I'm a huge fan of the Pomodoro technique as a way to manage daily tasks. I'm a programmer, and I learned about it from another programmer, but I think any person that spends most of their time in front of computer can benefit.
Very briefly, the central tenets are:
- Break your tasks into 25-minute chunks ("Pomodoros") at the beginning of the work period, and write them down on a piece of paper
- Complete each task in 25 minutes, cross it off, and take a 5 minute break
- After three tasks, take a longer (15-25 minute) break
- Repeat until finished
This absurd simplicity is actually very effective. It forces me to develop a strategy, execute within a time constraint, and be honest and accountable with myself when something doesn't get done on time.
As a longtime pencil-and-paper Pomodoroist, I couldn't help but wonder what a fully realized Pomodoro app might look like. Something that keeps that same spirit of simplicity while addressing some of the annoyances of paper.
This is my first attempt at a modern Pomodoro tracker. It's still unpolished, but works well for me. As always, the source is freely available and I welcome any feedback or contributions.
This is my first attempt at a modern Pomodoro tracker. It's still unpolished, but works well for me. As always, the source is freely available and I welcome any feedback or contributions.
1 comment:
Funny, I found this post through Iron Blogger and I just made a post about the Pomodoro technique as well: http://maggiedelano.tumblr.com/post/77680260829/rescue-time-and-the-pomodoro-technique
One thing I don't mention in there, which I intend to talk about in a future post, is that I log the details of each pomodoro session as part of a beeminder goal (https://www.beeminder.com/maggied/goals/pomodoros). I'm also curious about integration as far as tracking my pomodoros more efficiently, so I'll look into your app more. One thing I'd really like that I am planning on implementing is a way to start a pomodoro in Strict Workflow (or equivalent) and then have it automatically log what you did on beeminder.
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