[dsschnau]

i've never seen anyone actually use a pomodoro in real life, and the occasional day i've given it s a shot, I end up thinking "this is silly, I'll just focus on my work".

I guess my protest is that it seems silly, especially when I'm focused on something and the timer goes off and I'm supposed to stop. It seems like its adding structure only for the sake of structure. Has anyone actually started using pomo, and stuck with it, and seen positive results?

[RUG3Y]

I've had positive results with pomodoro. I honestly think it's more likely to be useful for people who are worse off than you are and can't focus or manage time. If you can sit and focus on your work without help, you don't need it.

[dsschnau]

Haha, I wish! I have a notoriously hard time focusing through the day, especially if personal matters are weighing on my mind.

[qwer]

The pomodoro technique makes work easy to start because it's a promise to yourself that it will only be for a limited amount of time. If you break that promise to yourself by not stopping, you've lost the entire point.

[juvoni]

I've been using Pomodoro for about 5 years now and it has been a major life changer. I don't use it at work, I use it to manage finite time pre or post for my side projects and outside learning. Here is a writeup on my system. http://juvoni.com/pomodoro-time-forecasting

I've developed razor sharp focus over the years, and pomodoros are like my focus shock absorbers for med/low energy periods or times when I'm most likely to be distracted.

[emperorcezar]

I use it to realign myself. If I'm having a bad day concentrating, I'll fall back on using podomoro.

[dsschnau]

I'm glad to hear that, because that's usually when I resort to using it.

[lunchladydoris]

For me the Pomodoro technique is about starting, not finishing. I normally devise ways to procrastinate but PT allows me to fool myself into starting by committing a small period of time.

[gdubs]

I used it a few years back to great success when I was balancing an indie development project with some freelance work, working out of my home.

Was very effective at taking control of a large task list without getting overwhelmed.

I found over time I internalized the rhythm and didn't need the rigor of it, but might still use it from time to time.

It's a nice proxy for a lot of the healthy work habits this post is talking about.

[treehau5]

I use it, although I admit not religiously. Writing down my tasks I need to get done, then 'estimating' them in 25 minute chunks really helps me get my brain around the concept of time, just how little of it I have in a workday, and just how fast it passes, which is the real issue for me.

Also, there's nothing wrong with doing 2 or 3 in a row, if you feel like it.

[marcosdumay]

I imagine there's a lot of value in "I won't change from this task until the timer beeps, no matter what happens" and no value at all (or a lot of negative value) in "I will change from this task as soon as the timer beeps".

Pomodoro may be something worth adjusting. I do have to try it someday...

[gmfawcett]

One value of the latter is, "I will stop for a five-minute break before the next work interval -- just to stand up and stretch and breathe." It may seem like an unwanted interruption if you are "flowing," but it can enable much longer periods of sustained work.

[thanatropism]

When I'm in a procrastinating streak -- that kind of low-grade depression that makes you dependent on having some measure of fun at all times -- I will set an e.ggtimer.com for, say, 20 minutes so I can get some work done in a day.

I usually get carried away and ignore the timer's end.

[throwaway91111]

The idea is to evaluate how you're doing every 25 minutes and take a break every 50. You're "allowed" to work as much as you want; if you don't have an issue over or under working, there's not much point to the timer.

[FallujahJane]

For me it's a tool of last resort. For 95% of my day-to-day work, I neither use nor need pomodoro's kick in the butt. But a few times per year these dreaded tasks come up that I just cannot get myself to do in a reasonable timeframe, and in those situations pomodoro sometimes helps, just to get going.