Sometimes I find it difficult to get down to large pieces of work, like research, writing and putting together presentations. However a few months ago whilst reading the excellent Oliver Burkeman column (http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/oliverburkeman), I came across a very useful idea that has helped me no end. Bizarrely it’s named after a tomato – The Pomodoro Technique.
The idea was invented by Francisco Cirillo. It’s very simple. When faced with a task you find yourself an egg timer (Cirillo’s timer was in the shape of a tomato hence the name) set it for 25 minutes and start work. When the timer rings, you stop for 5 minutes. This 30-minute period Cirillo calls a Pomodoro. You then repeat the process three or four times and if the task is still not finished take a longer break of around twenty minutes. And that’s it!
Cirillo gives you a few further pointers in his free downloadable book. (http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/resources.html) Make sure that the break really is a break. He recommends doing some stretching, fantasising about your next holiday or swapping a joke or two with some colleagues (provided of course they are not in the middle of their own Pomodoro’s!) The breaks are very important, it allows the brain time to subconsciously process the work and get ready for the next session.
There are a few other rules. Once a Pomodoro is started it must be finished. This is hard at first. I often try and convince myself that the session would run better if only I could pop to the kitchen and make myself a coffee. Ignore these self-interruptions – keep working. If you reach the end of the twenty-five minutes and think you could carry on another few minutes and finish the task, you mustn’t – you should force yourself to have a break. Always try and use the egg timer; winding it up serves as a commitment to do the work and the ticking gives you a sense of urgency to keep going.
One of the benefits of focusing on one task is avoiding the hidden cost of context switching. When we flip between many things it can take several minutes to get our head back into a job. As much as possible try and minimise interruptions: let the phone ring to the voice mail and switch off your email client. If someone comes over to talk to you use the Inform, Negotiate, Reschedule method. Inform them that you are in the middle of something (a Pomodoro!) Negotiate when you could get back to them and Reschedule. When people get used to this they will accept it and probably interrupt you less.
If you want to take the idea further start to keep a log of how many Pomodoro’s it takes to do certain tasks. This can be useful information allowing you to estimate how long things will take in the future. It can also show you surprising data on how you actually spend your work time!
For me personally I couldn’t imagine using the technique all the time, but I have found it particularly useful when I am having difficulty starting a large task. Getting the egg timer out and doing a few Pomodoros helps me to build up a bit of momentum and get stuck into the work.
PS
It took me 3 Pomodoros to write this blog!!
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{ 1 comment }
I really like this idea. I’m going to put it to use at home. If I tried to do this at work they’d probably chuck me out of the building with all the ticking!
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