I think it really depends on the type of work and people involved whether east/west can work well.
We're working with some contractors with a 9 hour time difference between headquarters and their office, but having really efficient weekly check-ins against concrete, written goals, good async communication, and a lot of people scattered in timezones in between is helping us succeed.
It definitely takes coordination and a good team, but I think it can be really useful. Most of the experts for the super specific thing we're working on are actually in Europe, so it would be more challenging to do this project if we limited ourselves to north/south hiring.
East/West can work well as well. I have a team in Vietnam with USA clients and we just do 1h overlap per day. Too many meetings may not be a good thing.
We're working with some contractors with a 9 hour time difference between headquarters and their office, but having really efficient weekly check-ins against concrete, written goals, good async communication, and a lot of people scattered in timezones in between is helping us succeed.
It definitely takes coordination and a good team, but I think it can be really useful. Most of the experts for the super specific thing we're working on are actually in Europe, so it would be more challenging to do this project if we limited ourselves to north/south hiring.