Boosting Team Productivity

Crossfit-Inspired Pomodoro Sessions

Introduction:

The post aims to provide insights into my own day-to-day life as a Databricks Data Platform consultant. This time, I will take you behind the scenes at our Backstage office.

This story is about our journey in becoming more productive as a team.

Topics to be covered:

1. Challenges with “Flow State”
2. The Pomodoro Technique
3. Physical tools for Pomodoro Sessions
4. Crossfit-Inspired Pomodoro sessions

I have met many professionals during my time as a Data Engineer, and often, one of the topics we discuss is what we are doing on our own to become more productive. So, from my experience, I assume that becoming more productive is a shared aspiration for many of us. But why? Personally, I strive for productivity to achieve more in less time, enhance my learning capabilities, and ultimately, experience a greater sense of self-fulfillment.

We have been working on improving productivity in Backstage for the last couple of years. Let me give you some insights in our journey starting from day 1.

When we started the consultancy company Backstage, each of us had our own ideas about how to work effectively. Personally, I preferred to enter the “flow state” for 2–3 hours every morning to maximize my productivity. But to enter “flow state”, it required some preparation work from my side:

1. I avoided watching news in the morning, as external news could disrupt my ability to focus.
2. My phone was tucked away, out of sight, to minimize distractions.
3. I always prepared a “To-Do” list the day before with the most important tasks to be done in the “flow state” session.
4. I tried to resist the temptation of coffee in the morning. But I must say our coffee machine and our beans made this almost impossible ;)

Backstage Office Photo

But my method was not perfect and actually had a lot of flaws. After I had finished my daily “flow state” session, I felt the rest of my day was less productive as I had already used most of my energy. Furthermore, I was not always certain to be without distractions in the morning as I could be interrupted by a colleague.

For those reasons, I recognized my method could be improved and I talked with my partners searching for a better solution. We had all read books on improving work effectiveness and knew the theory behind working in “Pomodoro sessions”. This is where you work for 25 minutes and then you take a break for 5 minutes. You typically do this 4 times before taking a longer break for around 20 minutes.

Excited by the idea, we came across Luxafor lamps which we bought and installed at each work station. When the lamp was “red,” it signaled that we were in the 25 minute Pomodoro session and therefore, we should not be disturbed. When it was “green,” we were free to have a chat.

Backstage Office Photo

Unfortunately, this experiment did not show the expected results. People had different working patterns, with some starting their Pomodoro sessions later in the day, some extending them, and others shortening them. As a result, colleagues tended to interrupt each other even when the lamp was “red.” I would say we gained a minor improvement by introducing the Pomodoro sessions at the office but the Luxafor lamps were never really used and they are no longer at our working stations this day.

After a while of thinking, one of my partners came up with an unconventional idea: “Crossfit watches.” Why not use the same method as when you do your Crossfit sessions at the gym?!

We then bought and installed these Crossfit watches in our office rooms and used them to initiate Pomodoro sessions as a team.

Backstage Office Photo

I was initially concerned that this approach might remove our freedom to work as we pleased. And for that reason, we decided to test the Crossfit watches with Pomodoro sessions only on Wednesdays from 10 AM to 12 PM.

From my own opinion, working this way not only improved our collective productivity but also gave us the ability to work effective for a longer period. Off course, I can only speak for myself but instead of focusing intensely for two hours, I now work in 25-minute intervals, enabling me to complete around seven effective Pomodoro sessions on a good day.

We continue to appreciate this solution today. But we only do it for two hours every Wednesday. I am afraid doing it more often, will take away to much freedom.

I encourage you to give it a try. And if you decide to do so, remember it still takes disciplin to work like this. My advice for you would be to pick one or two persons being responsible for starting and ending your Crossfit Pomodoro sessions once a week. Have fun!

To sum it all up

1. The flow state consumes a lot of your energy at the beginning of the day, and you are most likely not in sync with your coworkers.
2. Pomodoro sessions provide a better collective solution but require the right setup.
3. Luxafor lamps were a waste of time, but Crossfit watches helped us move in the right direction.
4. Nothing comes easy, and implementing this way of working still requires discipline.