5 tips to working across time zones
8 am Wednesday. It is a sunny and warm day. Perfect for having a short walk before the day starts. I turned on the latest Tim Ferriss podcast and headed to the market to get some fresh fruits and veggies. By 9 am I was already back, stored everything, opened my calendar and… discovered that I had missed already 2 lectures at the university and one meeting at work. Ups.
Hey, I’m Dasha. I have been living in Florianopolis, Brazil, for the past year. I am from Russia, and I work with a Russian startup. So I have 6 hours time difference with the rest of my colleagues. The workday starts first in Moscow and then around 2 pm Moscow time I join.
- Be ready to adjust
Mornings used to be the most productive and the most uninterrupted time of the day for me. I used to do a lot of creative tasks that I could focus on. When I just moved, I tried to do the same, but it was a costly mistake. I was constantly talking to my colleagues and trying to focus on writing at the same time. Neither was working. So now my mornings are busy with meetings or emails, and in the afternoon, when most of my colleagues finish working, I can have more deep work hours.
2. Set up a system to stay updated
You are going to miss many meetings. If most of your colleagues work together, there is no way around it. Being the last to learn things can make you feel like an outsider and make you feel lonely. Ask your team to record the important meetings, or ask someone to send you a short note on what you have missed, or have a slack chat with a daily scrum.
3. Make sure people know your time zone
Make sure your team knows what time they should expect a response from you. When one is going to set up a meeting, do not forget to remind that you are available from X p.m. Or, if you use Slack, set your word hours in the status field. This will let people understand when to expect a response from you. For easy scheduling and planning, use a time zone converter World Time Buddy.
4. Check a schedule for the next day
Especially at the beginning, you will confuse the time and miss or be late to the meeting. Checking the time the day before is a good way to remind yourself about the next day activities. A good lifehack to set up an alarm clock a couple of minutes before important meetings to make sure you will not forget.
5. Use massage scheduling to follow up
Sometimes the best time to send an email or a follow up is while you are sleeping. I needed to send a 9 am email. In Brazil, it would have been 3 am. Email scheduling is a great tool for these situations.
Do you have any more tips we have not talked about? Add in the comments below. We would be happy to learn from you.
