A week ago I wrote about the Pomodoro Technique. I’ve now been experimenting with it for a week (actually, a week-and-a-half) and I’ve got some preliminary impressions.

First, it really only makes sense when you’re trying to manage your use of a large tract of time. On the days when I’ve been working pretty much entirely on my own, it’s been very helpful; I’ve gotten more done than usual, and haven’t had nearly as much of a slump in the middle of the afternoon.

Because you work in 25-minute “pomodoros”, with varying lengths of time between them, the technique isn’t as useful for managing shorter periods of time. If you finish a pomodoro, and you’ve got a meeting in twenty minutes, you’re not going to fit in another pomodoro before the meeting starts.

However, even if you’re following the technique strictly you don’t do all of your work during pomodoros. Before each pomodoro, you consider all of the work you have to do, and decide which activity to work on next. It’s natural during this time to add new activities to your activity inventory, to re-prioritize activities, and so forth. Then, when you start a pomodoro you’re free to focus solely on that particular activity.

The 25-minute interval often feels rather short; I’m often surprised by the timer going off. In a way, though, this is a good thing. In using the timer, you get practice at concentrating on whatever the problem is without worrying about what the clock is doing, which makes clock-watching less likely. I’m not going to start a pomodoro unless I think I have time to complete it; and then the clock can do what it likes.

So, all things considered, the Pomodoro Technique is proving to be somewhat useful. It does have one drawback—I was really tired at the end of the week.