Pomodoro: Be More Italian, Get More Done

In the 1980s (a truly blessed era), an Italian guy with a tomato-shaped clock discovered a way to work effectively when nobody is standing behind you with a horse whip. His idea can inject focus and productivity into your work day. It did mine.

That’s right, the Farmer listened to the Francesco Cirillo, tomato-shaped-Italian-timer-guy. Cirillo came up with the Pomodoro technique, and, while there’s nothing magical about it, it’s really useful.

Aside: Pomodoro means tomato in Italian, and this post has nothing to do with tomatoes. Double Aside: I’ve never read anything by Cirillo himself. He has a website; feel free to check it out. I just don’t think it’s all that complicated so I’m happy with my own implementation of the concept.

Under normal working circumstances, I spend more than 60% of my working hours (3 of every 5 days) at home here in New Jersey. In the Covid-19 universe, I of course spend 100% of my working hours at home, as do many of you who are blessed to still have work to do while in your pajamas.

If you’re having a hard time staying self-directed, try the Pomodoro technique: it really can help make you more effective while working from home.

Credit where credit is due: The Farmer’s boss (also not an actual farmer) mentioned a particular desktop widget (like, computer desktop) that provides a Pomodoro time, and that kicked off the period of experimentation and refinement that led to the findings I’m presenting here. Let’s get started so you can Pomodoro your way to executive. Or at least do a good job.

The following sections are both how I progressed in using the Pomodoro technique, and how I’d recommend you to do it. In the later levels, you earn what I call Bacon Points (made-up term for this blog post)! But start slow, just reorganizing the way you keep time at first.

Stage 1: Can you Focus for 25 Minutes at a Time?

I came across this Pomodoro technique at a time when I needed desperately to get focused. I figured I’d try it one day, since it couldn’t be any worse than my regular approach. I didn’t look much into it, I just knew that it involves 25 minutes of focused work time, followed by a five minute break. And that’s the nice thing about it. It doesn’t ever ask you to do anything herculean. Almost anyone can focus for 25 minutes.

Just setting a timer for 25 minutes works. On day 1 (maybe all of week 1), I gave myself no flexibility at all. It was 25 minutes on, 5 minutes off. I took a lunch break and got back to the timer in the afternoon. Every time I clicked into a personal browser tab, or started to lean back and think about something unrelated to work, I would remember I was on a timer and get back to work. This was very effective at eliminating most self-imposed distractions.

What should you use for a timer? The inventor of the technique had one shaped like a tomato, and insisted that folks use a physical timer that ticks away the time, audibly. I think that’d be annoying. I have used a Google timer in my browser, my phone’s timer, and now, a Pomodoro "widget" that my Operating System’s (Manjaro Linux) Desktop (KDE Plasma) had available. Doesn’t much matter. But, by all means, be more strict if you like and use a physical, ticking kitchen timer.

Main takeaway: This stage is aimed at keeping you focused for manageable periods, with little breaks interspersed.

Tip: Get up and walk away form the desk for at least the majority of the 5-minute breaks. At least for me, the reset value of this is important.

Stage 2: Take a Longer Break After every 4 Focus Periods

At first I didn’t realize a longer break was part of the technique, but I’m glad it is. It makes the program more sustainable, I think. After several focus periods you might start to fatigue mentally. A slightly longer break helps. It’s supposed to be 20 minutes after every 4 focus periods, but I think it’s good to keep it flexible. I’ve done it these ways:

Sample 1: Pomodoros with a lunch break in the middle

	Focus Duration(min.)	Break Period (min.)
1	25	5
2	25	5
3	25	5
4	25	20
5	25	5
6	25	Lunch
7	25	5
8	25	5
9	25	5
10	25	Done

Sample 2: Pomodoros with one really long break

	Focus Period	Break Period
1	25	5
2	25	5
3	25	5
4	25	5
5	25	5
6	25	Long Lunch
7	25	5
8	25	5
9	25	5
10	25	Done

You get the point. I think it tends to work better if I get 5 or 6 done with only a 5 minute break, then take a longer break for lunch, exercise, etc. In fact, that’s the primary schedule I follow (for days without meetings at least). I like varying the details of this though, to keep things fresh.

Q: Are 10 Pomodoros the goal?

A: No. Some days have meetings that interrupt my focus periods, and now I don’t even count all work tasks in a focus period. So exactly how you implement this will determine how many Focus Peridos you do in a day. And some days, I just suck at focusing.

Main Takeaway: This stage is all about placing the focus Periods in the broader context of a day. You can think ahead about how many periods you’d like to do before and after lunch, or around meetings.

Stage 3: Sharpen the Focus Periods

If you stopped after stage 1 or 2, you ‘ll probably see most of the benefits. Steps 1 and 2 are all about keeping non-work distractions out and giving enough break time to keep fresh.

I started realizing the focus periods themselves, while being entirely pointed towards work-related tasks, could be somewhat fragmented. Impulsively checking all my work communication channels (2 slack workspaces, an internal social network-like tool, email, public forums) can also derail me from doing what brings home the bacon: documenting software in my case.

Aside: The farmer is so intense, his focus periods need more focus.

Therefore, I began only giving myself credit (earning what I will refer to as a Bacon Point; though I only made that term up for this blog post) for completing a full focus period when I am doing that money-making portion of the job directly for 25 minutes straight. How much wiggle room you leave in this (turning off notifications? Ignoring all but direct messages?) can vary. But watch out for distraction creep, where you let more and more bring your focus off of the task you identified as the focal point of the focus period.

Being more strict about what is a focus period means that some planning has to happen, and I am more motivated to keep out all distractions. Every 25 minutes or so is plenty to catch up on any communications that need to happen. There’s also the option of pausing the Pomodoro timer if something comes in that’s urgent.

In this stage, every 25-minute focus period gets you 1 full Bacon point.

Main takeaway: Here we’re making sure our focus periods are aimed at the important work.

Stage 4: Weighted Focus Periods

I want to be focused even if the task I’m working on isn’t the bring-home-the-bacon job function. So I will still set the timer and complete a focus period. I give myself a half a Bacon Point if I complete a focus period (25 minutes) that involves necessary but non-primary work.

I mean, sometimes you need a chunk of time for planning, or for collaborating with someone, and while it’s not execution of your primary function, it’s the next best thing (hopefully). For me, a technical writer, this type of time looks like working on outlines, doing other non-documentation writing tasks (helping colleagues figure out how to word messages displayed by the software, for example), exploring new features in the software, and more.

So in this stage, you get a half a bacon point for focus periods spent on non-primary work, and a full bacon point for focus periods spent on the primary work function.

Main Takeaway: I want my main focus periods to be on my primary job function, but I also want to be focused when I’m doing other necessary work. So I get half a Bacon Point (whatever, it doesn’t have to be called that; I’m already sick of the name myself) for a fully completed focus period that was directed at essential but secondary tasks. This helps me focus on those tasks and get them done, which then helps me focus on my primary task. Winning!

Stage 5: Spreadsheets

I’m now using a spreadsheet to track my Pomodoros. I also understand how many to expect hitting in a certain day if all goes as planned.

If I have two meetings, no matter how brief, completing 8 focus periods is probably a good day. One meeting, and I might be able to hit 10. No meetings? Then I can plan my entire day around focus periods (as long as the work is already identified ahead of time) and might be able to hit up to 12 (once in a while). The exact numbers vary with the job details, the person, and how you’re executing the Pomodoro technique, so there really can’t be any competition here. You’ve just got to be honest with yourself.

Okay, here’s my spreadsheet [I also embedded it here but the HTML Google Sheets spit out doesn’t look so great here in WordPress]. It’s nothing amazing, and it really doesn’t matter in the end. I just like to see it get filled up throughout the week.

This week I was solidly in the orange level (that’s the minimum level I can hit and be fully satisfied with my weekly output). All my days hit at least 8 focus periods (max was 10 Bacon Points), but one of them hit 9 focus periods and still only earned me 7.5 Bacon Points. There were 3 focus periods spent on non-primary work that day. Id’ like to hit that green level consistently one of these weeks.

I hope that helps someone! Please share if you have a sort of program you use for staying focused at work (or, at work while at home).