Pomodoro Technqiue

During the panel discussion at the NFJS conference on Sunday one of the panelists mentioned the Pomodoro Technique for getting things done.

Basically it consists of doing the following :

1. Choose a task to be accomplished
2. Set the Pomodoro to 25 minutes (the Pomodoro is the timer)
3. Work on the task until the Pomodoro rings, then put a check on your sheet of paper
4. Take a short break (5 minutes is OK)
5. Every 4 Pomodoros take a longer break

My understanding is that you are suppose to make a dash (vs a check) on your sheet of paper, if you fail to work on the selected task for the full 25 minutes.

The basic goal of the Pomodoro technique is to lengthen your attention span. If your like me, you've developed a number of bad habits over the years:checking email constantly, chatting on IM, constantly checking google reader... The Pomodoro technique is meant to help you break some of these bad habits.

How does it work? I don't know. I'm not even sure I'm going to try it.

What I would like to do, and I'll add this to my ever grown list of potential projects, is build some software times that are geared toward this particular productivity method.