The Pomodoro Technique – 6 months later
6 months ago I decided to try out the Pomodoro Technique, so it’s about time to document my findings. First of all, I cannot image going back to the way I used to work before. It seems too chaotic and disorganized now that I got used to the mechanical precision of the technique.
Some things I learned:
- As I first suspected, the technique helped me accomplish a larger and more efficient quantity of work than before, with a lot less interruption, and a lot less room for procrastination. Not that you cannot procrastinate, it’s just that it’s more obvious to yourself when you do so. If you try reaching for 12-13 pomodoros on an average day, the days when you only manage to churn out 6 or 8 will stand out like a sore thumb.
- I now think of tasks in terms of the number of pomodoros it takes to complete them, so it gave me an excellent unit of measurement for use in estimating.
- Most of us don’t work in an isolated environment, and it’s sometimes hard not to be interrupted, and I think this problem only grows as the size of your organization increases.
Some tricks I used to adapt the technique to my own needs:
- Starting a new pomodoro is sometimes hard. I now have the habit of leaving a small amount of work not done at the end of a pomodoro, and when the break is over this forces me to jump right in and finish what I started. It’s a lot easier to procrastinate when the code is stable and everything works.
- I try and time my pomodoros with my lunch break. Therefore, I don’t take a larger break until after the 5th or 6th pomodoro, which usually ends just as we are all about to go out for lunch. Otherwise I would take my lunch break after just 2 pomodoros.
- I started using the technique by scribbling the number of pomodoros that passed on a little piece of paper. I have, since then, advanced to using a daily to-do list, and marking each pomodoro on the row of it’s corresponding task. This serves a double purpose as, besides tracking the daily pomodoro count, it helps with the future estimation of similar tasks.
Some of the adjustments I made (particularly the first one) directly contradict the book. I don’t think that’s too bad, because the entire technique’s role is to help me become more productive, and if I found a way to improve on this (for my particular case, of course), I think it’s OK. So go ahead and roll your own, as long as the changes you make boost your productivity. However, I strongly recommend sticking to the instructions in the book for the first few months, and then decide if it works for you out of the box or if it needs tweaks.
One does not simply Walk Into Mordor
I was meaning to start writing about books for some time now, but I also didn’t want to pollute this website with non-technical information so, for those of you that are interested, I will be massacring the English language on my other blog too, Walk Into Mordor.
Happy reading!
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About victorstanciu.ro
Sunt Victor Stanciu, web developer, si scriu despre dezvoltare, standarde, tehnici si tehnologii. (mai mult)
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