About 6 months ago it seemed like the internet was infatuated with a new time management technique called "Pomodoro." Developed by Francesco Cirillo, The Pomodoro Technique is a good way to increase focus, manage time and improve time estimations. If you're curious, the term "Pomodoro" comes from the Italian word for tomato, which is the type of kitchen timer the author of the technique used to time his sessions, more on this later.

The Pomodoro technique taps into a few important principles to help increase focus and results:

1. We can attain a laser-like focus for a short period of time, after that time focus deteriorates and results diminish
2. Minimizing distractions is paramount for finding a flow state
3. Taking short breaks can help increase focus
4. Using a prioritized task list helps minimize downtime due to task selection between tasks

The author did some experimentation to find out how long a person can focus on a single task and discovered that it's generally about 25 minutes. After which point the person becomes increasingly distracted by other things.

The cycle of the pomodoro technique goes like this.

1. Create a Priority weighted task list.
2. Select the first task, set a timer for 25 minutes, and begin working on it.
   1. Turn off all distractions. No phone, e-mail, IM. Close your door and focus.
3. At the end of 25 minutes stop working completely. Pencils down; like at the end of a gradeschool test
   1. Walk away from the task and do something else unrelated and calming for 5 minutes
   2. This means no checking e-mail, phones, etc. Go play with the dog, or get a glass of water.
4. At the end of the 5 minutes,
   1. Return to your desk
   2. Place a checkmark next to the task you were working on, on your task list
   3. Set your timer for 25 minutes
5. Return to your task and continue working with laser like focus for 25 minutes
6. If you complete a task draw a line through the entire task on your sheet

If you complete a task before the 25 minutes are up, use the last few minutes of the "pomodoro" to review your work and improve it, or learn from your experience so you can do it better next time. If you complete a task, but you've used fewer than 10 minutes of your pomodoro, consider that part of the previous pomodoro and move on to your next task immediately.

Does this really work? I've found that this works well for me when working on certain types of tasks, but like almost any time management technique I've had to modify it for my own uses.

It works when I am writing, testing or reviewing. I think it works with these classes of problems because I don't need to hold enormous amounts of information in my memory, and taking short breaks periodically allows me to step back and reframe the issue I'm working on for added clarity.

When I have a task that I estimate should take an hour I will sometimes use a single pomodoro to complete the task in half the time. I've found when all distractions are removed that this 50% estimation is fairly accurate.

I've found this can be very distracting when I find myself solving large problems, while programming complex systems, or need to keep a large amount of information in my head. All this thrashing every 25 minutes only serves to defocus me. Stopping every 25 minutes makes it nearly impossible to enter into a "flow state" which can increase productivity significantly. If I find myself in that kind of a state, and I'm feeling good I won't take a Pomodoro break. I'll pop my head up four or five hours later to discover I've made significant headway on all my tasks.

Just think how well you work when right at the end of a major deadline. The Pomodoro Technique attempts to tap into that focus (or frenzy) and allow you to harness it all day. Give it a shot for a few days, maybe you'll find a source of energy and focus you never knew you had.

Nevertheless as I mentioned earlier, this wasn't necessarily my choice, so the experiment began.

Week one went by, no apparent loss of productivity.

Week two, again, no apparent loss of productivity.

What's going on?
After a few weeks I decided to look into what was really happening. I found myself focusing much more acutely on my tasks at hand. I pushed out any non-work related distractions from my mind and more importantly inbox and really focused on what I needed to complete by the end of the day.

I also tapped into the natural ebb and flow of my daily energy cycles. I realize that sounds like some kind of new age crystal energy management technique, but it's really not. I discovered that I found myself most productive in the mornings, between 8:30 AM and lunch, generally right after I have my coffee. I feel like I can accomplish anything during those hours. I could review the most boring document, find and fix pedantic bugs, deploy to a server, or slog through hundreds of XML log files looking for a potential vulnerability. I can do all of this and stay focused, and stay sharp because this is the time when my mind is most active.

After lunch however I've found that I have a far harder time focusing on a task, especially if it is one that I don't find particularly interesting. After lunch it's much harder to find my "flow" and get things done. (side note: my wife has recently started a partial raw foods diet. I've found eating raw for lunch significantly increases my ability to focus after lunch. More on that in a later blog post.)

What was really happening when I was working 10 hours per day was that I tapped into my early morning ultra-productivity cycle, but then as the day went on I increased hours while drastically decreasing results. We've all heard of the Law of Diminishing Returns.

Of course these times and energy levels will be different for everybody, so I recommend spending a few days or weeks keeping an hourly journal to track how you feel. Get a notebook and on each line write each hour of the day, then in the next columns rate yourself on metrics you are interested in. In this case I would rate myself on: productivity, alertness, focus, and flow.

What to do?
Now that we know when we're most productive we can apply this to our daily work habits.

Choose to accomplish tasks that you find less fun, exciting or interesting when you have the most energy. I've found that doing something a little boring is doable if I do it first thing, when I'm focused and am excited to be productive for the day. You'll fly through your boring tasks quickly especially if you leave some fun and exciting tasks that you can only start on after you're done, just like your mom used to make you eat your peas before you could have ice cream.

In the times when you are less productive choose to do your fun and exciting projects. In my experience the excitement of the task helps me quickly find my "flow" state and get lots of stuff done.

If I do these two things and minimize distractions I can get the results of 10 hours worth of work done in 6 hours, which of course is an amazing increase.

Another principle I'd like to talk about soon is finding your pace. I'll leave that for a future blog entry too (yikes, I'm already adding to the future pile blogs to write!), but I'll mention a couple of quick principles. Just like running a race it's important to know and stick to your pace. Perhaps you can work 10 hours per day for 5 days straight, but if you push beyond that you'll run the risk of burning out, getting sick, or losing productivity. If you find your pace you can do as much work as you can, predictably, which in the long run will help increase productivity, results and make you happier.