A simple world clock setup for distributed teams

One glance should tell you who’s awake, who’s traveling, and who owns the next handoff—here’s how to build it.

Give every project its own clock grid

Open the World Clock wallboard, add the cities that matter for your squad, and drag them into handoff order. Use the label field to mark on-call owners, PTO, or travel dates so context lives next to the time. Pin the board on a spare monitor/TV or kiosk so the whole team references the same source instead of guessing.

Example: Marketing team covering Portland, Dublin, Melbourne

Build a board with Portland, Austin, Dublin, Melbourne (and an “event venue” tile if you’re on the road). At 09:00 Portland, Dublin hits 17:00 and Melbourne sees 04:00 the next day. Color-code the tiles or label “Launch lead” so contractors and vendors know who’s awake and when replies are realistic.

Example: Incident response between Toronto, Nairobi, Manila

Add Toronto, São Paulo, Nairobi, Manila. When Toronto hits 22:00, Nairobi is starting and Manila is mid-shift—it’s obvious who owns pager duty. Tag Nairobi as “Primary on-call” and São Paulo as “Escalation” so every responder knows who to ping without waking North America unnecessarily.

Checklist for a useful wallboard

FAQ

Where should we display the board?
A spare monitor, TV, or dedicated browser window works. Some teams even bookmark it on tablets mounted near desks.
How many clocks is too many?
If you have to scroll, split into multiple boards for different squads so signals stay clear.
Can we mix personal and project cities?
Yes, but keep project boards focused. Create a second board for wider company awareness if needed.

Ready to roll it out? Open the World Clock tool.