In December 2021, Meta Platforms’ most senior executives gathered at CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s property on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, for a dayslong retreat to discuss planning and strategy. One of the subjects that came up was how to better schedule meetings to take account of the fact that many senior executives were spread around the world.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, some of Meta’s leadership team had relocated overseas or to different parts of the U.S., making coordination of discussions across time zones a challenge. Zuckerberg, for instance, who holds regular meetings with leaders of different parts of the business each week, was at that time based in Hawaii. The group discussed his schedule, including the fact that in the mornings before work, Zuckerberg sometimes liked to surf, said a person familiar with the situation. After some back and forth, the group decided that meetings with the CEO would start around 11 a.m. PST.