Scheduling across time zones gets easier when nobody has to convert times in their head. Everyone should mark their availability in their own local time, and the tool should line it all up in one place.
Why it goes wrong
Most mistakes come from a time written without its zone. “Let’s do 3pm Thursday” means different things in Sydney and London, and daylight saving shifts the gap twice a year, on different dates in different countries. Europe and the US switch on different weekends, so for a few weeks each spring and autumn the usual gap is off by an hour.
Hours that tend to work
| Group | Usually works | Usually painful |
|---|---|---|
| US East + UK/Europe | 9 am to noon in New York | Anything after 1 pm in New York |
| US West + UK/Europe | 8 to 9 am in San Francisco | Most of the working day |
| UK/Europe + Australia (east) | 7 to 9 am in London, evening in Sydney | European afternoons |
| US + Australia | US late afternoon, Australian morning | US mornings |
These are starting points. Real availability beats rules of thumb, which is why it’s worth asking.
A simple way to do it
- Pick the days that could work and a wide window of hours.
- Send everyone a link where they mark their free times in their own time zone.
- Look at where the overlap lands. If it’s early for one person and late for another, rotate who gets the awkward slot next time.
Overlappy does the conversion for you: each person sees the grid in their local time, and the confirmed time shows up correctly in every calendar.