Location-independent working allows much freedom of planning. If the used business model involves daily customer contact, of course, you still aren’t independent of the limitations of the temporal arrangement.
We craft – that means conception, design and implementation of software, as well as a consulting concerning business models, software architecture and human resource development. Thus, we often guide team conversations, make code reviews with our customers’ employees or participate in strategic planning. And surprise! All this is bound to the time zone of our customers. Here you only have a limited opportunity of influence, especially if the time offset is more than one working day. This is a challenge we didn’t need to face last year while traveling through Europe with a maximum of 2 hours time offset.
This year, in the summer of 2016 we went several kilometers and time zones further away from headquarters: we toured the US of A! In early June we started in Berlin – Target: East Coast. First, get an overview: Times Square in New York, a greeting to the Capitol and surrounding buildings in Washington and finally let jellyfish in Florida “hug” you on Ormond Beach.
So, the first two weeks already disclosed to us the full range of capital to lots and lots of sand. Anyway, rather planned as a little getaway only few working hours were involved here. We enjoyed the holiday-like atmosphere and the company of our tour members – without us being particularly concerned about the time offset.
For mid-June to mid-July, our short-term address was “New York – 139th and Broadway”. A 15 square meter room in a Harlem shared flat. Time offset to Germany: -6h. One of our regular weekly events is for example a regular Monday appointment about problems, successes and objectives of the previous and next week: a so-called team-standup with an already very acceptable starting time from 10am German time. For us, it was getting up at 4am – no problem. Or is it? The working time itself is not: with a few days of adjustment we made it. It was rather a question of the working place: even if only temporary, you do not want to disturb your 31-days roommates. So we talked quietly and used dimmed light early in the morning. Besides, our active time started from 7am, 1pm German time. A little overlap with the work of our clients is always necessary!
Most German clients’ leisure time starts latest at 1pm New York time, so accordingly you have earlier breaks to explore the city. Every day we visited one of the interesting spots: Times Square, Central Park including rowing tour, 4D-cinema, Broadway and the “Something Rotten” Musical, a sky bar during a thunderstorm, Chinatown, Little Italy with Christmas Shop, Brooklyn for pizza and cheesecake as well as some very good restaurants recommended by our roommates. The Ghostbusters headquarters was on the list, too, unfortunately covered by renovations at that time – but hey who cares, still nice! Also interesting were the climatic conditions in the summer in New York. Despite some rain, there was never the danger of feeling a little cold with perceived constant 45°C – unless you’re entering an air-conditioned building.
So -6h managed successfully. It was time for a bigger challenge: West Coast, Long Beach (CA). A beautiful piece of land next to the City of Angels. Time Offset: -9h. Again adjusting our daily routine: getting up on Monday by 1am, the rest of the week at the latest by 4pm (this was already familiar), if the schedule permits. Important by now: banish the “Good morning” from the vocabulary. Even though our travel activities are known to the customers and sometimes you will be asked about it, still they’re not constantly aware of it. So, the time offset is always present, which also leads to challenges concerning the clarity of your schedule. It happened more than once that an appointment has been added in the German time – fortunately noticed always on time. Also an aspect of the location-independent working: self-discipline and flexibility.
In addition to these organizational trifles, then again you will be rewarded with great new impressions and experiences. Long Beach: Finally beach, sun, palm trees … and water. Immediately after checking in to our new shared flat room we went to the beach with picnic facilities, where we were expected by a cheerful yellow “Sewage contaminated water” sign. With some safety distance picnicking was still possible. Our host Scott commented our experience with “Yes, nobody goes to this beach”, fortunately he had alternative recommendations for us. So in the beginning we overcame the distances mainly by foot or sometimes by bicycle to visit small shopping malls or the Shoreline Village, where the Queen Mary is located. In the end we decided to rent a car, because admittedly around LA a car is indispensable. We were able to follow the recommendations and visit beautiful beaches like Huntington or Laguna (Salt Creek). Scott and his girlfriend taught us a lot about the area, surfing and beaches, and information like that the “great white is migrating” – nice, so let’s hop into the water right away! For a weekend we got carried away to do a tourist trip to Los Angeles, of course with a hop-on-hop-off bus. Besides Beverly Hills or the Walk of Fame, especially the beaches of Santa Monica or Venice were impressive. The celebrities were too well hidden. Summing up, we experienced the 9h offset to be energy-sapping after a while. Finally it was actually getting up, having phone calls and getting back to sleep for some appointments.
However, the last stop of our USA trip led us back into the country, where we welcomed an already known time zone again: -6h on the German time. So August was a time together with family and it led us to Bloomington, Indiana. As we have already described in the blog post “Software development on the road”, this is a further big advantage of the location-independent working: to be where family and friends are. At the beginning, we visited beautiful destinations around the Great Lakes, such as South Haven, Traverse City, Bay City, Mackinaw Island, Chicago, beautiful beaches as well as dunes with life-threatening proportions. Bloomington itself is a lovely and student-crowded university city. The historic campus is green and impressive. During the final stage, we improved our basic knowledge of American (fastfood)restaurants: Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Hooters, Red Lobster, Starbucks but also local players like BuffaLouie’s or Bub’s. In addition, we roughly visited every single Microbrewery – IPA hurray. As a sporty compensation for all this food we redeemed a Christmas present: In Indianapolis we admired the Indianapolis Colts in a Pre-Season Game and the modest American intro in the form of a field large flag with fireworks. Considering the working perspective, there was nothing new in terms of the time offset.
In summary, we can say that you can certainly live in two time zones with an adjusted rhythm. However, once your customers are living in multiple time zones, we consider the involved frequent daily changes of rhythm as very challenging. Once again we met interesting people, discussed exciting concepts and experienced different attitudes to life! We are very grateful to them for their kind open style! It was wonderful. Only one question remains: What is the situation if the time offset is more than 12 hours? We will see…