Getting team scheduling can make or break any team.
Below is an example two-week calendar (Monday–Friday) that balances meeting times for a team spread from Eastern to Pacific time, avoids standups on heavy-meeting days, and preserves large blocks of focus time. All times shown are Pacific Time (PT)
Key Points in This Proposed Schedule
- Standups on Tuesday and Thursday at 10:00 AM PT
- This avoids early starts for West Coast (10:00 AM PT) and still keeps it from being too late for East Coast (1:00 PM ET).
- We skip standups on days with longer ceremonies (Planning, Backlog Refinement, Review, Retro).
- Major Ceremonies
- Sprint Planning: Monday of Week 1 (10:00–11:30 AM PT)
- Backlog Refinement: Wednesday of each week (10:00–11:00 AM PT)
- Sprint Review & Retrospective: Friday of Week 2 (10:00–11:30 AM PT)
- Focus Time
- Generally 1:00–4:30/5:00 PM PT is preserved for uninterrupted development blocks.
- Mornings before 10:00 AM PT can also be used for additional focus time if engineers prefer earlier starts.
Week 1 Calendar
| Time (PT) | Monday (Wk1) | Tuesday (Wk1) | Wednesday (Wk1) | Thursday (Wk1) | Friday (Wk1) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00–10:00 | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time |
| 10:00–10:15 | Sprint Planning (starts 10) | Standup (10:00–10:15) | Backlog Refinement (10–11) | Standup (10:00–10:15) | Focus Time |
| 10:15–11:00 | Sprint Planning (cont.) | Focus Time (after standup) | Backlog Refinement (cont.) | Focus Time (after standup) | Focus Time |
| 11:00–12:00 | Sprint Planning (cont.) | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time |
| 12:00–4:30/5 | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time |
| Notes (Week 1): |
- Monday (Wk1) has Sprint Planning from 10:00–11:30 AM PT; no standup that day to keep it less meeting-heavy.
- Wednesday (Wk1) has Backlog Refinement from 10:00–11:00 AM PT; no standup.
- Standups are Tuesday and Thursday at 10:00 AM PT.
- Friday is fully open for development (no major meeting).
Week 2 Calendar
| Time (PT) | Monday (Wk2) | Tuesday (Wk2) | Wednesday (Wk2) | Thursday (Wk2) | Friday (Wk2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00–10:00 | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time |
| 10:00–10:15 | Focus Time | Standup (10:00–10:15) | Backlog Refinement (10–11) | Standup (10:00–10:15) | Sprint Review & Retro (10–11:30) |
| 10:15–11:00 | Focus Time | Focus Time (after standup) | Backlog Refinement (cont.) | Focus Time (after standup) | Sprint Review & Retro (cont.) |
| 11:00–12:00 | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time |
| 12:00–4:30/5 | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time | Focus Time (post-review/retro or next sprint starts) |
Notes (Week 2):
- Monday (Wk2) has no major ceremonies; a good block for pure development or ongoing tasks.
- Tuesday (Wk2) standup at 10:00 AM PT.
- Wednesday (Wk2) again has an hour of Backlog Refinement.
- Friday (Wk2) hosts Sprint Review & Retrospective (10:00–11:30 AM PT); no standup that day.
Why This Helps Your Distributed Team
- Later Morning Meeting Start (10 AM PT / 1 PM ET): Ensures West Coast folks aren’t forced into very early calls, and East Coast folks aren’t stuck too late in the day.
- Alternate Days for Standup vs. Big Meetings: Standups happen on days without large planning sessions to reduce context-switch overhead and meeting fatigue.
- Consistent Lunch Break + Afternoon Focus Blocks: Aiming for a universal lunch hour and large meeting-free zones ensures everyone gets a solid development window.
- Flexibility: If certain team members prefer an earlier start (ET folks) or a later lunch, they can still sync around the agreed meeting times.
This template can be tweaked to your team’s preference (e.g., shifting meeting start to 9:30 AM PT / 12:30 PM ET), but the approach of separating daily standups from heavy-meeting days and preserving afternoon focus time will help productivity in a distributed setting.