question | Have / Has + subject + past participle … yet? | yet | Has Jordan tested it yet? |
| Today's plan | am / is / are (not) going to + verb; Are you going to…? | today, this afternoon, after lunch | Today I'm going to wrap up the docs. |
Past, now and next
- Yesterday I opened the pull request.
- I've just merged it: it's done now.
- Today I'm going to wrap up the docs.
Just, already and yet: meaning and place
Just puts the action a moment ago, and already says it's done, maybe earlier than planned. Both usually go between have and the participle: I've just merged them. Yet means until now and closes negatives and questions: I haven't merged it yet. Has Jordan tested it yet?
just, already, yet: meaning and place
| Word | Meaning | Where it goes | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| just | a very short time ago | between have / has and the participle | I've just merged them. |
| already | done now, maybe sooner than expected | between have / has and the participle (or at the very end) | I've already added them to the tracker. |
| yet | until now (only in negatives and questions) | at the end of the sentence | I haven't merged it yet. / Has Jordan tested it yet? |
From the team's updates
- I've just finished the code for the payout notifications.Wes, in the team chat
- I've already added them to the tracker.Jordan, in the team chat
- I haven't opened the pull request yet.Iryna, in the team chat
- Yesterday I showed the new refund screens to three beta merchants.Amara: a finished time
- Has Jordan tested it yet?Wes, at the live standup
- Today I'm going to wrap up the docs.Iryna, at the live standup
Irregular participles: written, broken, done
Regular verbs use the same -ed form twice: merged, tested, fixed. Many everyday verbs at work have a separate participle: wrote, written; broke, broken; did, done. After have, only the participle is correct: I've written the tests, never I've wrote.
| Base form | Past simple | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| regular: merge, test, fix | merged, tested, fixed (-ed) | merged, tested, fixed (the same -ed form) |
| write | wrote | written |
| run | ran | run |
| build | built | built |
| break | broke | broken |
| do | did | done |
| find | found | found |
| send | sent | sent |
| see | saw | seen |
| speak | spoke | spoken |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| meet | met | met |
| be | was / were | been |
American English: I just merged it
In speech, Americans also say I just merged it and Did you deploy it yet?, and that's fine. Written updates use the present perfect, I've just merged it, and a finished time always takes the past simple: I merged it last week.
American English
In speech, Americans also say “I just merged it” and “Did you deploy it yet?”. That's fine! In written updates, use the present perfect: “I've just merged it.” But with a finished time (yesterday, last week, on Monday, two hours ago), always use the past simple.
A clear update in four parts
Put together, an update has four parts, Done, Not done yet, Today and Blockers, with one clear line in each: Done: I've fixed MOB-318. Not done yet: I haven't opened the pull request yet. Today: I'm going to open it.
DoneNot done yetTodayBlockers
Done: I've fixed MOB-318. Not done yet: I haven't opened the pull request yet. Today: I'm going to open it. Blockers: none.
Typical mistakes
I've fixed it yesterday.
I fixed it yesterday.
yesterday is a finished time: past simple
I've yet deployed it.
I haven't deployed it yet.
yet: negatives and questions, at the end
I already have merged it.
I've already merged it.
already goes between have and the participle
I've wrote the tests.
I've written the tests.
have + past participle (written)
More lessons on this grammar: Present perfect lessons and exercises · Past simple lessons and exercises
Try the present perfect for updates exercises
Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.
What's in the lesson
- 12 auto-checked exercises
- 3 games
- 2 teacher-checked tasks
- 2 real-life documents
- 1 article
- 1 grammar scheme
- 1 set of word cards
- 1 audio clip
- 1 picture
- 1 transcript
The main objectives of this lesson are to:
- give a standup update in four parts, Done, Not done yet, Today and Blockers, instead of almost done
- say what happened at a finished time with the past simple: Yesterday I reviewed three pull requests.
- report what's done now with just, already and yet: I've just merged it. I haven't opened the pull request yet.
- use participles such as written, broken and done, and give today's plan with going to: Today I'm going to wrap up the docs.
In English for IT B1 · Inside the Team, lesson 5 sits in unit 2, The daily standup, which trains clear updates, blockers and requests for help. Lesson 2 brought the present perfect with for and since, and lesson 4 the present simple and continuous; this lesson adds just, already and yet, and lesson 6 follows with have to and need to for blockers and a mock standup. Read in three time zones, a written update must say plainly what is finished: the present perfect's job.
Twelve standup words come with pictures and audio, from in progress to break the build, and the story tells how the Scrum Guide's three daily questions became an example in 2017 and were removed in 2020. At work, the team posts its standup in a chat, and the newest developer rewrites a vague almost done as a real update. In an AI-voiced live standup, she is asked for one clear done and gives it. The grammar chapter adds five drills that check themselves, from choosing the tense to completing a teammate's update.
The speaking chapter has a chat in which students choose Iryna's replies as she gives Kenji a written update, then open boxes with situations to report. For homework, students read a phrase bank, then do a going to gap-fill and a memory game of standup words that check themselves; a written status update and a recorded one go to the teacher for review.
- Grammar:
- present perfect with just, already, yet · past simple vs present perfect · going to for plans
- Topic:
- daily standup · status updates · the Scrum Guide
Teaching tips
- Start from the group's real work: each person says one thing they did yesterday and one thing they haven't finished yet, and the class sorts the sentences into past simple and present perfect on the board.
- Turn almost done into a game: read out a vague update, such as Working on the date stuff, almost done, and let the group ask questions until it has a clear Done, Not done yet and Today.
- Hold the standup twice: once aloud and once as chat posts. Then compare: spoken updates often have I just merged it, written ones I've just merged it, and both keep yesterday with the past simple.
- One-to-one, use the learner's own tracker: they pick three real tasks and give one status line for each with just, already or yet, then read them aloud as tomorrow's update.
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The whole course: English for IT B1 · Inside the Team
24 lessons at B1 for people who build, test or run software, in American English. Learners follow Iryna, a junior developer, through her first year at Kestrel Cloud, a fictional payments startup: standups, tickets, code review, chats across time zones and job interviews. Each lesson is built around a true story from software history.See the course
Unit 1 Hello, team
roles, stacks and first days: the present simple, the present perfect with for and since, question forms
Unit 2 The daily standup
updates and blockers: the present simple and continuous, just, already and yet, have to and need to
Lesson 4Why is it called a scrum?Present simple vs continuous and state verbs
Lesson 5 · you're hereDone, not done yetPast simple, present perfect and going to for updates
Lesson 6Help, I'm blocked!Have to, need to, don't have to and can't
Unit 3 Bugs and tickets
clear bug reports: the past continuous, imperatives and the zero conditional, quantifiers
Unit 4 Code review
kind, useful comments: -ed and -ing adjectives, modals for suggestions, the first conditional
Unit 5 How it works
explaining systems step by step: time clauses, the passive, relative clauses
Unit 6 Remote and async
chat, email and time zones: polite requests, future forms, the present perfect continuous
Unit 7 Users and clients
user stories and plain explanations: verb + to or -ing, reported speech, comparisons
Unit 8 Your next job
resumes and interviews: used to, the past perfect, the second conditional
