The Pomodoro Technique - stop procastinating and make deadlines your friend
tecnicadelpomodoro.it
tecnicadelpomodoro.it
Seems good, but I won't promise that I will fully read it later :p
1. use a kitchen timer
2. minimize interruptions
3. work in iterations of 25 minutes with 5 minute breaks
4. change it up sometimes longer or shorter breaks longer or shorter work chunks.
5. plan your day
6. change your plans as needed.
That's pretty much it.
//Pomodoro=tomato //his first kitchen timer was shaped like one.
It works well, but gets boring after a while... I've found it works best when you're drowning under a sea of small tasks.
In my opinion, no self-help guide applies for everyone; we all have our own strengths and vices.
It seems that this one is designed to help build concentration and minimize interruptions by defining concrete "work unit" blocks, thus helping to build discipline in fighting off distractions (internal & external).
I don't feel strongly about his views on the perception of time, but it's not that important to the whole article.
Well, in my case, when I'm doing a long task that I enjoy I tend to enter an obsessive mode that's far more productive if uninterrupted.
This one seems to work particularly well for me precisely beacause my perception of time fits better with the sequenced than the abstract. I also dislike multitasking and I've been practicing concentration exercises and catching internal interruptions outside of work anyways. I can leverage a lot of things I already do. Not everyone is going to be able to do that.
You track your interruptions. It is similar to the "trusted system" in the GTD system. It is also similar to meditative techniques where you let go of extraneous thoughts instead of trying to actively suppress them.
By the way, I've only read the first two chapters which is maybe 10 pages long. I haven't bothered to read the rest of it, though I'll probably add it as a pomodoro. I don't really plan on using it in a team setting and I was itching to get started on stuff after reading it.
As for the kitchen timer, I wrote shell two shell script that tells mplayer to play the Final Fantasy 6 harp theme after 25 minutes using the 'at' daemon.
Just so you know, I set up my office along pg's suggestions. I had moved off all non-work-related stuff to the desktop computer.
I've also been using Pivotal Tracker. The gig I'm working on had pulled in Hashrocket, and they insisted on it. The stories are chunked down to easy bite sizes, so I've been able to crank it out.
The real test though will be doing this for the non-consulting projects, where the payoff is going to be far far away...
2. Start with the smallest, simplest, most self-evident and well-defined part of the larger task that you can think of. Reduce every task until you find something you can do right this minute without having to think more than a few minutes ahead, and repeat. Make reversible decisions by guesses or random selection if necessary to keep moving forward. Resist the urge to prematurely optimize by batching, list-making, or prioritizing until your attention is fully on the new task.
However, for desk-work it might help me. I have to stop every 20 minutes and take a 5 minute break anyway due to RSI. Using this interval as an atomic unit for task completion, recording, and estimation may be useful.
Of course, the preferable solution is to find a job where your tasks aren't boring.
"Diary of a Self-Help Dropout: Flirting With the 4-Hour Workweek"
Whatever the bug was may have been fixed, but that doubt stops me from using it exclusively.
But what do you do if your work is not well defined or clear cut? Sometimes slowing down, taking a step back, looking at the big picture, and thinking outside the box produces much less work with much more impact. Then you don't need your timer nearly as much.
I've been using something similar for my meditative practice, only I use incense. I sit there until the entire stick burns off. What ends up happening is that I subconsciously associate the meditative state with the smell of sandalwood incense.