9 min read • Guide 781 of 877
Remote Team Time Zone Management
Time zone differences can either hinder or enhance productivity. GitScrum helps distributed teams work asynchronously while staying connected.
Time Zone Strategy
Understanding Overlap
TIME ZONE PLANNING:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ TEAM DISTRIBUTION EXAMPLE: │
│ │
│ UTC 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ SF ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░████████████░░░░░░░ PST (-8) │
│ NYC ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░███████████████░░░░░░░░ EST (-5) │
│ London ░░░░░░░░█████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░ GMT (+0) │
│ Berlin ░░░░░░░█████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░ CET (+1) │
│ India ░░░░████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ IST (+5:30) │
│ Sydney ██████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░███ AEDT (+11) │
│ │
│ ████ = Working hours (9am-6pm local) │
│ ░░░░ = Off hours │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ OVERLAP HOURS: │
│ │
│ SF + NYC: 6 hours │
│ NYC + London: 5 hours │
│ London + India: 4 hours │
│ SF + London: 1 hour (minimal) │
│ SF + Sydney: 0-1 hours (very hard) │
│ │
│ STRATEGY: │
│ • Maximize async for low-overlap pairs │
│ • Schedule sync meetings during overlap windows │
│ • Don't require everyone in every meeting │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Meeting Scheduling
FAIR MEETING DISTRIBUTION:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ ROTATING SCHEDULE: │
│ │
│ Don't make same people always have inconvenient times │
│ │
│ STANDUP ROTATION (15 min): │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ Week 1: 9am London (4am SF, 2pm India) ← SF early ││
│ │ Week 2: 5pm London (9am SF, 10pm India) ← India late ││
│ │ Week 3: 1pm London (5am SF, 6pm India) ← SF early ││
│ │ Week 4: 8am London (midnight SF, 1pm India) ← async SF││
│ │ ││
│ │ SF joins live 2 weeks, async 2 weeks ││
│ │ Pain is shared ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│ │
│ CRITICAL MEETINGS: │
│ For planning/retros that need everyone: │
│ • Find best overlap (even if inconvenient for all) │
│ • Rotate who has early/late meeting │
│ • Compensate with time off or flexibility │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ MEETING TASK: │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ TEAM-MTG: Sprint 12 Planning ││
│ │ ││
│ │ Time: 8am PT / 11am ET / 4pm GMT / 9:30pm IST ││
│ │ Duration: 2 hours ││
│ │ ││
│ │ Attendees: All team members ││
│ │ Recording: Yes (for Sydney team) ││
│ │ ││
│ │ Pre-work required: ││
│ │ • Review backlog items ││
│ │ • Note questions/concerns ││
│ │ • Capacity updates ││
│ │ ││
│ │ Note: This is late for India team. ││
│ │ Next sprint: We'll rotate to AM IST. ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Async Workflows
Documentation Standards
ASYNC-FIRST DOCUMENTATION:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ EVERY TASK MUST BE SELF-CONTAINED: │
│ │
│ Anyone picking up the task can start without │
│ waiting to ask questions │
│ │
│ TASK TEMPLATE: │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ PROJ-123: Implement password reset flow ││
│ │ ││
│ │ CONTEXT: ││
│ │ Users have requested password reset via email. ││
│ │ Currently no self-service option exists. ││
│ │ ││
│ │ REQUIREMENTS: ││
│ │ • User enters email on /forgot-password ││
│ │ • System sends email with reset link ││
│ │ • Link valid for 24 hours ││
│ │ • User sets new password ││
│ │ ││
│ │ TECHNICAL DETAILS: ││
│ │ • Use existing email service ││
│ │ • Token stored in password_resets table ││
│ │ • Frontend design: [link to Figma] ││
│ │ • API spec: [link to API doc] ││
│ │ ││
│ │ ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA: ││
│ │ ☐ Email sent within 30 seconds ││
│ │ ☐ Link expires after 24 hours ││
│ │ ☐ Old password no longer works ││
│ │ ☐ User redirected to login after reset ││
│ │ ││
│ │ QUESTIONS/DECISIONS: ││
│ │ Q: Rate limit on requests? ││
│ │ A: Yes, max 3 per hour per email (decided Jan 15) ││
│ │ ││
│ │ RESOURCES: ││
│ │ • Similar implementation: PROJ-087 ││
│ │ • Email templates: /docs/email-templates ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│ │
│ WHEN IN DOUBT, OVER-DOCUMENT │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Async Updates
ASYNC COMMUNICATION:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ DAILY ASYNC STANDUP: │
│ │
│ Each person posts update in Slack/Teams │
│ before end of their day │
│ │
│ TEMPLATE: │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ 📅 Daily Update - Jan 15 ││
│ │ ││
│ │ ✅ COMPLETED: ││
│ │ • PROJ-123: Password reset API complete ││
│ │ • PROJ-124: Code review done ││
│ │ ││
│ │ 🔄 IN PROGRESS: ││
│ │ • PROJ-125: Password reset frontend (60%) ││
│ │ ETA: Tomorrow ││
│ │ ││
│ │ 🚧 BLOCKERS: ││
│ │ • Need design review for error states ││
│ │ @designer - can you review today? ││
│ │ ││
│ │ 📝 NOTES: ││
│ │ • Will be offline 2-4pm for appointment ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│ │
│ BENEFITS: │
│ • No meeting required │
│ • Everyone sees updates when online │
│ • Written record for reference │
│ • Works across all time zones │
│ │
│ RULES: │
│ • Post before leaving for day │
│ • Read others' updates when you start │
│ • Respond to questions within your day │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Handoffs
Cross-Timezone Handoffs
FOLLOW-THE-SUN WORKFLOW:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ WORK CONTINUES 24 HOURS: │
│ │
│ Asia team works → hands off → Europe team works → │
│ → hands off → Americas team works → hands off → Asia │
│ │
│ HANDOFF TEMPLATE: │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ 🔄 HANDOFF: PROJ-123 Password Reset ││
│ │ From: @dev-india ││
│ │ To: @dev-london ││
│ │ Time: 6pm IST / 12:30pm GMT ││
│ │ ││
│ │ CURRENT STATE: ││
│ │ • API: Complete, tested ││
│ │ • Frontend: 60% complete ││
│ │ • Tests: Unit tests written, integration pending ││
│ │ ││
│ │ WHAT'S LEFT: ││
│ │ • Complete error handling UI ││
│ │ • Integration tests ││
│ │ • QA testing ││
│ │ ││
│ │ CURRENT BRANCH: ││
│ │ feature/password-reset ││
│ │ Last commit: abc123 "Add form validation" ││
│ │ ││
│ │ BLOCKERS: ││
│ │ None ││
│ │ ││
│ │ NOTES: ││
│ │ Error states need design review (asked designer) ││
│ │ See comment in code at line 45 about edge case ││
│ │ ││
│ │ QUESTIONS: ││
│ │ None - good to continue ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│ │
│ RECEIVING TEAM: │
│ • Read handoff when starting day │
│ • Pull latest code │
│ • Continue work │
│ • Post questions async if needed │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Communication Guidelines
Response Expectations
ASYNC RESPONSE NORMS:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ SET CLEAR EXPECTATIONS: │
│ │
│ URGENT (same day response): │
│ • Production issues │
│ • Blocking someone else's work │
│ • Time-sensitive decisions │
│ Mark with: 🚨 or @urgent │
│ │
│ NORMAL (next business day): │
│ • Code reviews │
│ • Questions about work │
│ • Status updates │
│ Default expectation │
│ │
│ LOW PRIORITY (within 48 hours): │
│ • FYI updates │
│ • Non-blocking questions │
│ • Documentation reviews │
│ Mark with: 📌 or "when you have time" │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ GOLDEN RULES: │
│ │
│ 1. Assume people are offline │
│ Don't expect immediate response │
│ │
│ 2. Provide context upfront │
│ "Need decision on X because Y" │
│ Not "Can we talk?" │
│ │
│ 3. State what you need clearly │
│ "Need approval by EOD Friday" │
│ Not "Thoughts?" │
│ │
│ 4. Respect offline hours │
│ Don't expect response at 3am their time │
│ │
│ 5. Use async over sync │
│ Meeting only if async won't work │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Documentation Location
WHERE TO FIND WHAT:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ SINGLE SOURCE OF TRUTH: │
│ │
│ WORK STATUS: │
│ → GitScrum board │
│ "What are we working on?" │
│ │
│ DECISIONS: │
│ → Task comments or linked docs │
│ "Why did we decide X?" │
│ │
│ TECHNICAL DOCS: │
│ → Wiki/Notion/Confluence │
│ "How does this work?" │
│ │
│ QUICK QUESTIONS: │
│ → Slack (but document answers in wiki) │
│ "What's the API endpoint for X?" │
│ │
│ ANNOUNCEMENTS: │
│ → Slack #team-announcements │
│ "New policy, meeting change, etc." │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ RULE: If discussed in Slack, document in wiki │
│ Slack is ephemeral, wiki is permanent │
│ │
│ Future team members can find answers │
│ Across all time zones │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘