The Pomodoro technique

Pomodoro technique is what helps you to increase your productivity just by juggling with the time you have at your disposal. The technique is simple and involves working in 25-minute intervals with breaks between them.Pomodoro technique helps avoid getting into situations like the one described below:

The timetable is protracted, fatigue increases, productivity drops, and the timetable again is protracted.
Francesco Cirillo, The Pomodoro Technique: The Life-Changing Time-Management System

How was created the Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique was launched with the self-published book “The Pomodoro Technique: The Life-Changing Time-Management System” by Francesco Cirillo the owner of Cirillo Consulting, a consulting firm based in Berlin.

Later, the book appeared “The Pomodoro Technique: The Acclaimed Time-Management System That Has Transformed How We Work” and includes several new chapters on how the technique may be used by teams.

The author, who’s focus has always been improving productivity and efficiency, created The Pomodoro Technique while a university student. He was looking for a way to get more done in less time and it seems that he definitely found it. As a time measuring instrument he used a tomato-shaped timer (pomodoro in Italian), hence the name of the technique.

Its creator Francesco Cirillo defines The Pomodoro Technique as a cutting-edge, disruptive strategy that helps individuals and teams to boost productivity

The basic principles of the Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique improves concentration and increases the number of things done in a day by applying 6 stages:

planning the day’s tasks
tracking your efforts
recording your daily activities
processing what you have done
visualizing areas for improvement

Applying the Pomodoro Technique

Pomodoro technique involves performing activities at 25-minute intervals, with short breaks between them, and after four such intervals, take a longer break. The 6 steps are the following:

Selecting the activity to perform
Set the timer for 25 minutes (pomodoros)
Performing the activity until the timer goes off
Mark as Checked the interval
A short break
After 4 pomodoros, a longer break

In case something unexpected happens and a pomodoro is interrupted, you can end the pomodoro and start a new one later or apply the “inform, negotiate and call back” strategy which means to

Inform the person who interrupted you that you must work uninterruptedly for a certain period of time
Negotiate a time interval when you can get back to them
Call back after you finished the pomodoro

Benefits of using Pomodoro Technique method

When you decide to apply Pomodoro Technique you want to know what results to expect. Here are some of them:

increased focus immediately
easily eliminated distractions
much higher quality work
increased productivity
more accurately estimated time
eliminated burnouts
increased motivation

You will notice that you need a short period of time to adapt to the principles of this technique. If you are not used to working in short intervals you may find it difficult at first to stop after only 25 minutes. You can use these short breaks to move or to drink coffee or to make a phone call or whatever else you consider necessary. It is important to respect them. They will help you to focus better as soon as you get back to work.

As soon as you get used to working at this pace, you will fully enjoy the Pomodoro technique and the results will appear in the shortest time.