Ask HN: Pomodoro Technique advice?

[pook]

http://zipwith.blogspot.com/2010/06/pomodoro.html describes how I'm trying to integrate a Pomodoro-based todo.txt with Dropbox.

I'm going for as easy and simple as possible. All plaintext, all sync'd across boxen, and accessible through the CLI.

Does anyone have advice on either the technique itself, or good formats for recording their own time data? Good tools they either hacked or found?

[_corbett]

I use pomodoro.app on my Mac, the timer function on my iPhone, and may download a dedicated iPhone app at somepoint.

I personally don't currently use the history feature of pomodoro (what previous tasks were, how many were completed, etc.). Just defining a task, focusing for 25 minutes, and tracking break time are the things most important to me.

I'd ideally like to have many pomodoro "time jars", which track how many pomodoros I complete for a particular larger goal over some time period. When the time jar is full, for some personal definition of full, you've completed the goal. Haven't found a good app for this, so pointers would be appreciated. Might hack up something simple for the iPhone this summer...

To the commenter about time optimization wasting time, if that's all you do instead of Actually Working, sure. But to never profile your work flow, and never experiment with new methods... not only is that boring, it's inefficient over the long term. My personal productivity philosophy definitely includes a meta step for reflection and experimentation http://cosmicrays.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/productivity/

[_corbett]

I recently started using freckle (letsfreckle.com). The timer is great, as is the freeform project creation and logging.

[ddemchuk]

just keep a small pad of paper in your back pocket. the longer you spend searching for faster/fancier/more efficient/cooler ways to track things, the more time you're simply wasting.

Just start doing it and write down your progress.

[sidmitra → ddemchuk]

can't agree more. All these techniques focus on knowing what to work on.... but not actually working. And pretty soon your task list is way too long to even look at.

I did take the timer from pomodorro, that too in a very flexible way.

[peter01 → sidmitra]

The test for substance is a lot like it is for links. Does your comment teach us anything? There are two ways to do that: by pointing out some consideration that hadn't previously been mentioned, and by giving more information about the topic, perhaps from personal experience. Whereas comments like "LOL!" or worse still, "That's retarded!" teach us nothing.

[sidmitra → peter01]

You are absolutely right, see the comment directly above this one for an example of commentary without any substance.

In any case, did i say LOL, or it's retarded? I just shared my personal opinion/experience.