4 ms·

timezones don't need to perfectly predict whether the sun is up to be useful. when I set a meeting with a colleague in India, I don't really care whether the su

timezones don't need to perfectly predict whether the sun is up to be useful. when I set a meeting with a colleague in India, I don't really care whether the sun is up. it will almost surely be down for at least one of us. I am just trying to pick a reasonable time where they don't have to end work too late, and I don't have to start too early. having everyone roughly align their work day to 9am-5pm in their local time works a lot better than asking every single person in my company for their working hours in UTC.

laserlight 3y ago
I don't get how the problem would be harder with a universal timezone. Currently, I have to look up which timezone India is in and find a good time that works for both of us. In a universal timezone, I would have to look up what time noon is in India and find a time that works for both of us.
- leetcrew 3y ago
  so the high level problem here is "how can I infer a locale's working hours without asking every individual?" the current solution is to set an explicit expectation that people work 9-5ish in their local offset. is your proposal to do the same thing, but the expectation is that people work noon-4 to noon+4, or something like that? I don't see any major advantages to that, but I do see one major disadvantage: solar noon occurs at a different time every day. of all the arbitrary markers to align schedules with, this seems like a pretty bad one.
  - laserlight 3y ago
    > is your proposal to do the same thing, but the expectation is that people work noon-4 to noon+4, or something like that? Yes. Rather than using solar noon at one day, we can look up an average solar noon time. It should give a better idea how people would plan their day. I understand that schedules will be different at different locations, but then 9 to 5 also has that much variation from location to location.
- makingstuffs 3y ago
  Your solution is the same regardless of the number of time zones in existence. Either way you need to ‘look up what time noon is in India’.

laserlight 3y ago

I don't get how the problem would be harder with a universal timezone. Currently, I have to look up which timezone India is in and find a good time that works for both of us. In a universal timezone, I would have to look up what time noon is in India and find a time that works for both of us.

leetcrew 3y ago
so the high level problem here is "how can I infer a locale's working hours without asking every individual?" the current solution is to set an explicit expectation that people work 9-5ish in their local offset. is your proposal to do the same thing, but the expectation is that people work noon-4 to noon+4, or something like that? I don't see any major advantages to that, but I do see one major disadvantage: solar noon occurs at a different time every day. of all the arbitrary markers to align schedules with, this seems like a pretty bad one.
- laserlight 3y ago
  > is your proposal to do the same thing, but the expectation is that people work noon-4 to noon+4, or something like that? Yes. Rather than using solar noon at one day, we can look up an average solar noon time. It should give a better idea how people would plan their day. I understand that schedules will be different at different locations, but then 9 to 5 also has that much variation from location to location.
makingstuffs 3y ago
Your solution is the same regardless of the number of time zones in existence. Either way you need to ‘look up what time noon is in India’.