Navigating Time Zones as a Distributed Team
Three time zones, two consistent overlap windows, and a lot of async writing.
We span Istanbul, Berlin, and the US East Coast. The Istanbul–Berlin overlap is generous; the US overlap is two hours at most, and only if everyone agrees to be a morning or evening person.
What works: long-form written updates at the end of each person's day. The next time zone wakes up with full context. Stand-ups become async.
What doesn't work: emergency decisions. We try to never have one. When we do, someone loses sleep.