Timezone Tricks
Tips on managing remote teams spread across time
My experience working with remote and distributed teams started in 2011. Over the years, I’ve seen effective configurations and learned from dysfunction. I’ve made 7 hour plus timezone differences work and, at times, have ended up drained and fatigued.
Recently a colleague started a new role where the team is remote with a 9 hour time difference between two groups. We discussed some things to think about and techniques to try and I thought you mind find them useful.
My advice in a nutshell is:
Focus on overlap not the timezone gap itself.
Actively manage how you use limited overlap time.
Use recap messages to help colleagues get caught up
Send short recorded videos to stay connected
Focus on overlap not timezone gap
Overlap is the time when team members are online working at the same time. The overlap time determines how much time is available for meetings, 1:1 discussions, pairing, and ad-hoc live interactions. I’ve found it more useful to focus on overlap time instead of the timezone difference since overlap accounts for the variance in each team member’s work schedule. Whereas timezone differences are fixed, overlap can be flexible when team members shift their working day earlier or later.
So instead of thinking in terms of a maximum timezone difference, set a minimum overlap time for the team. Four hours is a good starting point that will allow teams to develop an effective collaboration. Below that can work, but it is much more difficult to build new relationships and launch new projects with so little overlap.
It’s also worth looking at the pairwise overlap times within a team. Sometimes you’ll have a single team member with low overlap. This requires extra effort to keep it sustainable. You can gain “overlap leverage” if you can arrange for one or two team members to act as overlap bridges (ideally being in a timezone in-between the extremes on the team and less ideally by adopting a more extreme working schedule shift). These bridges help avoid lonely island scenarios and can keep information flowing with less effort.
Actively manage the overlap time
Overlap time is a precious and limited resource. By default, this time will be consumed by meetings to exchange status, plan, and retrospect. Using the overlap time for those activities is a sensible default, but it’s important to maintain a higher level perspective and consider what the team most needs in a given period of time. For example, you might decide to break the routine and use the overlap time to improve relationships and have folks break out to have 1:1s. Or you might help the team make focused progress on the work by using the time for pair (or mob) programming. Since the overlap time is high value, you need to regularly ask yourself how can it best be used.
Recap messages
Use recap messages to share context across timezones. If your day continues after a portion of the team has ended their day, share an end-of-day status recapping progress, questions, and next steps. These breadcrumbs will help your teammates when starting their next day before you’re online. Similarly, if you start your day before other members of the team, sharing a recap just before they will come online makes it much easier for them to catch up and get started. Most often I’ve seen teams use chat messages for these recaps. Using video, even occasionally, can increase the impact of the recap. In addition to adding a human connection, showing progress and issues via screen share is often more efficient to create and consume.
Async video
Making use of recorded video can go beyond recap messages. When you have limited overlap with a direct collaborator or a small group, sharing short videos in addition to text chat and documents can be a game changer for improving alignment. In a previous role, the VP of Product and I built a habit of exchanging video messages. As an additional communication channel, they cut through misunderstanding and helped us feel more connected. It took some getting used to and, at first, I burned time on retakes. My colleague often found it easier to talk something out and not spend time composing text. I think most distributed teams don’t take advantage of video often enough. It’s a powerful complement to other modes.
Thanks for reading! If you have other timezone tips and tricks to share, I’d love to hear them.