Being negatively affected by lack of sync (days off, different time zones) isn’t the same as needing 100% hands on deck. Collaboration is often limited by the

Being negatively affected by lack of sync (days off, different time zones) isn’t the same as needing 100% hands on deck. Collaboration is often limited by the pace of a human interaction: a design review, a question about some code etc. The only way to not have this speed limit is to remove all such interactions which is very difficult (and probably not desirable either). If I worked on off dates and my colleagues on even dates, the shortest time for me to get a code review would be 24h! Most communication can (and often should) be async, but there is a difference between a 10 minute turnaround and a day. Also, if something is very urgent one should be able to get hold of someone e.g give them a call. Developers hate being interrupted, for good reason, but that doesn’t mean developers should never expect to be interrupted. I think a shorter and flexible workweek is a good idea but having time zone overlap or “required work days” to maximize overlapping work time is probably required in most cases.