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This is part of the Working with Global Teams series
Previous Post: Pesky Time Zones
In my “Pesky Time Zones” post I discussed different time zones. Namely, how even adding the abbreviation for the time zone that you are in can be meaninglessfor the recipient.
Especially if they are not familiar with anything but the abbreviation for the time zone that they are in.
While trying to find out what 11pm EST is in the country I live in, I came across an excellent site:
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/info/timezone.htm
This site lists all the different time zones with the offset from GMT.
Now – this is what is handy for me. If I know the offset of a specific timezone, then I can easily calculate the difference between that timezone and the time zone where I am living.
I recommend bookmarking that site and having it close at hand.
Related articles
- Why are actual time zones not all evenly spaced (wiki.answers.com)
- Working with Global Teams: Pesky Time Zones (markjowen.wordpress.com)
I find exactly the same challenge working from NZ, with teams distributed in the West Coast of the US, India and the middle east. Usually I won’t deal with more than 3 time zones. If you are using Windows 7, it has a really useful feature … click on your time display at the bottom right, select date and time settings and go to the additional clocks menu. You can enter time for two additional clocks. You can then simply click on the clock from then on to view time for those locations.
Excellent tip Shoaib. Thanks for that.
The biggest hassle is actually which things such as webinars, etc. The time is usually listed, along with the Time Zone (e.g. PST, EST, etc). Then I have to find out exactly that translates into my time zone.
Naturally the quickest way here is to do a google search. But then I find I’m presented with a list of cities/countries from which to choose. Then I have to work out which cities in in these time zones. It just takes a little longer than I’d like.
If, as well as the time zone abbreviation, the offset from GMT is include, then I can easily work out the difference between that time, and the time where I live.
- Mark
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One Website that I found quite useful when planning meetings across time zones is http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/
You can select the cities that you’re interested in, and even share a link with your ‘configuration’ quite easily. For example, http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?lid=5128581,1880252,5368361,4179574&h=5128581
Hi Rene
That’s an excellent site. Indeed – if you are dealing with planned meetings, this shows you exactly what time is in each different time zone, or city/country.