Guide To Handle Time Zone Differences With Offshore Development Teams

When working with offshore development teams, effective time management and meeting deadlines are crucial for the success of any business.Globalisation and remote work are pushing companies to outsource software development to offshore development teams around the world.

Businesses need to implement robust time management strategies and tools to ensure the timely delivery of high-quality software products.

A recent survey conducted by Statista revealed that about 10% of participants were dissatisfied with time zone differences.

The article emphasises a few tips to handle time zone differences.

Managing time zones – The most challenging aspect

One of the biggest challenges while hiring offshore software development teams is the difference in time zone. Additionally, team members working in different time zones can have difficulty communicating. Meetings and discussions may need to be scheduled at odd hours.

Also, delays in communication lead to project delays and misunderstandings. To overcome these challenges, it is important to establish clear communication protocols. Furthermore, use tools that allow for asynchronous communication and collaboration.

You should hire dedicated offshore teams who are comfortable working flexible hours to adapt to the time difference.

Seven Tips to handle time zone differences in offshore teams

Here we highlighted some tips for managing time zone differences when working with offshore teams.

1. Effective communication

Effective communication is crucial when working with offshore development teams, especially when dealing with different time zone differences.

Maintaining communication with your offshore development teams is essential to ensure that all projects are coordinated.

Furthermore, this helps to avoid miscommunications and keeps the project moving ahead. Daily communication allows you to quickly identify and resolve any issue that arises during the process. Thus, preventing them from becoming bigger problems down the line.

Daily communication with offshore teams helps to establish good relationships. Additionally, this improves collaboration and gives successful project outcomes.

2. Smart hiring should be implemented

Smart hiring is an essential strategy when working with offshore development teams. A smooth collaboration and clear communication are crucial for handling time zone differences. In addition, it is imperative to hire a dedicated offshore team that can work flexible hours and accommodate time zone differences.

It is beneficial to hire individuals who possess excellent communication skills. Also, this helps to bridge any potential language barriers.

Furthermore, partnering with reputable outsourcing software development services can be a wise decision and connect you with qualified candidates.

3. The time zone visual should always be handy

It can be beneficial to keep a hard copy of the time zone of your offshore development company for ease of scheduling and management.

Furthermore, having physical references allow you to avoid mistakes and ensure that you are respecting your partner’s work schedule.

This helps you to save time and help you avoid miscommunication that can negatively impact your business.

Also, maintaining an up-to-date hard copy of the time zone difference helps you stay organised. Also, ensure that you communicate effectively with your team.

4. Avoid micromanagement

Micromanagement can be detrimental to managing time zone differences when working with offshore development teams.

One way to avoid micromanagement is to establish a schedule that allows for overlap between time zones. Furthermore, this will enable real-time communication and ensure everyone works towards the same goals.

Additionally, providing detailed project documentation and guidelines will help the team to understand their tasks and work independently.

Respecting cultural differences and being mindful of team work-life balance is also important. Avoid scheduling meetings or tasks outside of regular business hours. Encourage open communications to address any concerns or issues promptly. You can effectively manage time zone differences by fostering a supportive work environment.

5. Use project management tools

When managing teams across different time zones, investing in good management tools can be crucial for success.

Furthermore, these tools can help to ensure that communication is efficient, deadlines are met and projects stay on track. Time zone management tools help to avoid confusion and scheduling conflicts. While project management software can provide a centralized platform for collaboration and task tracking.

By investing in these tools, managers can effectively navigate the challenges of time zone differences and keep the team working together smoothly.

6. Agile practices

To effectively handle time zone differences when working with offshore development teams, it is essential to establish clear communication protocols and a shared understanding of working hours.

Furthermore, this includes setting up daily stand-up meetings at a time that works for all team members. Utilizing collaboration tools that facilitate asynchronous communication and being considerate of each other’s schedules is key to effective collaboration.

Moreover, establishing a culture of trust and respect allows team members to seek support regardless of time zone.

7. Embrace Flexibility

When working with offshore teams, embracing flexibility is key to managing the time zone difference effectively. Firstly, establish clear communication channels and protocols that allow for asynchronous communication.

Secondly, adjust your own work hours to accommodate team members in different time zones. Thirdly, establish a shared understanding of project time and deadlines to ensure everyone has the same objective.

Finally, cultivate a culture of trust, where team members can handle their own responsibility.

By embracing flexibility, offshore development teams can work together seamlessly, despite differences in time zones.

Benefits of hiring an offshore development team

Check out a few benefits of hiring a dedicated offshore development centre:

1. Cost Saving

Offshore teams offer significant cost savings for the business. Offshore labour is less expensive than local labour, particularly in countries with lower living standards.

Furthermore, offshore development teams provide round-the-clock support, enabling businesses to operate 24/7.

Also, offshore teams can provide specialized skills that aren’t always available in-house.

This allows companies to access talent from around the world and to benefit from cost savings due to lower labour costs in certain countries. Furthermore, offshore development teams help you to get access to new markets to reach new customers.

2. Focus on core business operation

Hiring offshore teams allows a business to focus on its core expertise by outsourcing non-core functions to specialized teams.

The company can then use that time, money, and personnel for activities that directly contribute to its bottom line.

Businesses can focus on areas where they have a competitive advantage by outsourcing customer support and software development.

By leveraging offshore development teams, a business can optimize its operations and enhance efficiency and profitability.

3. Leveraging the latest technologies

The offshore development industry is at the forefront of leveraging the latest technologies.

With the help of advanced communication tools and cutting-edge technologies, offshore teams work seamlessly from anywhere in the world.

Furthermore, they can share ideas, and resources in real-time. This helps to improve the organisation’s productivity.

To reduce costs and enhance competitiveness, offshore teams adopt new technologies such as blockchain and machine learning.

4. Access to the vast pool of global talent

Hiring offshore software development services provides access to a vast pool of global talent that can bring diverse skill sets and perspectives to your organisation.

The key to finding new technologies and innovative solutions is to look beyond your local talent tool, and you can reduce labour costs as well.

Offshore development teams provide incredible support and faster turnaround time. Therefore, allowing you to compete in a global market efficiently.

However, it is important to carefully vet offshore teams for quality work and effective communication.

5. Reduce liabilities

One of the significant advantages of hiring offshore software development is that can work remotely. This eliminates the need of providing them with physical resources and equipment.

Additionally, this minimises the cost required for office infrastructure. Moreover, remote work increases flexibility for the company and the offshore team.

This can lead to better work-life balance for offshore team members, resulting in optimistic outcomes.

Some Valuable tools to handle time zone differences.

Here we will discuss some tools that are helpful in managing an offshore team.

1. Timefinder

Timefinder is a powerful tool to handle time-zone differences when working with offshore teams.

This tool helps to schedule a meeting and deadlines that automatically adjust to the relevant time zones. Timefinder’s intuitive interface enables real-time collaboration, automatic reminders and customised reporting.

Furthermore, this enables managers to track progress and potential issues arising from time zone differences.

Additionally, it is essential for an organization looking to optimize its offshore team management and increase productivity.

2. Boomerang

Boomerang is an innovative tool for handling time zone differences. Using this tool, offshore development teams can schedule emails for delivery to the recipient at their local time. This makes sure communication is received on time.

Additionally, this tool provides automatic reminders for follow-up emails, which helps track progress across different time zones.

Boomerang features advanced analytics, team sharing and customisable reporting. Thus, making it an essential tool to optimize offshore team management.

Overall, it increases productivity while effectively managing the challenges of working across a different time zone.

3. World clock meeting planner

A world clock meeting planner tool manages offshore teams by simplifying the process of scheduling meetings across different time zones.

Furthermore, this tool displays the current time in multiple cities, making it easy to find a time that works for everyone. This tool can calculate the time zone differences, reducing the risk of scheduling conflicts.

Additionally, this tool enhances communication among offshore team members. As a result, everyone strives to achieve the same goals.

4. Timezone.io

Timezone.io is a powerful tool to manage the time zone difference when working with offshore team members.

With this tool, team members can easily view their colleague’s current time zones and adjust their work accordingly.

This help avoids confusion and ensures that all team members work towards the same goals. Time zone considerations are also taken into account when scheduling team calls.

Overall, this is a valuable tool for any offshore development team working across different time zones.

5. World Time Buddy

World time buddy is an online tool that helps the offshore team to handle time zone differences. It allows team members to easily compare time zone, view the current time and date and schedule meetings and calls that work for everyone.

This tool has a simple interface that shows team members’ working hours in different time zones. Furthermore, it is helpful when planning work assignments and deadlines.

World time buddy integrates a popular calendar application to schedule appointments and meeting across different time zones.

It is a useful solution to staying productive across different time zones.

How Bigscal Overcomes the Time Zone Differences

Firstly, we use collaboration tools such as chats, video conferencing and document sharing that enables team members to work together regardless of their time zones. These tools allow the team to discuss the project’s progress and help them to communicate on the task in real-time.

Secondly, we use project management tools that enable teams to organise tasks and set deadlines that take into account time zone differences. Team members can track progress, receive notifications about deadlines and collaborate on tasks in a way that is efficient and transparent, regardless of where they are located.

Thirdly, we implement a “follow-the-sun” approach, where work is handed over between teams in different time zone. This allows for continuous work on the project and helps reduce turnaround time.

Fourthly, We have set up a system of overlapping hours, where team members have a few hours of overlap each day. Teams can communicate on urgent issues during these overlapping hours, while other work can be done during non-overlapping hours.

Overall, Bigscal manages time zone differences by providing a comprehensive platform that allows teams to manage projects efficiently regardless of their location or time zone.

Final Thoughts

To effectively handle time zone differences with the offshore team, it is important to have a clear understanding of the time zone difference and to establish effective protocols.

Time zone differences can be helpful, but they may not always be feasible. Therefore, it is important to develop a schedule that allows for adequate collaboration and communication despite time zone differences.

Moreover, using technology tools to facilitate communication across different time zones is highly beneficial.

If your company needs an offshore software development company, please contact us. With our help, you will be able to streamline the priority of your project and make the execution seamless.

FAQ