Pomodoro teknikken apr 2011

The Pomodoro Technique

“Take your day back”

Bent Jensen April 2011

Why Pomodoro?

• Francesco Cirillo invented the technique when he was a young student in the 80ies

• He found it difficult to focus on reading.

• Challenged himself: Can I fokus just 25 minutes at the time?

Can you use it?

• How often during a normal day do you experience being interrupted in your work?

– Never!– 1-5 times– 5-10 times– 10-25 times– More than 25

Can you use it?

• When starting a larger, difficult task do you experience it is difficult to get started?

– Never– Some times– Often– Every time

Can you use it?

• Do you experience that meetings lack focus and run over time?

– Never– Some times– Often– Always

Agile development and productivity

• Agile development protects the teams productivity by:

– Timeboxing most meetings– Close for new requirements and changes during the

Sprint– Ensure that no-one goes for more than a day without

help.

• But what about the individual?

Two cycles

• 24 hrs inner cycle• Outer cycle of not

more than 2 weeks

Makers time / managers time

Threaths against personal productivity

• The colocated team and high level of collaboration has some down-sides:

– Constant interruptions– Involuntary involvement in discussions– Difficult to find time to deal with the”Big ones”

Cost of interruptions

• A study says it consumes on average 28% of a knowledge -workers day*

• May even be more when we consider intensive work like software development and -testing

• A metaphor is that the brain is like a workbench where work is cheap but access to the attached storage is very expensive

* "The Cost of Not Paying Attention: How Interruptions Impact Knowledge Worker Productivity," Jonathan B. Spira and Joshua B. Feintuch, Basex, 2005)

Focus or Concentration

• Focus is necessary in much knowledge work• We need to be able to think and work with

symbols for relatively long periods• Other words– Flow– Be in the Zone

• Focus is fragile and is difficult to maintain

Flow

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

MotivationMotivation

Difficulty

Too easy Too difficult

Optimal difficulty

Intrinsic motivation and rewards

• When do you feel you have accomplished something?

• Completing yet another Pomodoro creates a small intrinsic reward – even if the task is not fully completed

Pomodoro and flow

• Establish the foundation for flow• Widen the range where flow can be

experienced• Create rewards for things that are not

candidates for flow-experiences

Procrastination

• Tasks are too big, complex or difficult• We cannot get started

LIFO

BDUF

Pomodoro

The Pomodoro technique

• Accessories– Timer– Activity Inventory Sheet– To Do Today Sheet– Recording Sheet

The Pomodoro Driven Day

WorkRecreation

Planning Recording and Improving

Planning

Deadline Activity Inventory

Fix bug in translation engine

Work on proposal for automated testing

Introduce Andrew to the project

01 march Program new module to Charge Capture

Set up testing environment

Play Fussball against Matt

Planning

To Do Today Pomorodos

interruptions



Introduce Andrew to the project

Urgent and unplanned

Planning


interruptions

2 Fix bug in translation engine

3 Work on proposal for automated testing

1 Introduce Andrew to the project


Pomodoring


interruptions



Introduce Andrew to the project 1


Strategy for internal interruptions

• Observe, Accept, Plan or Remove• In practice– Find out what it is and accept it– Add to urgent and unplanned or inventory– Re-focus– Re-plan after the pomodoro

Strategy for external interruptions

• Inform – I'm in the middle of something• Negotiate – is it OK if I come back to you on

Friday?• Schedule – I write the title of the activity down

and later on, I plan it for a future Pomodoro• Call back – I do call back as I have promised,

otherwise I will not be entrusted with this responsibility anymore

Pomodoring


interruptions


Work on proposal for automated testing 1 /



Help Sarah set up test environment

Pomodoring


interruptions


Work on proposal for automated testing 1 -




Pomodoring


interruptions





Help Sarah set up test environment 1 ‘

Order tickets to Heavy Metal concert

Pomodoring


interruptions







Pomodoring


interruptions

Fix bug in translation engine 1






Pomodoring


interruptions

Fix bug in translation engine 2






Recording, reflecting

date To Do Today Ps Type internal

external

09 feb 09

Fix bug in translation engine 2 Programming

09 feb 09


2 writing 1

09 feb 09

Introduce Andrew to the project 1 Coaching

09 feb 09


1 Coaching 1

Visualizing

01-feb 02-feb 03-feb 04-feb 05-feb0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Pomodoros

The Pomodoro Rhythm

+5 m +5 m +5 m +20-30 m

+5 m +5 m +5 m +20-30 m

+5 m +5 m +5 m +20-30 m

+5 m +5 m +5 m +20-30 m

Rules

• The Pomodoro is indivisible

• Choices– If there is 5-15 minutes left: Overlearn– If you have to do something else: Void it

Always remember: The next Pomodoro will go better!

Rules

• If an activity is larger then approx. 7 Pomodoros – break it into smaller pieces

• If an activity is less than a Pomodoro group it with other small activities

Rules

• The Break is a Break– Not an opportunity to do other work

Benefits of Pomodoro

Overview:Planning in the start of the daySmall “guilt-free” breaks along the dayMotivation for routine tasks. Finishing a

Pomodoro is a reward in itselfA way to handle procrastination: Wind up the

clock and get startedA strategy for handling interruptionsA tool for continous improvement

APPLICATIONS

Pair Pomodoro

• Control start and stop of focused activity

• Review progress and strategy every 25 mins

Meeting podoro

• Agenda with duration in Pomodoros

• Prevent drifting or long-winded talking

• Necessary breaks to clear mind (and empty bladder)

Team Pomodoro

• Interruptions at controlled times

• Trying once more• Protocol for what

can interrupt an pomodoro

What timer?

Resources

http://blog.staffannoteberg.com/

http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/

http://blog.staffannoteberg.com/



Documents

Pomodoro teknikken apr 2011