Ask HN: Does anyone actually use the Pomodoro technique? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Does anyone actually use the Pomodoro technique?

58 pointswgoto47 comments

I did some research and wrote about how the default 25-minute time intervals is better for breaking a procrastination habit, but longer time intervals like 50 minutes are actually needed to do deep work. Link: https://tinyurl.com/r5drje9p

I know only like one person who actually does the technique. So if you do pomodoro, how has it helped and in what ways? How do you make it stick?

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I have a friend with ADD worse than mine. The technique is a godsend to them and they credit it with getting many projects done. I think this is in part due to needing to think through the problem and break it into smaller pomodoro sized chunks. I suspect the exercise of breaking the problem into smaller chunks also helps them understand the problem better.

I only use the technique some of the time. I find the same results as above when I do. When I use the technique I don't use a sound alarm as I find it breaks my flow. Instead I tend try to break work into 20m bites, giving myself a 5-10 minute grace period/break. I try to get up and stretch at the 25m mark, then get back to work. It helps my focus on long slogs, and my health has also improved since I am no longer doing the 4-6h without moving from my chair anymore.

Just curious, what kind of work are you usually doing when you use the technique? What makes you decide to use it versus not?

Usually coding, or writing documents. The determination is based on a number of factors, including my mental state (focus, # of spoons, etc.) that day.

My ADHD-PI and anxiety are such rn that I can't code or do office-type work. I can only stare at a computer for 5 minutes max, and can't concentrate. Doctors are trying to narrow down a metabolic or endocrine issue, because the treatment-resistant depression (15 meds tried) and anxiety (with hypertension and tachycardia, on a beta blocker) are serious.

I use the Pomodoro at the end of a semester to study for longer periods without burning out. That way of studying works better than anything else for me.

Breaks are short enough that your mind doesn't wander too far and often enough, to not feel like a break is still 4 hours away.

The benefit of this is that it turns the whole process into a habit. It's not about today or tomorrow, but rather about the 2-3 weeks that you spent studying. This helps me with feeling positive about the progress I made (even if it's small).

Some things that help me:

- Reminding myself that I took those 8 hours for myself (to get things done)

- Having a deadline (exams) allows me to schedule topics (set expectations low)

- I don't have any apps to doomscroll (twitter, facebook, instagram), so a 5 minute break is plenty to respond to a friend

- Most of my breaks are not spent on my phone (getting water, fresh air, walking around house, stretching, talking to people)

I also use a it this way, but instead I do 90/30 (work/break) as 90 minutes gives me enough time to finish most exercises and tests without having to hurry.

I do around 4 to 5 sessions per day which hits the sweet spot for me as I can endure this for multiple months without having to take days off. This comes at the expense of having to start a few weeks earlier to have enough time to prepare for tests compared to cramming 12 hour days the week before

First time on HN I see someone promoting their blog through a question. Similar to youtube where every video seems to end with a question to get comments.

True, but it does seems like a valid question though?

ADHD-PI here. I use a version of Pomodoro technique with adaptations inspired by Leadership is Language by David Marquet and by what Prof. Andrew Huberman says about Dopamine.

Blue: Come up with my intended outcome. Set a duration from 10 to 45 minutes in proportion to my intuitive confidence that I am “on the right path”.

If I am spending too long in blue, then say the thing I’m most anxious about. State a hypothesis about it and frame my intended outcome as a test of that hypothesis.

Red: Execute at speed while still noting any surprises in a notebook.

Blue: Reflect on what I’ve produced and what I’ve learned. Notice any errors I made and think (without typing) about what led to them.

Green: 2-5 minutes meditation. Reconnect with my breath and body. Control my internal sense of time pressure.

—————————

Sidenote: I highly recommend both Leadership is Language and the Huberman Lab podcast to ADHDers and folks who just have struggles turning their intentions into action.

I have used it to great success, and often return to it while having issues with productivity. I find it best when my internal thoughts are troubled. Handing over control of when to work/when to rest to an external resource is usually enough of a lightened burden to get started. For a while I used it every day, but now I only use it when I find myself procrastinating or stuck in a rut.

I really enjoy using it as a browser plugin, bc you can configure most of them to also block distracting sites, and offer some level of "do you want to quit?" which is more of an emotional appear than a text editor gives me when editing etc/hosts.

I agree the 25min time is short for deep work. Usually a I do 1-2 25min periods to warm up, a 40min period of longer work, and then ramp it up to 1 or 2 90min periods with 10-20min breaks. When I go over 90min periods, I find I'm burnt out before the period ends and end up wasting time waiting for my break. Also I find I only get 5 or 6 periods of any length before I'm burnt out enough that a longer break is required.

Also that 5min period of rest may seem like not much, but if the work is overall interesting you will find yourself returning with a renewed vigor due to delayed gratification. Its a little jolt that can lengthen an overall work period making the breaks quickly pay for themselves.

I do find it clashes when you have external distractions like a spouse or animal. They don't understand the flow, and will expect you to break whenever, which can throw you out of the rhythm.

Overall using pomodoro allows you to think about one less thing and devote more energy to what matters. And if you are prone to procrastination/distraction that one thing can actually be pretty big.

The 25/5-ratio is ridiculous.

At least for me. Using 50/10 meanwhile because when I used 25/5 I just closed the Pomodoro app to keep going instead of being reminded to make a pause again and again. It felt like snoozing away the wake up alarm all the time. But I didn't want to wake up!

50/10 mins with a warning at 40mins is way better. The 10 minutes usually are used to get something to drink/snack/coffee giving the ADD-shakes in my legs something else to do (walking).

It happens from time to time, when I'm really into something, that I just switch it off to stay zoned out for hours.

PS: Thanks for the link.

I agree, my default is 32/8, it's a slightly bigger proportion of rest. Actually it's OK if you want even longer rest times. Like 25/15.

I don't think pomodoro is appropriate for all work. Quite a lot of work really wants a 3-4 hour long session (after which I need to eat and move around a little, or I'd stretch it longer). But for some things a 15-20 minute pomodoro session is perfect.

(For physical tasks I use podcasts, like pryelluw's Netflix technique. Bonus points if there's a podcast whose release schedule matches how often I have to do a particular task.)

Thing is, I see 8x25 minute pomodoros as one "uninterrupted" 4-hour work session. The little 5 minutes of rest does not need to get you out of flow, just spend it in a non-stimulating way. Don't go on HN.

Yep. Used it for years AMA.

I use the "Be Focused Pro" app on Mac/iOS.

I use 30 minute slots and often "double up" so I just start the timer again when it goes off.

I don't use a timer for the gap, so often my breaks are longer. I don't care so long as I hit my goal for the day, which is usually 10x or 12x 30 mins, six days a week.

I've thought about the "deep work" issue, but the gaps are actually good thinking time as I wash the dishes. They enable me to make better decisions about how to use the next slot. Direction more important than speed.

The other problem with the idea of needing hours of non-stop work is that it's just really bad for your health. You have to get up and move around regularly anyway, stretch etc. so sitting for more than an hour just ain't gonna happen.

It worked great for me at times, but after too long, it gives me anxiety and makes things worse. The 5 mins is too short to rest from doing real work. The 25 mins jerk me out of flow. I end up procrastinating on starting the timer, because I don't want to deal with being pulled from flow, and I do even less than without the technique.

If you have to try to make it stick, it's not for you. It's either magical or it doesn't work.

It's great for project management purposes though. I use it as a way to charge clients - I charge them per "pomodoro" instead of per hours sitting in front of the computer. And it helps to track how long some jobs take to do.

I do Netflix-pomodoro. Put on a show and work for one episode, break for the next. Repeat. I’m ridiculously productive this way.

Note that I aim for shows with episodes that last less than 30 minutes. The office was a great show to use but sadly was removed. Now using community.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine might fit your less than 30 minutes criteria

Pornhub-pomodoro for shorter tasks

It’s hard to do deep work when you feel like you can’t even do shallow work. I’ve seen pomodoro help people build their “getting things done” muscle so that their confidence in work can be applied to deeper challenges.

In practice it is bit of hack and not suitable to use as routine. For example many people need to spent a lot of time in meetings, and then pomodoro can't be used. Same with work that involves multiple people, like for example a complex system test involving multiple tests with people monitoring and performing actions in various stations.

I use it when I need to be really productive on projects and tasks where there are a lot of little things to accomplish and lots of little details to keep track of. My procrastination kicks in when I finish a task and "deserve a break" then I have trouble getting into the mindset of starting the next task. So for me a project that requires doing lots of small tasks that take 20 to 40 minutes to finish is the worst case scenario. I find the pomodoro technique is super valuable when trying to get through something like that.

It's less useful for me when there's a big feature to code and all I need to do is start pumping out code.

I've used it on and off for a while, but the habit just hasn't stuck for me. However, a friend is the founder of https://timechi.com - a digital clock that manages your pomodoro (or whatever style of time boxing you want to do), and connects to your computer/browser to block things from interupting you. The physical clock has the added benefit of being displayed to co-workers in an open office space that you're currently busy.

I have used it. This page of my website has the implementation I use: https://www.locserendipity.com/Pomodoro.html

In my version, I break down the task into discrete steps and give myself a check mark for every sprint completed toward each step.

The simple HTML format makes this more successful for me than the content-rich alternatives available elsewhere online. It also works if you save the HTML file to your desktop—so you can use it offline.

I've never succesfully sustained interruption tracking. Only a few timers support it, and the ones that do are the ones that try to be a task manager too. Since I already have tasks tracked elsewhere, I've never wanted to use the very rich Pomo software packages and just chose not to track them, instead.

Similarly, I don't tend to feed back the actual duration info into my system. I could--my task tracker has an estimate field I don't use since I estimate in numbers of pomodoros, so I could put real times there. But I doubt I'd look at them so I haven't bothered. So I don't necessarily get the benefits Pomodoro outlines re: making estimates better. I do think that having to break stuff down into sub 2 hour (and preferably sub 25m) chunks has helped me there, but it's an indirect benefit.

But the timer itself is invaluable.

I have ADHD and anxiety issues, and big tasks get intimidating enough that I have problems starting them. I was already using an "I'll put N minutes on the egg timer, then I can decide to bail if I want" technique to cut intimidation and get started. It's a very well-known way to get over that first hump.

Pomodoro just formalized that a little more for me: now I make that call at the end of each 25m Pomodoro. I invariably end up stringing a few together before I bail, so it works for me.

I use the 25/5 pomodoro whenever I have tight programming deadlines.

I can get so much focus/productive work done that way.

I use a software timer and turn off all distractions. It is invaluable.

Nice! For me it is more like 5/20 but still I get things done.

When I am doing SW development, which I love, then it is useless. When I have a to do list of more than 4 items its is a godsend. Setting my timer now. I do not always use 25 minutes. Sometimes I do more, but never less.

I do not like the tomato, I use a 60 minute timer, with a turn dial on the front. To shades in blue the minutes I have left. I choose the blue color as a friendlier color.

I use a pomodoro timer as a break reminder only, and it helps me to stay productive for the whole day. It is too easy for me to work non-stop since the morning, but that way I feel too exhausted in the early afternoon to do anything of significance.

I use the Pomodoro timer technique whenever I need to do focused work and absolutely have to get it done. I use a default 25-minute interval timer (ios app called BeFocused). But most of my work needs more time than 25 mins at a time, usually 1 hour to 2 hours. So what I do is every time the alarm goes off hit skip on the 5 break minute timer and continue working. Then when I feel like I've done adequate work on the task I'll take the break. Then I'll comeback and continue. I've found that its actually a neat trick to keep me working. Also if I can't stand working on something, this forces me to stick to it for at least 25-minutes.

No, because my tasks are too varied to be timeboxed into arbitrarily defined slots,

The most valuable thing for me is developing my meta-cognition and self awareness, so I know when my productivity is starting to dip and I take a break, do exercise or take a nap.

It took me a while to get this right because my high ambition and drive would be impatient with my need to rest and push me to continue, but like so many things in life, realising the path to success is not a straight line to be brute-forced, but complex path that is subject to update and reorientation, once I accepted this, productivity skyrocketed.

I think the important part are the pauses. What works for me is to actually take that five minutes pause and really put an end to it after five minutes. Same for longer pauses. But sometimes you just need to take your eyes off any screen, take a step back and take a walk or lie in the bed and think about your problem. Phone addiction is the worst for me. So I remove it from the room.

The best technique so far for me? Working around somebody who is working too. Helps tremendously.

I try to ride any good session I can for 3-4 hours. I do not need a break after 25minutes, and the most challenging part is getting into it for me, not staying in it.

For my thesis yes, for programming no. Long periods of hard writing is perfect for pomodoro, if I recall I did something like 32 on, 8 off. I shared with an online group, it was really special.

For some reason I get enough of a kick out of programming that I never need to take a break. I can play music and code for hours but tell me to write longform and I need a really good cajoling.

I usually do 55 minutes and then take a short break to stand up, stretch my wrists, walk a bit and go to the bathroom or drink water. No web surfing during the break.

Doing this has helped me get a bit more done and also helped me recovery from repetitive stress injuries.

When I'm deep into a problem, though, I'll sometimes skip the break and not even remember doing so.

It's a tool in the toolbox. I've used it in the past when I had brutal loads of Anki reviews and I wanted to get through it without my soul getting crushed. Most times I didn't need it, but if I fell behind it often did the trick.

I feel like it's vastly over hyped, but also like it's an excellent tool in the right situations.

I use 15 minutes work with 3 minute breaks. As a tool against procrastination, pomodoro is far more effective that it has any right to be. With short timers you're always only a few minutes away from a break so it's easier to push through feelings of distraction.

I try to stand up and walk around in the breaks to counteract sitting all day.

It's really good for building a work habit up again. If you've been very lazy for a good amount of time and have a hard time brute-forcing the work back, easing into it with pomodoros is helpful. And then you can slowly start to sometimes just ignore the alarm and keep working. Or skip a break. Or change the time.

I use it when I have trouble focusing, or when I need to as a planning tool.

I find that it is a lot more effective if there is a way to log your pomodoros seamlessly, so I made this:

https://github.com/tpapastylianou/tomato

I use the technique. I also made an app to help manage the sessions. It is in a very early stage, but go check it out at https://focuser.app.

I use it to get on a roll and to build momentum. Especially if a task seems too daunting in the first place - it's a good way to get the ball rolling.

I do. Helps me a lot.

25 minutes of uninterrupted work? Not in my office with the incessant interruption by managers.

I only do it when I have a lot of tasks pile up and need to clear them one by one, but it works

Pomodoro technique helps building some momentum. Once you start you forget about pomodoro.

It works really well.

Sometimes...

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