Morning meeting - is it the evil?

Agile methodologies says that the team should have a regular daily meeting, where the team members can exchange information. The rules are very simple: everybody must talk, and have to touch tree topics - what did I accomplish yesterday, what is the plan for today, do I have any obstacle on my way.

We should have the morning meeting sharp 9:00 every morning. We involve remotely working colleagues as well. My boss used to initiate the call sharply and that was a sign to the local guys the meeting starts. As far as I see, he stopped this activity couple of days before, and now observing the team. Since he doesn't initiate the meeting, it never starts at 9:00. The developers are chatting, eating and around 9:02 they realize something is missing. They start to come together to the meeting place. Today that small conversation happened between a lead developer and the boss.

LD: Do we do the meeting today?

B: Why shouldn't we?

LD: I thought since you don't come we don't do it.

B: I think it is your business to have the meeting on time, since you are interested in information sharing.

I don't understand them. At 8:59 I'm prepared and excited to tell the team what's with me. I'm proud of my achievements form yesterday and dare commit on task to perform today. Furthermore I like to share my doubts and questions with the team.

The problem is twofold. People usually think that it is a reporting meeting - but it definitely shouldn't be. You don't report to a particular person - you talk to the team. Reporting meetings always have a negative feeling. The second problem is that we can't make visible progress on most of the items we develop due to the nature of the project - and hard to commit to things for the same reason. That's why the developers think the meeting is the evil.

I'd like to attend good stand-up meetings, what shall I do? How can I explain to them the how can we make it different? Don't know yet...

The Fish