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[Shane McCarron]

I have just published a new article about Calendars and convergence.  I am really interested in what calendaring systems you use, what your requirements are for calendaring systems, and what compromises you find yourself making.  Please take a look and discuss it here!

[Patrick Rhone]

For me, it has to be simple (I love simplicity) and collaborative ( The Princess and I have to be able to schedule both with and around each other).

We are using the calendar built into Backpack right now. If fits both of those criteria very well and I can subscribe to the iCal feed in order to get the events on my iPhone.

The drawback is that this makes those items "read only" in iCal/iPhone but I very rarely have to enter a calendar item on the go and, in those rare circumstances that I do, I write it on my 3x5 card and process it accordingly when I get back to a computer.

[Stephen Smith]

When I got my new phone (LGs Rumor) I intentionally picked one that did not have super-internet-connectivity because I knew that would be counter productive for me! I have e-mail and text and that is about it. I keep a paper calendar with me at all times, so that is where I track my time-sensitive info.

I use a Thunderbird calendar for my recurring tasks and activities, all built with reminders to pop up on the screen and let me know that it is time to do them.

[Shane McCarron]

Backpack's calendar service is pretty nice, although to my thinking not as flexible as Google's.  Since you mention you have an iPhone, you might want to check out FrontPocket - it claims to give you a bi-directional interface to Backpack's many features!

As to Thunderbird, I agree that it is a powerful desktop environment.  I like that it has plugins that can make it work with my Google Calendar(s) seamlessly.  This means I can work locally most of the time, but when I am away from my desk I still have access via my mobile device OR via some other web browser (say at a friend's house).

As to simple phones like the LG Rumor - they are great but of course not "smart phones".  You can however still access and update your Google Calendar via SMS.  See http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/topic.py?topic=15304 for more.

[Andrew Canion]

I've spent a lot of time over the last few years getting a calendaring system that works efficiently. I need it to be broadly accessible over multiple devices and sync is critical.

My first attempt was with 30 Boxes, but that all got a bit too social subsequent to Google Calendar starting up.

I've been a GCal user since then, and love it. Even better is the fact that my wife also uses it and we now successfully manage our entire lives (joint and several) through GCal!

I have it syncing via CalDAV to my Mac's iCal (although iCal is so clunky for entering data compared to GCal that I hardly use it). I also have an ipod Touch. For this, I use NuevaSync which creates an Outlook conduit for bi-directional sync to and from Google Calendar. The good thing about this is given that I have a touch, I get offline access to my calendar and can trust that it will sync up once I get to a wifi hotspot.

I also use iCal and iSync to perform bluetooth synchronisation of my calendar to my Sony Ericsson mobile phone.

All up, the pieces all seem to fit together to form a pretty workable system. But if Google goes away, I'm in trouble!!!

[Chance]

I've also spent quite a bit of time, and effort over the years trying to find the perfect solution; something that is easy to enter information into, available everywhere, etc, etc....

For me, and for now, my mobile calendaring solution consists of a combination (not unlike others) of GCal and a Blackberry Curve utilizing Google's own Google Sync product for OTA syncing goodness.  With the last few builds also including OTA syncing of Contacts, the deal got even sweeter.

I like to tinker with my 'system' at times, but I've found with my current set up, I don't have to tinker with it at all.  I enter things either directly into the phone or on the Web, if that is available.  (Actually, I use the phone many times with the computer right in front of me; it's so easy!!) I ALWAYS have my phone available, so that isn't a problem.  My phone notifies me before an event occurs, and I also have Google e-mail me as well, just for good measure.  If I feel I need to tweak the notification time (remind me 1 week before that doctor's appt so I can get everything together in time), I do that in GCAL at the time the event is created (requiring the web, of course).

I use GTD's method of day & time specific events, and day specific information, and it's worked out great so far.

But, as a previous post mentioned, if Google goes away, I'm up the creek! Or, yea, I get to build a whole NEW system....whichever way you want to look at it.