1:Time zone differences conflict with regular schedule. When working in two sites of different time zone, team members always have to keep in mind of the time in other sites. If there is a customer issue in UK, and it requires the fix by US team, then UK team should be aware that US team may not respond to their mail during UK's daytime, as that would be the night in US. It is very useful to have a calendar with the overlapped available time of different teams.
2:Communication Matters a lot. Different countries have different culture. Maybe it is polite to say something in your site, but it is not always case to say that in another site. And people from non-English spoken area may not use it as well as those native speaker. So the slangs in mail or phone call will be the obstacles in communication.
3:Honesty and trusts are bridges. Since team members are working in different sites, it is not possible for one to know exactly how long others spend in the office, or how much efforts others have done for the project. Then it is the most important for each team member to report his/her working hours and achievements regularly with honesty. And it is also the most important for them to trust their partners. If everyone doubts the performance of others, then there is no way to succeed together.
4:Size the work carefully. Normally if teams are working in the same site, they will have a rough idea of others' efficiency in work. But if they are working remotely, it is not wise to measure the working hours of some task using one site's standard. Sizing the work without considering the site differences is quite dangerous and may finally push one site too much or drag the other site's process.
5:Inform others where you are. It is risky to work alone without telling others your progress, especially when you are working on something that has already been discarded by the team.
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