Show HN: Pomodoro with friends
pomochat.com
pomochat.com
I would be careful...
https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-trademark-guidel...
what about sites like pomofocus.io?
The main one survived an attempt to revoke it https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsession...
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-italian...
Peloton is general purpose term from bicycle racing, but Peloton(tm) is trademark covering e.g. stationary exercise bikes: https://trademarks.justia.com/857/75/peloton-85775447.html
I think you're arguing that "Pomodoro timer" has become Kleenexed. That's a huge risk to take, given how narrow the audience for such is to begin with. The average layperson can use the word "Kleenex" for any product in that category, but the average layperson hasn't even heard of a "Pomodoro timer".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleenex#Kleenex_trademark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark
EDIT: On a closer look it appears more of a social network where you can meet people, than a productivity/motivation system. I expected small/private rooms and more control over the start time and the duration of pomodoro's. I'll still try it out to test how it works during the day.
Working together (even if separately) with other people is highly motivating. I found that I was much less likely to procrastinate this way, kind of how I'm less likely to be reading Hacker News instead of working when my boss is standing behind me than when I'm alone.
Personally I don't think you need a whole separate website for this; a Discord or IRC bot that runs the pomodoro would work just as well.
When someone else is around it's like a switch gets turned on and BAM - I'm able to do the thing.
Maybe a purely structured chat would work - summarise what you achieved, outline what you will do in your next allotment. But anything beyond that might be time better spent planning and prepping for the next session rather than wasting the first minute getting up to speed?
We've actually been making something that encourages all sorts of activities to be done with someone else at the same time (https://doubleapp.xyz, based on "body doubling" or social facilitation) - it's another great technique to have in your arsenal.
Edit: I joined Pomochat to try it out and I think chatting with strangers is probably about the worst thing to be doing on a Pomodoro Technique break. It should be done during the 25 minutes (but not every 25 minutes unless your job is to poke around in chat rooms), not on the break which ought to be used for stretching/relaxing both physically and mentally. I'm typing this during the Pomodoro but will just close the window after typing this.
The problem with those is that the frequency and randomness of the distractions makes is that the very possibility of being distracted by them prevents me from doing any work at all[0]. Unless I structure my environment to isolate myself from such distractions for extended periods of time, certain types of work (including all software work) just don't happen.
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[0] - Like, why I'm up and on HN at 3AM now? Because my little one woke up and can't decide if she's going back to sleep or not; in case of the latter, I need to react quickly, or else she'll wake up her older sister and we can all kiss rest of the night goodbye.
To try and be healthier, I've been combining that understanding with the Pomodoro technique. I set a timer on my watch for 30 minutes while sitting at my terminal, then get up for 5 minutes and walk around (also timed). Sometimes I have chores to do during the walking period, sometimes I just relax, and sometimes I use it to break out of any mental ruts I've gotten into and think at a higher level about the task at hand.
I pretty much always feel that my overall productivity is enhanced by this approach. But it would be justified purely by the health benefits. I don't do this as a replacement for a schedule of moderate exercise. I try to do that too.
I started using Focusmate[0] last week and found it incredibly useful. You can schedule a 25/50 minutes session, and you can find a partner to work with every 15 minutes. Maybe not for some people who don't like being watched through their webcams, but I don't have a problem with that.
For creative work you're right: it breaks your flow completely and you (I) end up either snoozing it (which makes it worse than useless) or obeying it, and then having to re-enter my context which can be a real pain.
However, I do appreciate the Pomo system for a few specific things, and these are why I sometimes use it:
1. If you have bad ergonomic habits, it can help you GTFO of your chair regularly.
2. If you're too distracted or full of ideas to actually get work done it can help force you to stay on tasks. "20 minutes of deleting emails, now go!"
3. It can structure a block of work enough that you probably won't be late for dinner.
I would be interested in a minimally social version of it, sort of like going to a coworking space with a friend: some social pressure might help you be more work-focused.
But this product doesn't look like that: chatting during the break is arguably the worst thing you could do, since you are still sitting at the computer, your focus is just going to get jittery, and now you have two things (the work, and the chat) you will have to decide to break off or not.
I also find Pomodoros useful as a self-reward system. Pretty much the only one that worked on me to date (not perfectly, but anything else I tried didn't work at all). The idea is this: when trying to make myself focus on things I avoid, such as work during periods of stress, I commit to counting pomodoros as points to spend on hobby projects or entertainment. The exchange ratio varies with time - 2 work pomodoros for one personal pomodoro is my default, though I sometimes go 1:1. First time around, I added reward multipliers for streaks, but I ended up gaming it and then trying to tweak to be more reliable, and it turned into a time sink, so later on I just did simple 2:1 or 1:1 exchanges.
The kicker is, I don't even spend the reward in the end. When I finish what I set out to do, I tend to have a good work week or more of reward pomodoros accrued, and then I don't feel motivated to use them. However, the act of collecting points is still a reliable motivator.
All that is modulated by a simple problem: I only ever remember to do pomodoros when things get bad and I'm getting stressed about a deadline.
Regarding µPomodoros (micro-pomodoros): sometimes when the stress or activation barrier is too high, I split my pomodoros into five 5-minute sessions, with no break in between. I call those 5-minute timer periods µPomodoros. Increasing the granularity tends to help me overcome mental barriers.
Edit: I see! Thank you for the responses!
"Pomo" can appear as "porno" with some fonts.
If the only function of this is that I feel socially pressured to _not_ be on a group chat or programming, then this does the trick.
Disclaimer: will try during the work day tomorrow. Have not tried the site itself.