Stop Asking "What Time Works For You?"

You send an email to a colleague in London: "We need to sync on this. What time works for you?"

They reply five hours later (because they were asleep): "Tuesday afternoon looks good."

You see this the next morning: "Which Tuesday afternoon? My afternoon or yours?"

By the time you confirm a slot, three days have passed. You haven't even had the meeting yet, and you're already exhausted.

In distributed teams, the open-ended "when are you free?" question is a productivity killer. It offloads the cognitive burden of scheduling onto the recipient, who has to open their calendar, do the mental timezone math, and guess what "afternoon" means to you.

There is a better way. It's called The 3-Option Rule, and it cuts scheduling friction to zero.

The Rule: Never Ask, Always Offer

Instead of asking for availability, offer three specific slots.

When you propose specific times, you change the recipient's task from "solve a puzzle" to "pick a winner." It's easier, faster, and shows you respect their time.

Here is the exact workflow to do it right:

1. Visualize Their Reality First

Before you type a single word, check Timezoners to visualize the overlap. It's the fastest way to see the human context not just the hour, but whether it's their sunrise, their deep work time, or their dinner.

Is 9am their time actually decent? Or is it right when they're dropping kids at school? Is that 5pm slot on a Friday? (Don't be that person).

A visual check takes ten seconds but saves you from proposing slots that are technically possible but socially tone-deaf.

2. Pick Three "Goldilocks" Slots

Find three distinct times that:

1. Work for you.
2. Fall within their reasonable working hours.
3. Are spread out (e.g., one Tuesday, one Wednesday, one Thursday).

Variety is key. If you only offer Tuesday slots, and they have a standing Tuesday meeting, you're back to square one.

3. Convert to THEIR Timezone

This is the power move. Never make the recipient do the math.

Bad: "How about 2pm PT?" (Forces them to convert). Good: "How about 2pm PT / 10pm London?" (Better, but 10pm is awful). Best: "How about Tuesday at 10am PT (which is 6pm for you)?"

4. The Magic Template

Here is the script that works every time. Copy-paste this:

"I'd love to sync on [Topic]. I've checked the timezones and found a few slots that might work for both of us:

1. Tue 14th: 9:00am SF / 5:00pm London
2. Wed 15th: 8:30am SF / 4:30pm London
3. Thu 16th: 9:00am SF / 5:00pm London

Do any of these work? If so, let me know and I'll send the invite. If not, feel free to suggest another time."

Why This Works

First, speed. 90% of the time, the recipient will just reply "Option 2 please." Done. One email, zero ping-pong.

Second, authority. Proposing times signals that you are organized and serious about the meeting. It drives the process forward.

Third, empathy. By doing the math for them, you signal, "I know you're in a different timezone, and I've already done the work to accommodate that." That builds invisible trust before the meeting even starts.

The "No-Meeting" Option

Sometimes, the best time to meet is never.

If you're struggling to find overlap because you're in San Francisco and they're in Singapore, add a fourth option:

"4. Or, if schedules are too tight, I can record a 5-minute Loom video explaining the update, and you can reply when you're online."

Give them an out. Timezone overlap is a scarce resource. If you can solve the problem asynchronously, you save that precious live overlap for something that truly needs it.

Try It Today

Next time you need to schedule a cross-border call, don't ask "when are you free?"

Open your timezone board, pick three humane slots, convert the times, and send the offer. You'll be amazed at how quickly "Option 2" lands in your inbox.