Pomodoro Timer

Post by nmca » Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 8:12 AM UTC

claudiawerner wrote: post #69

nmca wrote: post #41

Some folks seem to think the benefit of pomos is the focus time. When I used them, it was the breaks. Stopping every twenty five minutes and asking "is this the right thing to be doing now" was invaluable.

I don't really understand Pomodoro. When I'm at work, I'm constantly confronted by things not working (the dev environment) and using tools others wrote in an ad-hoc way. Any focus time is almost half spent diagnosing issues with the software. I don't do any deep work, because I spend my time writing tests (thanks boss!) and then getting those tests to work. It just feels so unfulfilling, that I don't want to sit the…

Post by maccard » Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 1:58 PM UTC

cratermoon wrote: post #70

maccard wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on what you want to achieve. If you just want to hit focus then setting a 15 minute timer and ignoring it will likely do it. I find significant value in the breaks - I use them to take a walk/grab coffee for my desk, and feel that those regular little breaks are enough that I can keep the pace for an entire day, day on day.

The breaks are really the key. At first it might seem wrong to stop when in the middle of something, but making a habit of jotting down a quick status note when the time is up makes it possible to pick up the threads again for the next round. A 5 minute break won't completely break a train of thought, but it will push it to a different cognitive level. Often the result is better than pushing through on the same probl…