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Not sure if you are arguing for or against time zones. Here's my two cents. I work with a team spread over 11 time zones and talk to them constantly on Slack a

Not sure if you are arguing for or against time zones. Here's my two cents. I work with a team spread over 11 time zones and talk to them constantly on Slack and email. Time zone math is simple: just add or subtract the offset to see if it's a good time to ping them. I know where people are already. Hard to see a problem with this. The one thing that's really confusing is daylight savings time. That is a mess and should be eliminated, because every major region does it differently. It's a mess even within regions like the US, where the word "capricious" comes lightly to mind.

Osiris 6y ago
That require you to know the offset. That's no different than knowing what hour their morning starts.
- hodgesrm 6y ago
  Kids usually go to school around 8am and that families eat dinner around 7pm. Those times are similar in many places. I try to remember events throughout the day, not just when they arrive at work because I tend to make judgement calls about scheduling people's time based on what I know about their entire daily schedule. All you have to remember is the offset and everything else fits.
  - issamehh 6y ago
    You have to know the offset though. And if it is with multiple people you might even have multiple offsets. There's nothing easier about offsets over differing work times
  - ogre_codes 6y ago
    All you care about is the offset, regardless of whether time zones exist or not. Knowing the east coast is 3 hours ahead of us, I know calling at 8PM is probably a bad idea. You don’t need that intermediate step of figuring out what number is associated with that on the east coast. You don’t care that Bob is in EST, you just need to know that he’s 3 hours ahead of you.
ogre_codes 6y ago
I’m honestly not super passionate either way. But the argument the author made is fundamentally bad. If I were going to make an argument for time zones, I would probably start with the fact that it’s fundamentally simpler to think about a day “Monday” starting when most people wake up. Having it change from the 1st of May to the 2nd of May right after lunch would be weird. Eliminating time zones in the US? Honestly don’t see any downsides. Make on “USA Standard Time” pegged at current central time and I think it would simplify a whole lot of things.

Osiris 6y ago

That require you to know the offset. That's no different than knowing what hour their morning starts.

hodgesrm 6y ago
Kids usually go to school around 8am and that families eat dinner around 7pm. Those times are similar in many places. I try to remember events throughout the day, not just when they arrive at work because I tend to make judgement calls about scheduling people's time based on what I know about their entire daily schedule. All you have to remember is the offset and everything else fits.
- issamehh 6y ago
  You have to know the offset though. And if it is with multiple people you might even have multiple offsets. There's nothing easier about offsets over differing work times
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  All you care about is the offset, regardless of whether time zones exist or not. Knowing the east coast is 3 hours ahead of us, I know calling at 8PM is probably a bad idea. You don’t need that intermediate step of figuring out what number is associated with that on the east coast. You don’t care that Bob is in EST, you just need to know that he’s 3 hours ahead of you.

ogre_codes 6y ago

I’m honestly not super passionate either way. But the argument the author made is fundamentally bad. If I were going to make an argument for time zones, I would probably start with the fact that it’s fundamentally simpler to think about a day “Monday” starting when most people wake up. Having it change from the 1st of May to the 2nd of May right after lunch would be weird. Eliminating time zones in the US? Honestly don’t see any downsides. Make on “USA Standard Time” pegged at current central time and I think it would simplify a whole lot of things.