Category Archives: productivity

This may sound strange but one of the crucial tools that helps Princess Bethany and I save our marriage on a daily basis is a shared calendar. We both work out of our home office, we have many meetings and events that we must attend together, and it helps in making sure that the scheduling needs of Duchess Beatrix is always tended to. Without the ability to share a calendar, our lives would be utter chaos.

Up until very recently, we have been using Backpack’s built in calendar for this task and it has been really great. Bethany and I each have separate calendars for our work and personal items. We also have a calendar for joint events. It is very easy to keep track of which things pertain to our work, which things are personal and which things we had to do together. Because it is browser based it is easily accessible as well.

Once I got an iPhone, things started to break down a bit. I was able to subscribe to the ious calendars in Backpack in iCal, and then sync those events to my phone. The only problem was the subscription option is a “read only” solution. I could not add or edit events on either the iPhone or in iCal. I was fine with this for a while as I rarely need to add events when out and about. The calendar is more of a “dashboard” for my day. That being said, when those rare times would occur, my solution was to capture the meeting specifics on a 3×5 card and then add those to the calendar when I returned home. Having to “touch” the event more than once did drive me a bit batty.

Then, Princess Bethany got an iPhone. While I was willing to put up with the limitations of this solution, I knew that her level of patience for such things was less than mine. A change would have to be made.

I knew that, in order to have native read/write calendar functionality across all devices, I would have to use iCal. The problem with this is that iCal does not natively allow you to have calendar sharing and synchronization across machines on a network. There are ways one could workaround this using a shared MobileMe account but this is a less than ideal solution.

The solution is a product called BusySync. It installs as a pane in System Preferences and seamlessly allows you to do real iCal calendar sharing between multiple Macs – with read write and password control. It is a fantastic solution and works so well you wonder why Apple has not implemented this feature in iCal themselves. It could not have been simpler to set up and make the switch. Here is what I did:

1. With the Backpack calendars subscribed in iCal on one of the Macs, I exported each calendar individually. To me, this is the simplest way to get the data out of Backpack.
2. I then deleted those calendar subscriptions from iCal.
3. Next, I imported the calendars I had exported back into iCal, being careful to make sure it imported each one into its own new calendar.
4. I then installed BusySync and followed the instructions for sharing the calendars.
5. Finally, I went to the other Macs, installed BusySync there, and followed the instructions for subscribing to the calendars.

It really was simple and took far less effort than I thought it would. Things just plain work. Make an appointment in iCal on one Mac and seconds later it shows up on every other one. Make a change to an appointment and it also syncs in seconds. The other obvious advantage is that, when we make an addition or change on the iPhone, it updates every calendar the next time we sync. Read/write capability everywhere.

It has only been a day or so but I can already see how much more functional this setup will be.

Another in my series of Levenger Circa posts. In this episode, I discuss a recent brainstorm I had about a change to the workflow of processing my notes. Enjoy:

My Circa Workflow from Patrick Rhone on Vimeo.

AwayFind is a new web based service that allows one to set up professional email auto responses and signatures. On the surface, the purpose is to allow you to set appropriate expectations for those that send you email and allow those with an urgent need to get in touch with you right away. It is a very elegantly executed service that provides just the right balance between method and message. I can’t say enough good things about the web site itself. It is elegantly designed and a joy to use.

Now, AwayFind could be just another web service. They could just give you the basic free service and gladly take your subscription money when you are ready to upgrade to the pro level to get more features. But, it seems, founder Jared Goralnick is not interested in solely doing that. This is made apparent by the very front page of the AwayFind web site:

Awayfind is not just a web tool, it’s a blueprint for escaping email, with a handbook and a community to ensure your success.

What Jared really wants to do is to change the way you approach the idea of email. He provides that message, and the corresponding short lessons, at almost every opportunity on the site. As you navigate around, there are videos to watch, tutorials to guide you and a fantastic PDF handbook to download. All with one purpose in mind, to educate and encourage you to do the following:

• Batch process your email once or twice a day.
• Clear your Inbox by processing everything.
• Turn off notifications.
• Let people know your intention while providing a route to get time sensitive and urgent messages to you.

It soon becomes clear that AwayFind is first about education and, also, happens to have a service that, if you would like, can help you facilitate the goal in mind.

What I find most interesting is that, with this message front and center and the lessons provided, there is nothing that would prevent one from simply setting up an auto response on their own that provides the same opportunity. Heck, I have even written here before about doing this very thing myself at a previous employer. Having spoken with Jared, if that ends up being your takeaway from AwayFind, he will have achieved his main goal. It may seem a little altruistic on Jared’s part but that is because it is. His main goal is to set out to try to solve a problem that is a growing concern to us all. If it is a bit of LaMancha-esqu windmill battling then so be it. If one persons life if made a little bit easier, their time a bit more free, due to the lesson taught and, secondly, the service provided, he is fine with that.

There is a certain level of compassion I see in all of this. It is a unique and special thing. That alone will cause me to use AwayFind versus my own DIY solution. I urge you, gentle reader, to have a look and consider doing the same.