I just came across an interesting technique for time management, which takes its name from the Italian word for “tomato.”
I briefly glanced through the pdf and decided to post it online to encourage others to read it and provide feedback here. In the next week or so, I’ll also read it, and post up a follow-up article.
The45 page pdf can be downloaded at the following link: The Pomodoro Technique
The idea of the 25 minute ‘Pomodoro’ is interesting.
I tried it out at work with a free digital timer and found some merit in it’s rules but also found it can be inflexible.
I think the value of the technique can be found in isolated, specific activities, but for complex time demands and cooperative activities I found myself falling in-between Pomodoros, and actually delaying work to fit inside neat little Pomodoros, or wasting time ‘reviewing’ the activity waiting for the Pomodoro to ring. A stream of Pomodoros effectively isolates the user from their environment.
I also experienced irritation at ‘voiding’ some Pomodoros. It’s a little difficult to tell the boss to shove-off and come back in 25 minutes.
There’s value in the technique, I feel especially as a teaching tool, as some of the interruption processing techniques teach effective time management skills, but the process of tracking and voiding I feel is to rigid and simplistic for complex tasks and work environments.