India doesn't change its clocks. Here's what that does to your offshore team's overlap

US clocks go back an hour on Sunday 1 November. India's never move, so every team working between the two loses an hour of shared time on Monday.

Here's the overlap we plan around, for a client working 09:00 to 18:00 local time and a team in Hyderabad on a matched shift.

Client city	Team hours (IST)	Daily overlap
New York	14:30 to 23:30	4 hours in US winter, 5 in summer
London	11:00 to 20:00	5½ hours in UK winter, 6½ in summer
Dubai	10:00 to 19:00	About 8½ hours all year
Sydney	07:00 to 16:00	5½ hours in the southern summer, 6½ in winter

New York is the tightest window. In US winter, 09:00 Eastern is 19:30 in Hyderabad, so shared time runs from 19:30 to 23:30 IST.

This week's checklist

1. Move recurring meetings so they still land inside the overlap.
2. Check any handoff that relies on someone seeing it before they log off.
3. Decide whether the shift moves with your clocks or stays put, and confirm it in writing.

Protect the overlap

Don't spend it on status. Post a written standup at the start of each person's day, with four lines: yesterday, today, blockers and FYI. The required blockers line matters most, because it makes raising a problem routine.

Use the shared hours for decisions, pairing and design reviews. Before logging off, each side writes down what finished, the exact state of what's in progress, open questions with a named owner, and what the other side should pick up first.

Write messages that don't need a reply

• Incomplete: "The users API is broken."
• Complete: "GET /api/users returns 500 with an expired token. Expected 401. I suspect the error handler. Draft fix in PR 412. Needed before Thursday's release."

Each clarifying question can cost half a day, so that second version pays for itself.

The full guide covers operating models, response-time targets and how to measure whether the system works: https://offshore1st.com/blog/complete-guide-managing-offshore-teams-time-zones

Disclosure: I'm the founder of Offshore1st, which places dedicated staff in India. This post was prepared with AI assistance and is condensed from our guide.