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cannan David
cannan David

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Best Free Tools for Remote Developers Working Across Time Zones (2025)

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Best Free Tools for Remote Developers Working Across Time Zones (2025)

I've been working remotely with teams across 5 time zones for the past 2 years (San Francisco → Berlin → Singapore → Sydney → NYC).

The problem: My workday starts when half my team is sleeping, and ends when the other half is just waking up.

Real example from last week:

  • 9:00am PST (my morning) = 6:00pm CET (Berlin wrapping up) = 1:00am SGT (Singapore sleeping)
  • 5:00pm PST (my evening) = 2:00am CET (Berlin sleeping) = 9:00am SGT (Singapore just starting)

Result: Async communication became CRITICAL. I couldn't just Slack "quick question" and expect instant replies.

After testing 38 different remote work tools over 24 months, here are the 16 tools that actually keep distributed teams productive (not just connected).

🎯 My Situation (For Context)

My team setup:

  • Me: San Francisco (PST, UTC-8)
  • Frontend team: Berlin (CET, UTC+1) — 9 hour difference
  • Backend team: Singapore (SGT, UTC+8) — 16 hour difference
  • QA team: Sydney (AEDT, UTC+11) — 19 hour difference
  • Product manager: NYC (EST, UTC-5) — 3 hour difference

Overlap windows:

  • SF ↔ Berlin: 9am-11am PST (6pm-8pm CET) — 2 hours
  • SF ↔ Singapore: None (when I wake up, they sleep; when I sleep, they wake)
  • SF ↔ Sydney: None
  • SF ↔ NYC: 9am-3pm PST — 6 hours (best overlap)

My main challenges:

  1. How do I "quick question" someone who's asleep?
  2. How do I give/receive feedback without 24-hour delays?
  3. How do I avoid 11pm meetings?
  4. How do I stay synced on project status?
  5. How do I feel connected to people I never see in person?

📊 The 16 Free Tools (By Use Case)

🕐 Time Zone Management

1. Funora World Clock Game — Best for Quick Time Checks (Free)

Website: https://funora.online/games/world-clock-game/

Why I use it daily:

Before: I Googled "12pm CET to PST" 5+ times per day.

Now: I keep Funora World Clock open in a browser tab (shows 5 cities at once).

My actual setup:

I added these 5 cities:

  • San Francisco (my time)
  • New York (PM's time)
  • Berlin (frontend team)
  • Singapore (backend team)
  • Sydney (QA team)

Real use case from yesterday:

PM: "Let's schedule sprint planning at 10am"
Me: "10am whose time?"
PM: "My time (EST)"
Me: Checks Funora clock → 10am EST = 7am PST = 4pm CET = 12am SGT

My reply: "That's midnight Singapore time. How about 8am EST (5am PST, 2pm CET, 11pm SGT)? Still late for Singapore but at least before midnight."

What I love:

  • ✅ No account signup (instant)
  • ✅ Shows 5+ cities at once (no clicking between zones)
  • ✅ Visual analog clocks (easier than "UTC+8" mental math)
  • ✅ Lightweight (doesn't slow down browser)

What's missing:

  • ❌ No meeting scheduler integration (just a visual reference)

Best for: Quick time zone lookups, visual time comparison.

Alternatives I tested:

  • World Time Buddy (worldtimebuddy.com) - Great for meeting planning, but cluttered UI
  • Every Time Zone (everytimezone.com) - Beautiful design, but horizontal scroll annoying

2. World Time Buddy — Best for Finding Meeting Times (Free)

Website: https://www.worldtimebuddy.com

Why I upgraded to this (from Funora):

Funora Clock shows current time. World Time Buddy lets me plan future meetings.

My actual use case:

Task: Schedule design review with Berlin + Singapore + me

Process:

  1. Add 3 cities: San Francisco, Berlin, Singapore
  2. Drag slider to different times
  3. Find green zone (reasonable hours for all 3)

Result:

  • 5:00pm PST (SF) = 2:00am CET (Berlin - sleeping ❌) = 9:00am SGT (SG - perfect ✅)
  • 8:00am PST (SF) = 5:00pm CET (Berlin - perfect ✅) = 12am SGT (SG - midnight ❌)
  • Compromise: 9:30am PST = 6:30pm CET (Berlin late but okay) = 1:30am SGT (Singapore team lead stays up late, optional for others)

Backup plan: Record meeting, post async summary (see Loom below).

What I love:

  • ✅ Visual slider (see all times at once)
  • ✅ Color-coded hours (green = work hours, gray = sleep)
  • ✅ Shareable links (send to team: "Which time works?")

What's missing:

  • ❌ Cluttered UI (too many ads/features)
  • ❌ Slow to load (vs Funora's instant)

Best for: Scheduling cross-timezone meetings, finding overlap windows.

3. Every Time Zone — Best for Beautiful Visualization (Free)

Website: https://everytimezone.com

Why I use it for presentations:

When onboarding new remote team members, I show them Every Time Zone to explain our distribution:

"See how when it's 9am in SF, Berlin is ending their day and Singapore is sleeping? That's why we use async tools."

What I love:

  • ✅ Gorgeous design (best-looking time zone tool)
  • ✅ Shows all timezones (not just my 5 cities)
  • ✅ Easy to understand (even for non-techies)

What's missing:

  • ❌ Horizontal scroll (annoying on laptop)
  • ❌ Less practical than World Time Buddy for planning

Best for: Explaining time zones to new team members, presentations.

💬 Async Communication

4. Loom — Best for Async Video Messages (Free: 25 videos)

Website: https://www.loom.com

Why it replaced 90% of my meetings:

Before Loom:

  • Me: "Can we hop on a call to discuss the API changes?"
  • Berlin dev: "I'm about to leave (7pm here), can we do it tomorrow?"
  • Me: "Sure" (next day, 24-hour delay)

After Loom:

  • Me: Records 8-minute Loom walking through API changes
  • Berlin dev: Watches next morning, leaves questions as Loom comments
  • Me: Answers questions in writing (or another Loom)
  • Total time: 2 hours (vs 24+ hour email thread)

My actual stats (last 3 months):

  • Looms recorded: 47
  • Meetings avoided: ~30 (estimated)
  • Time saved: ~15 hours (30 meetings × 30 min each)

What I use Loom for:

  • ✅ Code reviews ("Here's why I think this approach won't scale...")
  • ✅ Design feedback ("The button placement feels off, here's why...")
  • ✅ Bug reports ("When I click here, this happens... see?")
  • ✅ Onboarding ("Here's how our deployment process works...")

Free tier limits:

  • 25 videos total (not per month - total!)
  • 5 minutes per video
  • 720p quality

How I work around the 25 video limit:

  • Delete old Looms after 30 days (I keep transcripts)
  • Use paid tier for work ($8/month, company pays)
  • Use free tier for side projects

What I love:

  • ✅ Instant recording (click button, starts)
  • ✅ Shows face + screen (personal + context)
  • ✅ Transcript + captions (searchable, accessible)
  • ✅ Comments with timestamps (Berlin dev: "0:42 - What about edge case X?")

What's missing:

  • ❌ Free tier is too limited (25 videos forever? Come on.)

Best for: Code reviews, design feedback, async standups, bug reports.

Alternatives:

  • Vidyard (similar but worse free tier)
  • Tella.tv (unlimited free, but less features)
  • CleanShot X (Mac only, no cloud hosting)

5. Notion — Best for Async Documentation (Free for individuals)

Website: https://www.notion.so

Why we switched from Google Docs:

Google Docs problems:

  • 50+ docs scattered everywhere
  • No structure (folders help but not enough)
  • Hard to find "What's the deployment process again?"

Notion solution:

  • Wiki structure (pages within pages)
  • Search actually works
  • Templates (e.g., "Bug Report Template")

My actual Notion setup:

📁 Team Wiki
├── 🚀 Onboarding
│   ├── First Day Checklist
│   ├── Dev Environment Setup
│   └── Loom: Team Intro (video)
├── 📖 Processes
│   ├── Deployment Process
│   ├── Code Review Guidelines
│   └── Bug Reporting Template
├── 🎯 Projects
│   ├── Q1 Goals
│   ├── Feature A (In Progress)
│   └── Feature B (Planning)
└── ⏰ Meeting Notes
    ├── Sprint Planning 2025-01-15
    └── Retro 2025-01-08
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My favorite feature: Databases

We have a "Decisions" database:

  • Decision: "Use PostgreSQL instead of MongoDB"
  • Date: 2024-11-03
  • Context: (link to Loom + Slack thread)
  • Outcome: 3 months later, still happy with decision

When Singapore asks "Why did we choose Postgres?" → Link to decision page (no need to re-explain).

What I love:

  • ✅ Free for individuals (unlimited pages)
  • ✅ Search is fast (finds text inside pages/comments)
  • ✅ Templates (standardize how we document)
  • ✅ Embed Looms/Figma/GitHub (all in one place)

What's missing:

  • ❌ Steep learning curve (took me 2 weeks to "get it")
  • ❌ Offline mode is meh (needs internet)

Best for: Team wikis, process documentation, decision logs, onboarding docs.

Alternatives:

  • Confluence (more enterprise-y, less pretty)
  • GitBook (great for public docs, overkill for internal)
  • Obsidian (local-first, but harder to share with team)

6. Slack — Best for Real-Time When You Need It (Free: 90 days of history)

Website: https://slack.com

Wait, Slack is for async?

No, but here's how I use it async:

Rule #1: No expectation of instant reply
Rule #2: Use threads (keep channels clean)
Rule #3: Status + timezone in display name

My Slack display name:
John Doe 🇺🇸 PST (9am-5pm your time: 6pm-2am CET)

This tells Berlin:

  • My timezone (PST)
  • When I'm online in their time (6pm-2am CET)
  • Don't expect replies outside those hours

My async Slack habits:

✅ Do:

  • Post questions with full context ("I'm trying to deploy, getting error X. Already tried Y. Logs attached.")
  • Use threads (keeps main channel readable)
  • Check Slack 3x/day (9am, 1pm, 5pm) instead of constantly

❌ Don't:

  • Post "Hey, you there?" (just ask the question!)
  • Expect instant replies (if urgent, say "URGENT" + email/text)
  • @here or @channel (unless actually urgent)

What I love:

  • ✅ Real-time when needed (NYC PM and I overlap 6 hours)
  • ✅ Searchable history (find old conversations)
  • ✅ Integrations (GitHub, Jira, Figma bots)

What's missing (Free tier):

  • ❌ Only 90 days of history (we lose old messages)
  • ❌ Limited integrations (10 apps max)

Best for: Real-time communication during overlap hours, quick questions (with no expectation of instant answer).

Why I don't use: Discord (too casual for work), Microsoft Teams (too clunky), email (too slow).

🛠️ Developer-Specific Tools

7. GitHub — Best for Async Code Reviews (Free for public repos)

Website: https://github.com

Why async code reviews work better than sync:

Sync code review (30-min Zoom call):

  • Me: "Let's walk through this PR"
  • Berlin dev: "Wait, let me pull it down... okay, loaded"
  • Me: "So on line 47..."
  • Berlin dev: "Hold on, my screen is lagging"
  • Result: 30 minutes, 60% wasted on tech issues

Async code review (GitHub PR comments):

  • Me: Opens PR, adds comment on line 47: "This will cause N+1 queries. Consider eager loading?"
  • Berlin dev: 7 hours later (his morning), replies: "Good catch. Fixed in commit abc123."
  • Me: 8 hours later (my morning), approves PR.
  • Result: 2 hours total time (spread across 24 hours), 100% focused discussion

My PR template (standardized in .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md):

## What changed?
(2-3 sentences)

## Why?
(Link to issue or explain context)

## How to test?
1. Step 1
2. Step 2
3. Expected result

## Screenshots/Loom
(Visual changes? Add before/after)

## Deployment notes
(Any database migrations? Config changes?)
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This template saves so much time. Berlin dev can review without asking "What does this PR do?"

What I love:

  • ✅ Line-by-line comments (precise feedback)
  • ✅ Threaded discussions (keep conversations organized)
  • ✅ Review requests (@mention specific people)
  • ✅ CI/CD integration (tests run automatically)

What's missing:

  • ❌ No video comments (Loom integration would be amazing)

Best for: Async code reviews, PR discussions, change tracking.

Alternatives:

  • GitLab (similar features, self-hosted option)
  • Bitbucket (if using Atlassian stack)

8. Figma — Best for Async Design Reviews (Free for 3 projects)

Website: https://www.figma.com

Why designers love async feedback:

Before Figma (email PNG attachments):

  • Designer: "What do you think?" (attaches screenshot)
  • Me: "The button looks off"
  • Designer: "Which button?"
  • Me: "The blue one"
  • Designer: "There are 5 blue buttons..."
  • Result: 5-email thread, no progress

After Figma (comment on specific element):

  • Designer: Shares Figma link
  • Me: Clicks button, adds comment: "This button (the CTA) feels too small. Maybe 48px height instead of 36px?"
  • Designer: Updates design, replies: "Fixed. 48px now."
  • Result: 1-comment thread, problem solved

What I love:

  • ✅ Comment on specific elements (no ambiguity)
  • ✅ See cursor movement (when working together)
  • ✅ Version history (roll back if needed)
  • ✅ Developer handoff (inspect CSS, download assets)

What's missing (Free tier):

  • ❌ Only 3 projects (enough for side projects, not enough for agencies)

Best for: Design reviews, UI feedback, design-to-dev handoff.

Alternatives:

  • Adobe XD (slower, less collaborative)
  • Sketch (Mac-only, no web version)
  • Penpot (open source, rougher UX)

9. Linear — Best for Async Project Management (Free for <10 people)

Website: https://linear.app

Why we switched from Jira:

Jira problems:

  • Slow (takes 3 seconds to load an issue)
  • Cluttered (too many fields: Epic, Story, Sub-task, Sprint, Component...)
  • Confusing (Berlin: "What's the difference between Epic and Initiative?")

Linear advantages:

  • Fast (keyboard shortcuts, loads instantly)
  • Clean (just: Issue, Priority, Status, Assignee)
  • Async-friendly (updates post to Slack automatically)

My async workflow with Linear:

Morning (9am PST):

  • Open Linear, check "Assigned to me"
  • Berlin left updates overnight: "Bug X is fixed, ready for review"
  • I review, move to "Done"

Evening (5pm PST):

  • I finish Feature Y, update Linear: "FE done, needs BE integration"
  • Post goes to Slack #engineering automatically
  • Singapore sees it in their morning (9am SGT), starts BE work

What I love:

  • ✅ Fast (Jira took 10 seconds to load, Linear takes 1 second)
  • ✅ Keyboard shortcuts (create issue: C, assign: A, set priority: P)
  • ✅ Slack integration (updates post automatically, no need to "sync up")
  • ✅ Clean UI (less overwhelm than Jira)

What's missing:

  • ❌ Less customizable than Jira (fine for most teams, not for complex orgs)

Best for: Engineering teams, async task management, bug tracking.

Alternatives:

  • Jira (more features, slower, harder to learn)
  • Asana (good for non-engineers, less dev-focused)
  • Height (new Linear competitor, similar vibe)

10. SuperCalc Timezone Calculator — Best for Quick Math (Free)

Website: https://supercalc.dev/other/timezone-calculator

When I use this:

Scenario: PM says "Let's meet in 4 hours"

Question: What time is that for Berlin and Singapore?

Quick calc:

  • 4 hours from now (PST) = ?
  • → Use SuperCalc: 1pm PST → 10pm CET → 5am SGT
  • → 10pm CET is late, 5am SGT is brutal

Reply to PM: "4 hours is rough for Berlin/Singapore. How about 6 hours (3pm PST = 12am CET = 7am SGT)? At least Berlin wraps up, Singapore starts day."

What I love:

  • ✅ Quick calculation (faster than mental math)
  • ✅ No signup (unlike World Time Buddy)

What's missing:

  • ❌ Less visual than Funora Clock or World Time Buddy

Best for: Quick timezone math, "What time is X hours from now in Y timezone?"

📹 Video & Screen Recording

11. OBS Studio — Best for Recording Tutorials (Free, Open Source)

Website: https://obsproject.com

Why I use it over Loom for long videos:

Loom limits:

  • Free: 5 minutes max
  • Paid: 45 minutes max

OBS Studio:

  • Unlimited recording time (free)
  • Higher quality (1080p/4K)
  • Local files (no cloud storage limits)

My use case:

Onboarding videos (20-30 minutes):

  • "Here's how to set up local dev environment" (25 minutes)
  • "Here's our deployment process end-to-end" (18 minutes)

I record in OBS, upload to Notion, embed in onboarding wiki.

What I love:

  • ✅ Unlimited time (record 2-hour deep dive if needed)
  • ✅ High quality (1080p 60fps)
  • ✅ Free and open source

What's missing:

  • ❌ No cloud hosting (need to upload to YouTube/Notion/S3)
  • ❌ Steeper learning curve (Loom is click-and-record, OBS needs setup)

Best for: Long tutorials, onboarding videos, course content.

Alternatives:

  • Camtasia ($249, overkill for most)
  • ScreenFlow (Mac only, $169)
  • ShareX (Windows, free but less features)

12. Tella — Best Loom Alternative (Free: Unlimited Videos!)

Website: https://www.tella.tv

Why I recommend it over Loom:

Tella Free tier:

  • ✅ Unlimited videos (vs Loom's 25 total)
  • ✅ 15 minutes per video (vs Loom's 5)
  • ✅ 1080p quality (same as Loom)

What's missing vs Loom:

  • ❌ No comments with timestamps (Loom's best feature)
  • ❌ Smaller community (less integrations)

When I use Tella:

  • Side projects (save Loom quota for work)
  • Longer videos (5-15 min range)

Best for: Loom alternative, side projects, unlimited free recording.

📊 Status & Availability

13. Clockify — Best Time Tracking (Free)

Website: https://clockify.me

Why I track time across timezones:

Problem: Berlin thinks I'm slacking (they don't see me online until 6pm their time).

Solution: Clockify time reports.

What I track:

  • "Deep Work" (coding, 4-6 hours/day)
  • "Meetings" (overlap hours with NYC, 1-2 hours/day)
  • "Async Review" (code reviews, Slack, 1-2 hours/day)

Weekly report to team: "This week: 22 hours deep work, 6 hours meetings, 8 hours reviews = 36 hours total"

This transparency helps. Berlin sees I'm working full-time, just different hours.

What I love:

  • ✅ Unlimited projects/time entries (free forever)
  • ✅ Reports (export to PDF, share with team)
  • ✅ Browser extension (track time while working)

What's missing:

  • ❌ Basic UI (not as pretty as Toggl)

Best for: Time tracking, showing productivity across timezones, freelancer billing.

Alternatives:

  • Toggl Track (prettier UI, limited free tier)
  • RescueTime (automatic tracking, but less control)

14. Calendly — Best for Scheduling Across Timezones (Free: 1 meeting type)

Website: https://calendly.com

Why it saves time:

Before Calendly:

  • PM: "Can we meet this week?"
  • Me: "Tuesday 2pm PST works?"
  • PM: "That's 5pm EST, I have another meeting. Wednesday 10am?"
  • Me: "That's 7am PST, too early. Thursday 3pm PST?"
  • Result: 6-email thread, no meeting scheduled

After Calendly:

  • PM: "Can we meet this week?"
  • Me: "Book here: [calendly.com/me]"
  • PM: Books Thursday 11am PST (2pm EST)
  • Result: 1-email thread, meeting scheduled

My Calendly setup:

Available hours: 9am-5pm PST (displayed in booker's timezone automatically)
Buffer time: 15 min before/after each meeting
Max 1 meeting/day with Singapore (they're 16 hours ahead, only 9-10am PST works)

What I love:

  • ✅ Timezone auto-conversion (Berlin sees times in CET)
  • ✅ Blocks my calendar (syncs with Google Cal)
  • ✅ Reduces email tennis

What's missing (Free tier):

  • ❌ Only 1 meeting type (can't have "15-min quick sync" + "60-min deep dive")

Best for: External meetings, podcast interviews, client calls.

Alternatives:

  • Cal.com (open source Calendly, self-hostable)
  • Microsoft Bookings (if using Microsoft 365)

🧰 Miscellaneous

15. Grammarly — Best for Async Writing (Free)

Website: https://www.grammarly.com

Why async writing needs to be perfect:

Sync (Zoom call):

  • Me: "So the, uh, thing is, we need to, like, refactor"
  • Team: Understands despite poor wording (body language + tone help)

Async (Slack/email):

  • Me: "So the, uh, thing is, we need to, like, refactor"
  • Team: "What thing? What needs refactoring? This is confusing."

Grammarly fixes:

  • Typos ("teh" → "the")
  • Clarity ("the thing" → "the API endpoint")
  • Tone (my message sounds aggressive? Grammarly suggests softer wording)

What I love:

  • ✅ Works everywhere (Gmail, Slack, Notion, Google Docs)
  • ✅ Real-time suggestions (as I type)
  • ✅ Free tier is solid (catches 90% of issues)

What's missing (Free tier):

  • ❌ No tone adjustment (Premium feature)
  • ❌ No advanced suggestions

Best for: Async writing, non-native English speakers, clarity in Slack/email.

16. Krisp — Best Noise Cancellation for Overlap Meetings (Free: 60 min/day)

Website: https://krisp.ai

Why I need noise cancellation:

My situation: I take meetings in coffee shops (digital nomad lifestyle).

Problem: Background noise (coffee grinders, conversations, traffic).

Before Krisp:

  • Berlin: "Can you repeat? There's a lot of noise"
  • Me: "Sorry, I'm in a cafe"
  • Berlin: "Can you find a quiet place?"
  • Result: Unprofessional

After Krisp:

  • Krisp removes background noise (AI-powered)
  • Berlin: "Perfect audio, where are you?"
  • Me: "Coffee shop"
  • Berlin: "Really? Sounds like you're in an office!"

What I love:

  • ✅ AI noise cancellation (works better than Zoom's built-in)
  • ✅ Works with all apps (Zoom, Google Meet, Discord)
  • ✅ Free 60 min/day (enough for 2-3 meetings)

What's missing (Free tier):

  • ❌ 60 min/day limit (have 4+ hours of meetings? Need paid)

Best for: Digital nomads, noisy environments, overlap calls.

Alternatives:

  • NVIDIA RTX Voice (free, but needs NVIDIA GPU)
  • Zoom's built-in (worse quality than Krisp)

📊 Comparison Table (All 16 Tools)

Tool Free Tier Best For Category
Funora World Clock ✅ Quick time checks Time zones
World Time Buddy ✅ Meeting scheduling Time zones
Every Time Zone ✅ Visualization Time zones
Loom 25 videos Async video Communication
Notion ✅ (individuals) Team wiki Documentation
Slack 90 days history Real-time chat Communication
GitHub ✅ (public) Code reviews Development
Figma 3 projects Design reviews Design
Linear <10 people Task management Project mgmt
SuperCalc ✅ Quick calculations Tools
OBS Studio ✅ Long tutorials Recording
Tella ✅ Unlimited Loom alternative Recording
Clockify ✅ Time tracking Productivity
Calendly 1 meeting type Scheduling Calendar
Grammarly ✅ Writing clarity Communication
Krisp 60 min/day Noise cancel Audio

🎯 My Daily Workflow (Remote + Async)

Morning (9am PST = 6pm CET = 1am SGT):

  1. ✅ Check Funora Clock (who's online?)

    • Berlin: End of day (read their updates, don't expect replies)
    • Singapore: Sleeping (don't message)
    • NYC: Lunchtime (available for quick sync)

  2. ✅ Check Linear (overnight updates)

    • Berlin closed 3 issues → Review PRs on GitHub
    • Singapore commented on API spec → Reply in Notion

  3. ✅ Check Slack (read overnight messages)

    • Reply to Berlin (they'll see tomorrow morning)
    • Reply to NYC (they'll see in 5 min)

  4. ✅ Deep work (9am-12pm)

    • Track time in Clockify
    • No meetings during this block

Afternoon (1pm-5pm PST = 10pm-2am CET = 5am-9am SGT):

  1. ✅ Overlap meetings (1-2pm PST)

    • NYC (4-5pm EST) - weekly 1:1 with PM
    • Use Krisp for noise cancellation

  2. ✅ Async communication (2-5pm)

    • Record Loom for Berlin (they'll watch tomorrow)
    • Leave Figma comments for designer
    • Update Linear issues for Singapore (they'll see in morning)

  3. ✅ Code reviews (4-5pm)

    • Review Singapore's PRs (they submitted overnight)
    • Leave GitHub comments (they'll address tomorrow)

Evening (5pm+ PST):

  1. ✅ Optional: Singapore overlap (5-6pm PST = 9-10am SGT)

    • If urgent issue, quick Slack sync
    • Usually not needed (async works)

  2. ✅ End of day

    • Clockify report: 8 hours tracked
    • Check Calendly: Any meetings booked for tomorrow?

💡 What I Learned After 2 Years of Remote + Async

1. Timezone math gets easier (but never easy)

First 3 months: Googled "3pm PST to CET" 10+ times/day.
Now: I just know (3pm PST = midnight CET = way too late).

Tool that helped: Funora World Clock (always open).

2. Async > Sync for deep work

Surprising finding: Async code reviews are BETTER than sync.

  • Sync: Rushed, 30-min time limit, surface-level
  • Async: Thoughtful, detailed, better questions

Tool that helped: GitHub PR comments + Loom.

3. Over-communication is key

When you can't see someone, you need to over-document:

  • Status updates in Linear
  • Loom recordings of complex changes
  • Decision logs in Notion

If I don't communicate, Berlin assumes I'm not working.

4. Overlap hours are sacred

I have 2 hours/day overlap with Berlin (9-11am PST).
I protect those hours: No deep work, no solo tasks.
Only: Meetings, pair programming, quick syncs.

Tool that helped: Calendly (blocks my calendar automatically).

5. Tools don't fix bad async culture

Bad async culture:

  • "Why didn't you reply instantly?"
  • No documentation (everything in people's heads)
  • Sync meetings for everything

Good async culture:

  • "Reply within 24 hours is fine"
  • Wiki for everything (Notion)
  • Meetings only when truly needed (Loom for rest)

Tools just enable good culture. They don't create it.

🚀 Action Steps (If You're Starting Remote + Async)

Step 1: Set expectations (15 minutes)

  • Tell team: "I'm in X timezone, online Y-Z hours"
  • Add timezone to Slack display name
  • Block focus time on calendar

Step 2: Pick 5 core tools (30 minutes)

  • Time zones: World Time Buddy
  • Async video: Loom (or Tella)
  • Documentation: Notion
  • Code reviews: GitHub
  • Task management: Linear

Step 3: Over-communicate for first month

  • Daily status updates (even if "nothing changed")
  • Record Looms even for small things
  • Document everything in Notion

Step 4: Find your overlap windows

  • Use World Time Buddy to find overlap with each teammate
  • Protect those hours for sync activities
  • Use rest of day for deep work

Step 5: Track your time (use Clockify)

  • Prove you're productive (even if timezone makes you "invisible")
  • Weekly reports to team builds trust

💬 Your Turn

What tools do you use for remote work across timezones?

I'm always looking for new async tools. Drop a comment if you've found something I missed!

Currently exploring: AI meeting assistants (Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai). Do they actually work for async recap? Let me know your experience!

RemoteWork #AsyncWork #DistributedTeams #RemoteDev #DigitalNomad #Productivity #TimeZones #WorkFromAnywhere

Tools mentioned (in order of appearance):

  1. Funora: https://funora.online/games/world-clock-game/ (time zone visualization)
  2. World Time Buddy: https://worldtimebuddy.com (meeting scheduling)
  3. Every Time Zone: https://everytimezone.com (visual reference)
  4. Loom: https://loom.com (async video)
  5. Notion: https://notion.so (team wiki)
  6. Slack: https://slack.com (real-time chat)
  7. GitHub: https://github.com (code reviews)
  8. Figma: https://figma.com (design collaboration)
  9. Linear: https://linear.app (project management)
  10. SuperCalc: https://supercalc.dev/other/timezone-calculator (timezone calculations)
  11. OBS Studio: https://obsproject.com (long recordings)
  12. Tella: https://tella.tv (Loom alternative)
  13. Clockify: https://clockify.me (time tracking)
  14. Calendly: https://calendly.com (meeting scheduling)
  15. Grammarly: https://grammarly.com (writing assistant)
  16. Krisp: https://krisp.ai (noise cancellation)

Disclaimer: Not sponsored by any tools. Sharing my personal remote work stack after 2 years of trial and error. I help run Funora and SuperCalc as side projects, so I'm biased there, but I tried to be honest about when other tools are better (World Time Buddy for scheduling > Funora/SuperCalc).

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