Hot answers tagged pomodoro-technique
15
Definitely not! Everyone takes breaks; they just don't formalize them and account for them. The fact that your productivity went up means you are serving your company's interests.
Arguments for your boss:
If I didn't tell you I was doing the Pomodoro technique, would you have known I took the breaks?
My productivity is higher now, do you want me to go ...
11
First of all; GTD, Pomodoro and planning are 3 different things!
GTD is basically a method to keep track of all your activities so you don't forget anything. From a GTD perspective all you need to do right now is to add the first step of your project to your to-do list (for example, go to the bookstore to buy a book on Unit3d). If you finish that activity, ...
7
There are tons and tons of what you're asking for! Since the question is rather vague I will list some resources that I either have found useful myself or that are generally widely popular.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
I think Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen is worth mentioning due to it being a highly acclaimed method ...
6
I use the Pomodoro technique when coding and found that the 25 minutes was a bit short, so I doubled the times. I have a 50min working time and 10min break, I've found that gives me long enough to get in the flow, get some work done and then take a break. I know it's not the approved / text book approach... but my view is that it is only a technique and as ...
6
Personally, my third piece of the "trifecta" is Personal Kanban. It's has some huge strengths and some small problems, just like the other two. It is inherently visual, which is a huge plus for me, but it's kinda hard to fit all of your items on any board, so I don't use it to put my entire task list onto, because that wouldn't work. Here are a few ways I ...
5
Try looking for continuity between Pomodoros. Some examples:
Write an outline as the first pomodoro
Write a "mini todo list" with 5 minute tasks as part of your task and cross out as you go
If writing code, write a failig unit test first so you have that for context
If writing documentation (or non-code), write notes at the bottom for thoughts you have ...
5
Don't overthink this. If you forgot to take a kettle off the stove, you should go and take the kettle off the stove. No productivity technique is worth letting your house burn down. The purpose of pomodoro is to keep you from being distracted by mundane things like phone calls and emails, and not to make you ignore dangerous situations like a fire or an ...
4
One thing that I have found that the pomodoro technique trains in me is the muscle which works on exactly what you are concerned about. Initially I was concerned that when programming, I would be in the middle of a large refactor or stuck in the flow and then I would get bumped out of it by the end of the pomodoro coming and doing my rest interval.
After a ...
4
I found a good way to deal with such tasks: In the first pomodoro of my day I write a todo list and, for each element of the todo list I write down exactly what I will do.
One could argue that it's not possible to know exactly what you'll do in advance. I think it's not true, but there is a workaround also for this: when your plan changes finish your ...
4
Yes. You will likely get more out of using in completely. However I can think of two ways where part would be useful:
1) Just using the timer. I do this when I'm working on a project home to remind myself to take regular breaks. I find this makes me focused longer.
2) Just using it for certain activities, but not all day.
3
AFAIK there are no Android Pomodoro apps that keep detailed statistics. Most Pomodoro apps I found on Google Play are just basic timers.
I think the app that comes closest to your needs is Pomodoro Master. It keeps track of the total amount of pomodoro's today, this week and this month. There is also a paid version but I'm not sure what the extra's are.
A ...
3
I agree with Jeanne Boyarsky. It should not be. The idea is to use the five-minute break as a reward for 25 minutes of uninterrupted work. Twenty-five minutes grade A work is better than 30 minutes of grade C work.
Without knowing what job you do, I can't really recommend any response. Some jobs do count total face-time, some don't. Some jobs are evaluated ...
3
I use Pomodoro intermittently. I find a couple of things happen when I'm using it. First, high activation cost activities are almost always of a size that need multiple pomodoros to complete the task. Anything that's more than 4 pomodoros I break down to smaller tasks. It takes practice, but can always be done. Second, the 5 minute break between ...
3
If you are doing something that gets you into the flow pomodoro breaks can indeed stop the flow. To work around this I generally use pomodoros just when I'm doing something that is somewhat unpleasant or uninteresting or when I'm finding it difficult to concentrated ie. when attaining the flow is very rare anyway. Those times pomodoros help because you know ...
3
IMO, the key is that if the dependencies are part of that task, let the pomodoro continue.
For example, you must google sth or ask someone for complete the current task. If the content of google results or what are you talking about still bound with the goal of the task, it's mean you still focus. And that what you want from the pomodoro technique.
Why? ...
3
It has a minimum which you need to adopt (i.e. the atomic timer), but it's definitely not all or nothing.
I find that logging interruptions and predicting pomodoros do help greatly and work perfectly with the system, but they're optional. In fact, I get more productivity by those, rather than the timer itself, because my work doesn't always go well with ...
3
Product development teams need to embrace the fact that unexpected things will happen along the course of their projects. It is simply very difficult to set and enforce strict deadlines due to the inherent complexity. If you do, for instance due to external constraints, you need to either dump part of the project, compromize its quality or quickly get more ...
3
This question would probably better suited for the Project Management Stack.
As was stated GTD is a methodology for processing and gather your to-do items.
In the context of a software development project, what you are trying to create is a backlog of items to be completed, which are related to the overall product. A project, in Project Management terms, ...
2
Other answers are really good, I just want to point out one truly important thing:
When you are too focused on a task you are following your path and you usually overlook other possibilities. When you break you have time to
Rest your body from the (usually) sitting position
Rest your eyes (truly important)
Break from the work and flow you were in
When ...
2
7 habits is a well-known method for life organization.
Pay attention to all senses for distractions - sounds (the most obvious), but also visual, e.g. high traffic area, smells and physical environment issues such as heat and cold.
Pay attention to the physical layout around you and make sure it is well organized and easy to find things.
Always replace ...
2
I use an iOS app called Pomio for iPhone and iPad. It records everything and creates a simple timesheet.
2
No, it was not how the system was designed. The Pomodoro Technique should train you to have your own sense/feel of time. So, given enough time with it, you should be able to know when your 25 minutes are up, and pace yourself accordingly. It trains you to avoid the whole "I didn't realize it was already..." feeling.
It shouldn't be on top of your windows, ...
2
I have a ball of whacks and a yo-yo on my desk for that purpose. Implementing my fine motor skills, they work perfectly for both mind-switching and cracking the problem that I feel stuck on. Running up-and-down the stair-way also takes from 3-5 minutes for me (couple of floors are normally enough). I, actually, took these and some more tips from this blog ...
2
Ideally, Pomodoro Technique is meant only for cases like (2) and not for 1, 3, 3(a) at all.
Here is how you should do it:
For tasks such as (1) Just do them as they get generated/applicable, there is no need to cluster them together and execute them one by one in a single Pomodoro.
With the practice of using the Pomodoro technique to accomplish the tasks ...
2
Pomodoro technique just doesn't work in that situation. The idea behind it is that you're expected to be uninterrupted, otherwise it breaks your train of thought.
The obvious, official answer is to schedule when they call you, but I'll assume that isn't possible.
A pomodoro is an atomic unit of time which can't be broken down. One possibility is to use ...
2
Let's look at the known facts:
you feel very stressed and burnt out at work;
the stress causes health problems to you (dizziness, headaches, fatigue, loss of focus, IBS);
your boss is unhappy with you having two 3-5 minutes breaks every hour;
you have been extra productive recently, yet your boss suggests that you work extra time.
Those are the facts you ...
2
It says in the book that they've experimented with it and found it as the ideal duration. Exact quote from the book:
Note In various work groups which experimented with the Pomodoro Technique in mentoring
activities, each team was allowed to choose the length of their own Pomodoro on the condition
that this choice had to be based on observations ...
2
This is a bit of a negative answer I'm afraid, but I think it's better than keeping you hanging.
In terms of science, only two papers on google scholar actually reference the classic pomodoro work -( http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?cites=8858932484710019383&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en ) and neither is experimental so I expect there simply ...
2
To stick with the traditional pomodoro technique this is considered an interruption. Pomodoro technique is made so that you shouldn't be thinking about the kettle on the stove at all! Tracking down internal interruptions is an inverse way to track your progress in not triggering interruption yourself. Zero internal interruptions => you are completely focused ...
2
As a user of both pomodoro technique and GTD, I think there isn't a definitive answer that will work for all people in all cases. My advice is that if you decide to let moving the kettle distract you from the current pomodoro, you should void the pomodoro and start over. As you note, that will help you plan better to control your working environment.
On ...
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