Repeating and Reviewing of Pomodoros

Question

One of the objectives of the Pomodoro techinque is to make the Pomodoros more effective. This is done by either repeat and review on a Pomodoro level or on a Pomodoro set level. On a Pomodoro level it is suggested to take 3-5 minutes for repetition and 3-5 minutes for reviewing. This would mean that in the worst case it would take 10 minutes (40%) (best case 6 minutes 24%) of a Pomodoro.

My question is: is this really improving the quality of a Pomodoro? Or at least the total value of using the Pomodoro technique?

Answer 1

My take from the Pomodoro Technique is that you should go as far as the 25min if that's what it takes to finish the job, even if it sacrifices repeating/reviewing. Your total focus should be on the task until you finish it (which may take a break and then another pomodoro, and another..).

Then, if you happen to finish the set task BEFORE the end of a Pomodoro, only then you should spend the remaining time repeating and reviewing on what you've done. I think this is a good compromise between interrupting a task, in the middle of a motivated burst, to "review it" (sounds counter-productive even as I say it), and not repeating/reviewing at all. It falls a bit to chance: if it so happens that you finish a task right as the pomodoro finishes, give yourself a pat on the back and just move on to another task after the break (you don't REALLY like reviewing, do you?)

You could even say it offsets the flaws of not reviewing something by actually serving as a motivation for you to try and finish the job as the timer starts to run out, since if you get near but don't finish, you're probably gonna be doing a good deal of repeating on the next pomodoro--so work hard and finish and get a cookie, pretty much.

Answer 2

Reviewing pomodoro while the information is fresh allows to correct technique properly.
The is the way in perfecting any technique - we have to review and correct to make it better.