Need someone to lead product management at your software company? I build high-craft software and the teams that build it. I'm looking for my next opportunity. Check out my resume and get in touch.

This is the blog of Adam Kalsey. Unusual depth and complexity. Rich, full body with a hint of nutty earthiness.

Google Calendars in iCal

Freshness Warning
This blog post is over 18 years old. It's possible that the information you read below isn't current and the links no longer work.

Tara Hunt recently complained on her blog that with Google Calendar if she’s not online she can’t see her calendar. If you have a Mac with iCal or any other calendar software that can subscribe to an iCalendar, you can have offline access.

First, log into Google Calendar and pull up your calendar. Click the little down arrow next to your calendar’s name on the left. Choose "Calendar settings."

Access Calendar settings

Scroll down to "Private Address" and copy the ICAL url to your clipboard. (Right click or CTRL-Click the ICAL image and "Save Link As")

Get the iCal URL

In iCal, choose Calendar / Subscribe from the menu (or hit Cmd-Opt-S) and paste in the URL you just copied and hit Subscribe.

Paste subscription URL

Change the settings to...

  • Refresh every 15 minutes
  • Don’t remove alarms
  • Don’t remove To Do items

iCal Subscription options

Your calendar is now synced to iCal. You can’t change any events or add new ones, but you can see them when you’re offline and sync them to other devices using iSync.

iCal Screenshot

Recently Written

What branding can teach about culture
Jan 8: Culture is your company’s point of view in action—a framework guiding behavior, even in the unknown. You can’t copy it; it must reflect your unique perspective.
Think Systems, not Symptoms
Dec 15: Piecemeal process creation frustrates teams and slows work. Stop patching problems and start solving systems. Adopting a systems thinking approach helps you design processes that are efficient, aligned with goals, and truly add value.
Your Policies Aren’t Your Culture
Dec 13: Policies guide behavior, but culture is the lived norms and values of your team. Policies reflect culture -- they don’t define it. Netflix’s parental leave shift didn’t change its culture of freedom and responsibility. It clarified how to live it.
Lighten Your Process Burden
Dec 7: Everyone hates oppressive processes, but somehow we keep managing to create them.
Product Add-Ons Are An Expansion Myth
Dec 1: Add-ons can enhance your product’s appeal but won’t drive significant market growth. To expand your customer base, focus on developing standalone products.
Protecting your Product Soul when the Same Product meets New People.
Nov 23: Expand into new markets while preserving your product’s core value. Discover how to adapt and grow without losing your product’s soul.
Building the Next Big Thing: A Framework for Your Second Product
Nov 19: You need a first product sooner than you think. Here's a framework for helping you identify a winner.
A Framework for Scaling product teams
Oct 9: The people, processes, and systems that make up a product organization change radically as you go through the stages of a company. This framework will guide that scaling.

Older...

What I'm Reading