December 4, 2014

Pomodoro Technique Started

I am changing the way I work.  Somebody suggested I try "The Pomodoro Technique".  It's a revolution for me.  I hope I can stay with it.  Today was the first day I used the actual tomato kitchen timer.  So far, it's awesome.  It has helped immensely with focus, fear of time,  fear of an overwhelming task list and is also helping with my pain.  The house is much cleaner too since I am using my breaks to clean.  I'm also riding my bike in little spurts while working.  I'm drinking water too.  I even cut my hair during one small break.

2 comments:

Robert said...

Interesting, just looked up the technique on Wikipedia. I've often heard about it, but never knew the specifics. I am always trying to find some new productivity edge. I don't think I could use this while at work with all the ridiculous interruptions that occur there.

Keith said...

Here's one bit on that:

When applying the Pomodoro Technique, the first tangible consequence of having to systematically deal with internal and external interruptions is that Pomodoros earmarked for
organizational activities emerge (emails, phone calls, meetings, etc.). The most natural and most
common decision is to set aside one Pomodoro a day (or more if need be) to take care of urgent
interruptions. The dependency inversion mechanism applied to protect the current Pomodoro
actually serves to turn interruptions into Pomodoros dedicated to forms of communication. We
should emphasize that Pomodoro users have the following objectives:

To successfully delay these Pomodoros as far as possible, downgrading the degree of apparent urgency and incrementing the extent to which these activities can be controlled
and scheduled

To gradually cut down on the number of Pomodoros used for organizing the interruptions that come up throughout the day People who start applying the Pomodoro Technique are always amazed when they measure the Pomodoros spent on work and study (without unhandled interruptions) and those used for organizational activities (which in part come from dealing with interruptions). In some teams, members start off with no more than 2-3 Pomodoros actually dedicated to work per day per person; the remaining Pomodoros are spent on meetings, phone calls, and emails.