Working with a developer in India: time zones, communication and the weekly rhythm that works

Every remote engagement with an Indian developer has the same two questions underneath it: when will I actually hear from you, and how do I know work is happening? Both have precise answers.

The overlap, region by region

India Standard Time is UTC+5:30 and India does not observe daylight saving, so the offset to you changes only when your clocks change. Taking a 9am to 7pm IST working day:

Every region except the US West Coast has a comfortable daily window for a call. For the US, one scheduled weekly call at the edge of the overlap plus written updates works better than chasing live conversations.

Why the gap can be a feature

Work sent at the end of your day is picked up at the start of the Indian day. If the brief is clear, you wake up to progress, review it in your morning, and the answers are waiting when India starts again. That only works when nothing is blocked on a live conversation, which is the point of the next section.

The weekly rhythm

• Monday: a written plan. A short message listing what will be built this week, in plain language. You can object before work starts, not after.
• Daily: visible progress. Commits into your own GitHub repository and a preview link that updates as features land. You never have to ask how it is going; you can look.
• A scheduled weekly call in your hours. Thirty minutes. Decisions from it are written down afterwards so they are not lost.
• Friday: a demo. A screen-share or a recorded walkthrough of what now works, what changed from the plan and why, and what is next.
• Milestones: sign-off and invoice. You pay against things you can see running.

What has to be in writing

• The scope, with exclusions.
• Every decision that changes it, however small.
• Access: which accounts, who owns them (you), who has what role.
• The contract: IP transfers to you in full on payment, confidentiality, payment terms.

If your users are in Europe, the law follows them: GDPR imposes obligations on organisations anywhere, so long as they target or collect data related to people in the EU. Tell your developer which rules apply and they will build to them: consent banners, data location, privacy policy content. Deciding which rules apply is legal advice you get at home; implementing them is the developer's job.

Two things that quietly kill remote projects

1. Feedback in a trickle. Ten messages over three days, each changing the last. Collect feedback, send it once, in one place.
2. No single decision-maker. If three people on your side each answer differently, the developer builds the wrong thing three times. Name one person.

The hiring from abroad page is how this is set up at UgeWorks, and the cost guide covers what you should expect to pay.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Indian Standard Time — UTC+05:30, no daylight saving
2. What is GDPR? (gdpr.eu) — applies to organisations anywhere that target people in the EU