Obey the Tomato

In “Star Trek VII: Generations” - awful movie, in spite of Kirk getting killed (odd number, don’t you know?) - a freak accident ripped the big bad guy, Dr. Trolian Soran (Malcolm MacDowell), out from a dimension of tangible joy and happiness, called the Nexus. Dr. Soran is so consumed with getting back to the Nexus that he bends his entire will and life towards achieving that end, and is even willing to destroy a star and the surrounding habitable planets in order to do so. The movie revolves around keeping him from getting back to the Nexus, but that, really, is irrelevant for our discussion.

We’ve all experienced glimpses of the focus which Dr. Soran had. It’s an enjoyable state where code, text, art, music, and thought flow freely, and the outside world, with all of its distractions, is held at bay. It’s a sort of Zen state of creativity. And like Dr. Soran, we desire to get back to, and remain in, that “Nexus”. I know I’m not alone in this.

Over the past few months, I’ve found it more and more difficult to find my nexus. I’m not entirely sure why; I just know that my motivation has waned and my productivity has suffered. I knew I had to do something, and that’s when I ran across “The Pomodoro Technique.”

The Pomodoro Technique was created by Francesco Cirillo while he was a student in the 1980’s. He found himself in a period of low productivity and challenged himself to “study - really study - for 10 minutes.” Using a tomato-shaped kitchen timer as a sort of “Time Tutor,” he found his path back to productivity and eventually showed others how to do the same thing. The tomato-shaped timer is the locus around which the technique revolves: Pomodoro is Italian for tomato.

The basic flow the Pomodoro Technique is as follows:

  1. You focus on a task (not necessarily completing it) for 25 minutes.
  2. At the end of that 25 minutes you take a five minute break during which time you think of nothing substantial.
  3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 three more times
  4. Take a 15 - 30 minute free-time break

A pomodoro (the 25 + 5 minute period) cannot be paused, broken up, or subdivided; pomodoros are indivisible. Substantial interruptions during that time negate the pomodoro and it must be begun anew. Smaller interruptions (internal and external) are handled by writing down anything notable and making a mark on the task at hand. 

There is, of course, much more which can be said about the technique, but that is handled better in the links provided.

Here are some of the benefits I’ve noticed in the three weeks I’ve used the techniques:

  • Increased productivity: Just by not allowing myself to check twitter, email, news, etc. and only focusing on the task at hand for 25 minutes at a time has really helped me pound out my tasks.
  • Increased Organization: Every morning I start by listing the things I want to get done and I just check them off as I complete them.
  • I’m not missing the little things: In the past, I’ve allowed random thoughts to side-track me. Now I just note them as things to follow up on and I get back to the task at hand. Later, when I have more time or in a pomodoro of their own, I follow up on the little things.
  • Increased usable time: Since I am pretty much scheduling everything I have planned, I feel like I can schedule in a pomodoro for things such as experimenting with an idea, reading up on new tech, and so on.
  • More willing to embrace the suck: the monotonous things (data entry, legacy work, manual processes, etc.) still suck, but you just schedule it in and plow on through. I’m more willing, but it’s still no fun.
  • Record of my progress: I use Google’s tasks app to track everything and it’s real easy to add new tasks, make tick marks, and check them off. Other services (or paper) work just as well. Now I can actually see how productive I am based on the number of pomodoros I complete
  • Time flies: Seriously. There have been numerous times when I don’t even hear the bell ring for the end of a pomodoro, or think, “Didn’t I just start this one?

Here are some of the weird things I’ve noticed:

  • I hurry to get things done within a pomodoro: This isn’t really a good thing, but I’m easing out of it.
  • Slow to start: at the beginning of the day, after lunch, or after a set of four pomodoros, it can be a little hard to get into a new set.
  • Mentally wiped: When I have a day of numerous pomodoros, I feel mentally numb.
  • Interruptions are more noticeable: I’m normally grumpy when I get interrupted during a task, but I’ve found I’m even grumpier when I have to nix a pomodoro on top of it.
  • Filling in the dead time: Not every task ends at the 25 minute mark and filling in the “dead” time by going back over what you’ve just finished seems silly at times.
  • My wife is afraid to call me: Not because I get grumpy, but she just doesn’t want to interrupt the pomodoro and get me off my stride. No, this isn’t a good thing.

The technique isn’t for everyone and I’d hate to force anyone to use it who didn’t want to, but for those of you who do, here are a couple thoughts to start out: 1) start simple: Don’t worry about all the metrics and whatnot which are discussed in the book. Just start with the 25 and 5 minute block, the four pomodoro set, and the task list. 2) Don’t expect to be checking off 12 pomodoros on your first day.

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