A worked week for San Francisco, Berlin, and Singapore
San Francisco, Berlin, and Singapore do not have a standup. Run the arithmetic once and stop looking for the hour.
In the long middle of the year, Berlin is on summer time and San Francisco is on daylight time. Berlin is nine hours ahead of San Francisco. Singapore is 15 hours ahead of San Francisco, and six hours ahead of Berlin. 8:00 AM in San Francisco is 5:00 PM in Berlin and 11:00 PM in Singapore. 8:00 AM in Berlin is 2:00 PM in Singapore and 11:00 PM the previous night in San Francisco. 9:00 AM in Singapore is 3:00 AM in Berlin and 6:00 PM the previous day in San Francisco. Each pair has a miserable overlap with the third city asleep or done.
A “global standup” at any of those hours is a decision that one city does not attend, dressed up as a decision that all three do. Split the live time by pair. Give the missing city the notes.
Three live slots, not one
Use the pair pages for the exact grid. The design below is the one that keeps each city’s pain on a single edge.
San Francisco and Berlin, once a week. Berlin and San Francisco at nine hours: 8:00 AM San Francisco is 5:00 PM Berlin. That is the slot. Berlin is at the end of its day and will not want it to run long. Singapore does not attend. Singapore reads the notes at 11:00 PM if someone is still up, or at 8:00 AM the next morning, which is 5:00 PM the same Monday in San Francisco. Say that in the note so Singapore knows the decisions are from Monday evening their time, not from a fresh Tuesday.
Berlin and Singapore, once a week, on a different day. Berlin and Singapore at six hours during Berlin’s summer time: 8:00 AM Berlin is 2:00 PM Singapore. San Francisco does not attend. That meeting is 11:00 PM the previous night in San Francisco. San Francisco reads it at the start of their day. Do not ask San Francisco to join live “just this once” at 11:00 PM and then leave it on the series.
San Francisco and Singapore, once a week, if you truly need the third edge. San Francisco and Singapore at 15 hours: 5:00 PM San Francisco is 8:00 AM the next day in Singapore. Berlin is at 2:00 AM and does not attend. This is the handoff from the US day’s decisions into Singapore’s morning. The handoff note is what the other days look like, so this call is not the only channel.
Three live hours a week, each missing one city, plus a written note on the days you do not meet. That is the whole design. A team that adds a fourth “all-hands” has reintroduced the meeting this page is trying to kill.
What stays put between January and July
San Francisco and Berlin are nine hours apart in winter too. Berlin on standard time is UTC+1, San Francisco on standard time is UTC-8, and the difference is still nine. Berlin on summer time is UTC+2, San Francisco on daylight time is UTC-7, and the difference is still nine. 8:00 AM San Francisco stays 5:00 PM Berlin in January and in July. Do not “fix” that series in the spring because other meetings moved. This one did not.
It does move in the shoulders, when only one side has changed. Between the second Sunday of March and the last Sunday of March, and again between the last Sunday of October and the first Sunday of November, the gap drops to eight hours. 8:00 AM San Francisco becomes 4:00 PM Berlin if the event is anchored in San Francisco. Those weeks are easier for Berlin. They are also when a person who memorized “5:00 PM” shows up an hour late once the nine-hour gap returns. The US and Europe gap weeks are the longer explanation. For this trio, put a sentence in the Berlin and San Francisco invite: “5:00 PM Berlin most of the year, 4:00 PM Berlin in the mismatch weeks, if this event stays anchored in San Francisco.”
San Francisco and Singapore do move with the season, because Singapore never changes and San Francisco does. 5:00 PM San Francisco is 8:00 AM the next day in Singapore at 15 hours, and 9:00 AM the next day at 16 hours. The 16-hour setting runs from the first Sunday of November until the second Sunday of March. If you tell Singapore “we talk at 8” and the series is anchored in California, you are wrong all winter.
Berlin and Singapore move the other way. Six hours while Berlin is on summer time, seven hours while Berlin is on standard time. 8:00 AM Berlin is 2:00 PM Singapore in the summer and 3:00 PM in the winter. Anchor to Berlin if you want the early German hour to stay early. Singapore will slide by an hour, inside a normal afternoon either way.
Who is allowed to skip
Write it down, or the newest office becomes the one that always skips and the one that always stays late. A short rule is enough: each pair meets live on its named day, the missing city is not expected to attend, and the notes are the record. The person who was on the live call writes the note before they close the laptop. Not the next morning. The next morning is the other city’s reading time.
London and San Francisco is the pair to look at if Berlin is only a proxy for “Europe” in your head. London is eight hours from San Francisco, which is one hour kinder than Berlin, and the shoulders are kinder still. Swapping Berlin for London does not create a three-city overlap with Singapore. It creates a slightly less bad European edge. The third city is still asleep.
The fair-rotation version of this, without the specific clocks, is the remote team scheduling guide. Use that if your cities are different. Use the hours on this page if they are these three. The hours will not get better if you stare at the calendar longer.