Pomodoro

Striking through a todo item brings me a lot of joy. Much like Zima¹, I too, enjoy some trickle of simple pleasure and contentment from the execution of a task well done.

In fact, since I joined the software industry some time ago, I’ve almost always started my working day with running a script I wrote, which prompts questions like when I punched my card, before creating a timestamped plaintext file with pre-populated contents including todo items of the day etc. I even aliased it to a command called ilog² so I can run it anywhere in my terminal. The initial intention was to figure out what time I can get off work (flexible hours as it may, we still need a day’s worth of working hours). But I realized how useful it could be to track todo items or park my train of thoughts of the day etc. So I kept the habit ever since.

To help with crossing out todo items, I sometimes use a bit help from a technique called Pomodoro (I can’t do the Italian accent, but Google says it sounds like paa-muh-daw-row).

Pomodoro Technique

I have learned and practiced Pomodoro a long time ago, and it’s not a new technique. I don’t always resort to it, cuz it’s a bit nuclear option that’s invoked only when I had to cram for finals / papers, or struggle to get many prioritized stuff done. Recently, for some reasons, I had been attending way too many meetings (there was a day I had 7 meetings, each 30+ mins alas). So I started to leverage Pomodoro again, to help with the work (yea yea meeting is work too..).

Here’s an intro³ for it:

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It uses a kitchen timer to break work into intervals, typically 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. Each interval is known as a pomodoro, from the Italian word for tomato, after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer Cirillo used as a university student.

The original technique has six steps:

1. Decide on the task to be done.
2. Set the Pomodoro timer (typically for 25 minutes).
3. Do the task (can’t spell pomodoro without do!).
4. End work when the timer rings and take a short break (typically 5–10 minutes).
5. Go back to Step 2 and repeat until you complete 4 pomodoros.
6. After 4 pomodoros are done, take a long break (typically 20 to 30 minutes) instead of a short break. Once the long break is finished, return to step 2.

A few personal customizations I’ve made:

• I personally don’t follow the suggested standard timer slots to the letter, as I find 25 minutes a bit short - I typically double it to 50 minutes per pomodoro.
• But my cadence for long breaks is also subsequently adjusted, e.g. to every 3 pomodoros instead of 4.

It’s worth noting that, whichever timer/cadence you choose, it’s really more about focusing than timing.

Credit: Ash Lamb

In a way, pomodoros are just like sprints in our agile / scrum practices. So if you’re good at estimating the level of efforts (we call them story points) for tasks, you can absolutely go with dynamic pomodoros. Although I personally believe it’s nothing short of an art form to accurately estimate (and commit to) how long it takes to do anything⁴.

There are plenty of Pomodoro apps available in the market. Here’s a snapshot of the freemium one I use (to avoid potential conflict of interests, I’m not gonna name it here):

The app also offers other premium features like cloud sync, and detailed reporting etc. As tempting as they sound, I’m just too cheap to get on a subscription for it..

As a testimony, I actually was able to wrap up this post within 2 pomodoros! This might be a new personal record for a post like this (see, it works!). For me, the feeling of getting stuff done is simply like no other!

Credit: Ash Lamb

To Wrap up

In reality, the situations are oftentimes fluid and sub-optimal. It’s hard to be truly distraction-free during the pomodoro times. There are always notifications, email alerts, and some other stuff (sometimes, having multiple screens is not necessarily a good thing) that may want your attention. For me, I also practice end-of-day Inbox Zero⁵ at work, so it takes great discipline⁶ not to read an email right away - red dots and unattended notifications do bother me a bit. To help reduce the risks of potential interruptions, you can always set up calendar blocks, snooze notifications, and/or wear a noise-cancelling headset, etc. So adjust accordingly!

Oh, and one more thing. If you’re old-school, or simply don’t want the hassle of apps (I get it, even software professionals don’t necessarily like apps), you can always spend a few bucks getting an hourglass or a real kitchen timer where this technique originated from. Alternatively, as a pro tip, some timepieces do come with a timer that can immediately help with this situation. For instance, the iconic Rolex Submariner has a rotating bezel that gives you up to 60-minute countdowns, which makes it perfect for Pomodoro practices. The only catch is, you may need to budget slightly more than you’d for a kitchen timer (and perhaps getting on a wait list first). Here, putting on my Don Draper hat, I even came up with an absolutely original tagline for Rolex⁷:

Rolex Submariner, the lazy man’s Pomodoro.

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