Working with a remote software team across time zones.
A remote software team in another time zone works well when you protect one shared window for decisions and run everything else in writing. Use live time for demos, questions and choices, and use notes, a decision log and recorded reviews for the rest of the day. This article from Foxefy, a custom enterprise software development company, sets out that rhythm and what to agree before work starts.
Does a time difference slow a software project down?
Not by itself. A time difference slows a project when decisions wait for a meeting that is hard to schedule or when questions sit unanswered overnight. It speeds work up when each side hands over clear notes, so the team picks up in the morning exactly where the other side stopped.
The delay people fear is a day lost on every question. It happens when the team asks a vague question, waits for a vague answer and asks again. Teams avoid it by asking complete questions, naming who answers them and keeping a short list of what is blocked.
So the useful question is not how far apart the two sides are. It is how many hours of live time you share, and whether the remaining hours are set up to make progress without you. The sections below take each part in turn.
What is the overlap window for?
The overlap window is for the work that needs both sides talking at once: choosing between options, seeing a demo, settling a disputed requirement and unblocking someone. Anything that one person can read and answer alone belongs outside it, in writing.
Keep the window short and protected. Name the people who must attend, publish the agenda before the call and end with a written list of what was decided and who does what next. If a topic needs no discussion, take it out of the call and put it in the notes.
A good test for any item is whether it needs a reply within the hour. If it does, it goes in the window. If a reply tomorrow is fine, it goes in a written update.
Which work belongs in the overlap and which belongs in writing?
Put discussion and decisions in the overlap, and put reporting, review and reference material in writing. The table below gives a starting split. Adjust it to how your own team works, then write the result down so both sides follow the same rule.
How common work items split between the overlap window and the rest of the day Work item During the overlap Outside it Progress reporting Take questions on the update, not a read-out of it. A written update at the end of each working day: done, next and blocked. Decisions Settle open choices with the people who can make them. Prepare options in writing beforehand and record the result afterward. Demos Show working software and collect reactions live. A recording and short notes for anyone who could not attend. Questions about requirements Resolve the ones that block today's work. Post the rest with a screenshot or example and a named owner for the answer. Reviews of the work Walk through the result and agree what changes. Reviewers comment in writing against the working software, not against slides. Hand-offs at the end of the day Confirm priorities for the next day if something changed. A hand-off note: what is finished, what is half done and what the next person needs. Problems and risks Raise anything that could change scope or a date, as soon as it appears. Log it with the impact and the proposed response. Notice what the right-hand column has in common. Every entry is something a person can read when they start work, without finding anyone to ask.
What should written updates and a decision log contain?
A written update says what was finished, what comes next and what is blocked. A decision log records each choice with its date, the people who made it and the reason. Together they let anyone join the project, or return from a holiday, and see where things stand in minutes.
- Done. Work that is finished and can be checked in the working software, not work that is merely started.
- Next. What the team will pick up when the next working day begins, in priority order.
- Blocked. What the team needs, from whom and by when, so that a missing answer is visible and not silent.
- Decision. The choice, the date, who made it and the reason in one or two sentences, so nobody reopens it by accident.
- Open question. Anything still undecided, with the person who owns the answer.
The decision log matters most when the two sides are rarely online together. Without it, the same question comes back every few weeks and the answer shifts a little each time. With it, a new person reads one page and knows why the system works the way it does.
How do you review work when you are rarely online together?
Review working software, not descriptions of it. Ask for a build you can open and click through, give feedback in writing against what you saw, and keep the live call for the disagreements that comments could not settle. This turns a review from a meeting into a short, repeatable routine.
The team shows each increment as software you can use, on a test version you can reach yourself. You try it, write what you found and tag each comment as a fix, a question or a new idea. In the next shared window, the call covers only the items that need discussion. Foxefy works remotely, with discovery, reviews and check-ins over video calls.
Written feedback also leaves a record. When a requirement changes later, you can see what was shown, what was said and what was agreed. For how reviews fit into the build itself, see the build stage of how Foxefy works.
How do daylight-saving changes and holidays change the plan?
Daylight-saving changes move the overlap window by an hour for part of the year, because the two sides change their clocks on different dates, or not at all. Holidays differ on each side. Check both before each period of work, and publish the dates so nobody is surprised.
- Clock changes. When one side changes its clocks and the other does not, the shared window shifts by an hour for a few weeks. Move the recurring invitation on purpose, and say so in the project channel.
- Different change dates. If both sides change, they often change on different weekends. Expect a short stretch where the window is off by an hour in the other direction.
- Holiday calendars. Each side has its own public holidays and leave. Share both calendars at kickoff and mark the days when the team is unavailable.
- Release dates. Do not schedule a launch or a demo for a day when one side is away. Choose dates that both calendars allow.
None of this is hard, but it is easy to forget. A shared calendar with both sets of holidays and clock changes, kept by one named person, removes most of the surprises.
What should you agree at kickoff?
Agree the shared window, the people who attend it, how updates are written, where decisions are recorded and who can say yes or no on your side. Put these in one page that both teams can read. Rules agreed in the first week hold up far better than rules added after a misunderstanding.
- The overlap window: the days and hours both sides keep free, and who attends.
- The decision-maker: one named person on your side who can approve, reject or defer, and a named backup.
- The update format: when written updates arrive, where they are posted and what they contain.
- The decision log: where it lives, who writes in it and who can read it.
- The demo rhythm: how often working software is shown and how feedback is returned.
- The calendars: public holidays and planned leave on both sides, and the dates when clocks change.
- Escalation: who to contact, and by what route, when something blocks the work outside the window.
If you are still choosing who should build the software, the guide on in-house versus outsourced development compares the options. When you want a build handled by a remote team, custom software development shows what Foxefy builds and how the work runs.
Frequently asked questions
How many people from our side need to attend the shared calls?
As few as can make the decisions on the agenda. Usually that is one decision-maker and the person who knows the daily work best. Others can read the notes afterward. A smaller group makes decisions faster and keeps the shared window free for the questions that need live discussion.
What if an urgent problem comes up outside the shared hours?
Agree an escalation route at kickoff: who to contact, through which channel and what counts as urgent. For most issues, a clear written message with the impact and what you have already tried lets the team act as soon as their day begins. Keep live escalation for real outages.
Is a recorded demo as good as a live one?
A recording works well for informing people, and a live demo works better for deciding. Show important increments live so questions get answered on the spot. Record every demo as well, so that colleagues who missed it can watch it and add written comments.
Planning a build with a remote team?
Book a discovery call and Foxefy will walk through how the work would run, from the first call to launch.
Book a discovery call- info@foxefy.com
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