The fastest way to find overlap across SF–London–Bangalore
A simple, repeatable way to find fair, reliable overlap across three continents without mental math or spreadsheets. —
Finding time that works for San Francisco, London, and Bangalore can feel like trying to align planets. The more people you add, the more math you're asked to do in your head, and the more likely you are to miss daylight‑saving shifts or push someone into an unreasonable hour. There's a faster, kinder way to do this that turns the problem into a sixty‑second ritual.
Start by creating a shared board everyone can see. Add each teammate with their local working hours if someone tends to start early or prefers a later block, capture that reality instead of an idealized 9‑to‑5. As soon as everyone is in, select the specific people who need to meet and watch the overlap appear. Reorder the list so your primary decision‑makers sit next to each other; it makes the shared window pop visually. Rename the board to communicate intent "Team A Overlap: SF–LDN–BLR" and share the URL. No passwords, no new accounts; just a link you can paste in Slack or a wiki.
What you're looking for is a dependable "golden" window: 60 to 120 minutes that all parties can live with most days of the week. For this trio, a classic pattern is SF early morning, London late afternoon, Bangalore evening. In winter months, a slot like 08:00–09:30 San Francisco, 16:00–17:30 London, 21:30–23:00 Bangalore can work well for decisions, kickoffs, and demos. You don't need every meeting to land here. You need one reliable block that everyone can plan around.
If a full‑team session outside those hours is unavoidable, rotate the burden thoughtfully. Keep a simple note in your team doc showing who absorbed an early or late slot each month. Fairness compounds into trust, and trust compounds into speed.
Treat live overlap as precious. Use it for decisions, pairing, onboarding moments, and anything with emotional nuance. Move status updates and progress reports to writing. Record short videos when you need richer context. Publish agendas 24 hours in advance. Close every live session with a documented decision and next steps. When the window ends, let it end. The point is to concentrate importance into a predictable time instead of letting it leak across three workdays.
Set a reminder to revisit your board whenever San Francisco or London enters or exits daylight saving time. Two tiny edits a year will prevent weeks of accidental drift. If your team changes, update the board the same day and reshare the link; the artifact stays true to life only if it's kept light and easy.
Do this for one week and you'll feel the rhythm click into place. People stop asking, "Can you talk now?" and start moving work forward on their own, saving the live time for moments that deserve it. The scheduling puzzle becomes a quick check, not a negotiation. Create your board, pick a humane block, and give your team back its mornings, afternoons, and evenings.
When you're ready to see your overlap in under a minute, create a new board and share it with the people who matter most today.