Do you know how to collaborate across time zones with minimal overlap?
Last updated by Tiago Araújo [SSW] 4 months ago.See historyTimezones can make communication and collaboration difficult, but there is a silver lining! If there is a time-sensitive task you can asynchronously collaborate and get it done faster. Imagine a relay race, where you pass the baton to the next runner. This is how you should think about collaborating across timezones.
To do this effectively, you need to do a project handover every day. This takes a lot of thorough documentation and communication.
Send an email at the end of your day to the person in the other timezone. This email should contain the progress you made today, any decisions that were made, and any big changes that impact the rest of the work.
You should list the remaining tasks and ask them to reply if they have completed the tasks from the previous email.
Passing the baton
| To: | {{ COWORKER IN OTHER TIMEZONE }} |
| Subject: | {{ SUBJECT }} |
Hi {{ COWORKER IN OTHER TIMEZONE }}
Handing the baton back to you. Here is the progress I made today.
{{ KEY CHANGES (any decisions that were made or big changes that impact the rest of the work) }}
{{ REMAINING TASKS }}
{{ REPLY DONE (or not done) TO PREVIOUS EMAIL'S TASKS }}
<This email was sent as per the rule: https://ssw.com.au/rules/collaborate-across-timezones>
Figure: Good example – A nice handover email to your coworker in another timezone, repeat this process until the task is complete
If there is business hours overlap, get a checked by from the recipient.
Use Time Zone Converter – Time Difference Calculator
Time Zone Converter – Time Difference Calculator provides time zone conversions that account for Daylight Saving Time (DST) and local time zones, while supporting present, past, and future dates.
