Pomodoro In Practice - It’s Useful but Dangerous

Pomodoro is the Italian for tomato

The Pomodoro technique is where you set the clock, and then work solidly until the bell rings. You then have a break. The length of the session can be varied, but 25 minutes is generally considered to be the optimum. The pattern of breaks is 5 minutes after the first three sessions then 15 minutes. I've been playing around with this technique for around 10 years now. 

I have used a number of apps. None of them are perfect, but  the PomoDoneApp is the one I have found best suits my needs at the moment. But I use an egg shaped kitchen timer quite a lot as well. When I’m switching tasks a lot I’ll use index cards to keep track of which one to do next. I often record my sessions on my calendar. It is encouraging to see the time filling up.

On the whole I find it very helpful. It is usually a good way of motivating yourself, and it allows you to plan your work. However I don't use it all the time. And I sometimes regret it when I do use it. Let's list the positives first. The pomodoro technique is a great way of getting started with something you may otherwise put off. This is, to be fair, the main claimed benefit. It's also a great way of recording what you are working on and allocating time to different objectives. 

At the moment I'm torn between three important things. I need to get my books up to date for my accountant - an unavoidable job which is really unsatisfying and always tempting to put off. I have to get a database transferred from the out of date platform I wrote it on to a newer one. 

This is a huge task, but one that has to be done some time. And I need to keep on top of emails from clients who have the expectation that I reply to their enquiries. If I don't do enough of this activity I will let down people and also run out of money when they stop paying me. So doing a pomodoro session on each of them is a great solution. 

Continual practice has led me to have a pretty good idea of how much I can get done in a pomodoro, so I have a realistic impression of how much of a dent in my workload these three sessions will make. Finally, I can easily record what I've done. This helps keep track of how much I am getting done. I analyse this from time to time. 

The downside is that it does sometimes have the exact opposite effect to the reason for using it in the first place. You get to the end off the session and take your nominal 5 minute break. But you then have to motivate yourself to get started again. And if you are working on something hard the interruptions might, and often do, make it harder not easier to concentrate. It also means you have a tendency to have a lot of jobs on the go at once. (To be fair to the technique, I’m very prone to trying to do too many things at once generally.)

So like most tools, it has its uses but it isn’t always the best one for the job.  One of the ways I’ve extended its usefulness is by playing with the duration of the sessions. I take this to extremes in fact. When I am really not in the mood for working 5 minute sessions over a wide range of tasks and projects can be a way of at least getting something done.  At the other end of the scale, a three hour long pomodoro can be exceptionally productive if you can find a way of blocking the time off.