A new time management approach
Just getting the job done
The Pomodoro Technique
Last month I was looking at the Pomodoro technique. With the pomodoro technique you take a kitchen timer (originally this was a pomodoro timer hence the name) and then you take your To-Do list for the day and divide it up in to Pomodoros; pomodoros being a 25 minute intense work session. Each pomodoro session is followed by a 5 minute break.
My ambition last month was to do 10 pomodoros a day. That might not sound like much but that’s 5 hours of very intense work. The concept of Pomodoro is that you concentrate intently for 25 minutes rather than try to concentrate fully for the whole day, from the moment you walk in to the moment you leave. Instead, you do an intense work session for 25 minutes followed by regular breaks. When you get it right then it works very well. You can get a lot achieved using this technique. I failed miserably at the 10-a-day thing because I kept increasing my allocation of pomodoros for each task as I accepted that my To-Do list for the day was unachievable. I’m going to try the same thing but with a slightly different approach…
A realistic To-Do list (edible pomodoros)
The trouble I was having with the Pomodoro approach was that I would have a list of stuff to do and it was a list that would never be achieved in one day. The result was that I’d put about 10 things on my pomodoro list and then the first few would take longer than I expected or I’d mentally accept that the To-Do list I created for the day was unachievable so I didn’t mind using up a few more pomodoros on a task than I’d originally anticipated.
What I needed was a constraint on the To-Do list that would ensure that I would accept the tasks as achievable within the day. I’m simply not allowed to run out of pomodoros for the task. I needed to do the following; Accept three or so jobs for the day, Accept that they are achievable and then once the achievable list is done then I’ll go home no matter what time of day it is. If I get the job done early then I’m going home early. If I’ve miscalculated the achievability of my list then I’m going to have to stick around until they’re all done.
In short, every day is going to have an achievable to-do list. When everything on that list is done then I’m going to go home. Deadlines for every project, every day. I’m expecting to work something in the region of a 5 hour day but boy am I going to get a lot done in that time.
Starting tomorrow obviously… right now I’m going to go home and grab a beer.
This is interesting—how is it working so far?
It’s difficult!
I managed to do it once out of three days. The day I did manage it I went home feeling like I’d achieved and felt less frustrated. Getting 100% of the way through a shorter To-Do list is much more satisfying!
The first day I had quite a few jobs where I immediately broke my own rule. I allowed extra pomodoros for those tasks and therefore I didn’t get to the end of my list.
The second day was a success. Got to the end of the list. I did 12 pomodoros that day and finished all my jobs.
The third day (today), I had my uncle, who’s account managing a project for me, come up to the office. We needed to draft version 2 of a large proposal so it wasn’t really a ticking jobs off the list day. I suppose I could’ve considered it one single To-Do item and in that respect I achieved it.
I’m quite hopeful for next week though. It seems to be quite a good method of getting a lot done.
[...] The smallest tomato ever…My new time management approach happened in microcosm this morning and made me think that it might not be such a bad idea. In my most recent post I’ve been trying to find a new way of managing my time more effectively. [...]
I might try it, at least for days where there are lots of smaller jobs to do. I use to-do lists, anyway, but it’d be interesting to assign precise windows of time and see if it makes completing the list more efficient.
The problem for me is days are often like your third day above—quite open-ended.