One really annoying factor about collaboration across timezones is trying to get schedules to sync up. Especially if there is an 8+ hour difference. Back and fo

One really annoying factor about collaboration across timezones is trying to get schedules to sync up. Especially if there is an 8+ hour difference. Back and forth communication ends up taking much longer and can significantly slow down the project. One interesting solution was examined in Cory Doctorow's Eastern Standard Tribe [1] where online communities form based on the sleep cycles of people rather than their location. It would be possible for remote workers to use melatonin supplements and light therapy to intentionally manipulate their sleep schedules to sync up with their HQ if they are willing to tolerate the offset from the local schedule. Even more interesting would be if everyone switches to something like Uberman [2] so that working at various timezones becomes feasible. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Standard_Tribe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Standard_Tribe [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep