They are probably bored and planning an escape. You have no idea how visible the scripting is, including all the fake joking around step. Engineers are not children, and if they are you hired the wrong people. Let them get on with work, and do a weekly or by weekly standup instead. Be sure to … “empower” them to talk to stakeholders and let them be proactive.
- A guess with a high level of confidence at mindset of people you don't know, and their mindset in situations you're not in.
- Assumption that joking that may happen is fake, again with people you don't know.
- Assumption that a weekly or biweekly standup is ideal for a team you know nothing about - which implies that it's ideal for all teams, of all experience levels, in all projects, in all fields, in all organizations.
Consider that you may not, in fact, be able to justifiably draw these conclusions from the text you just read. Also consider that whatever the personal experience that informs your conclusions is, it's probably not applicable everywhere.