A Productive Summer: The Pomodoro Technique for Time Management
By Helen Barrett
In the second of a weekly series on personal productivity, our writer tries a technique to overcome procrastination. Which techniques do you recommend? Tell us in the comment field below
What is it?
A low-tech idea whose time has come. Invented in 1987 to help procrastinators and the perennially distracted, the Pomodoro Technique is a simple system to boost personal productivity, designed by Francesco Cirillo, a student turned global management consultant.
The technique was named after the humble tomato-shaped kitchen timer Mr Cirillo employed to help him study at university 30 years ago (today devotees are more likely to download one of many free tick-tock apps that do the same job — I use Focus Keeper).
At its simplest, it is an idiot-proof system. Decide on the task; set the timer to 25 minutes and focus on the job for that time; when the timer rings, take five minutes off. Each 25-minute chunk is a “Pomodoro”. Repeat three times. Once you have completed four Pomodoros, take half an hour off. Then start again, and keep going until the task is done. After that, there is nothing more to do than congratulate yourself.
