Hands across the timezones–tips for working with distant teams
March 6, 2007 by Tris Hussey
Filed under Careers
I can’t remember a time in the last 7 years that I haven’t been working in multiple timezones (a Canadian invention, btw). Via Web Worker Daily (man we should start a union or something) comes some tips from TechMag on working across space and time.
Use e-mail and online tools to link people asynchronously Schedule telephone or VOIP calls to bring the team together and review status Watch out for cultural and language differences Use informal exchanges about sports, movies, and family to increase bonding
Source: Web Worker Daily » Blog Archive Teams Across Timezones «
Of all the tips that WWD suggests, having a world clock is THE big one. You just have to know what time it is where your friends are. Yes, trying to arrange meetings so people don’t have to be up in the middle of the night (unless they are into that) or really early in the morning is polite, but it really starts with knowing the time. I use virtual ones mostly. Having that many clocks on my desktop can drive me nuts.
How many of you frequently work with folks in different TZs?
