Manage Your Time With the Pomodoro Technique

 “Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else.” – Peter F. Drucker

What is the Pomodoro Technique?

The Pomodoro technique is a time management system created by Francesco Cirillo. It’s based on the concept of using a kitchen timer to manage your work sessions. Why pomodoro you ask? Well, pomodoro means tomato in Italian and the name was derived from the tomato-shaped kitchen timer Cirillo used when creating the technique.

The idea behind this technique is to increase your productivity by dividing your day into highly focused 25-minute work sessions separated by short breaks. You only have 25 minutes make as much progress as you can on the task at hand. The timer creates a sense of urgency, helping you to remain focused and resist interruptions.

How to use the Pomodoro Technique

A 25 minute, uninterrupted work session is called a pomodoro. After a pomodoro, you take a 3-5 minutes break to . When you’ve reached 4 Pomodoros, take a longer break – between 15-30 minutes. If a task takes less than 1 pomodoro, add up several small tasks. If a task takes more than 5-7 pomodoros, break it down to smaller chunks.

Step by step:

  1. Pick a task to work on
  2. Use a timer and set it to 25 minutes
  3. Work on the task at hand for 25 minutes
  4. When you finish one pomodoro, take a 3-5 minute break
  5. Set the timer for 25 minutes and start a new work session
  6. After completing 4 pomodoros, take a 15-30 minute break

Track and estimate your pomodoros in Upwave

In Upwave, you can both track time and set estimates on your tasks making it a perfect tool for implementing the pomodoro technique. Recording your pomodoros in Upwave will help you see how you spend your time and where there is room for improvement. Start by creating a board and enabling time tracking from the board settings. Next, start adding your task and set estimates for how long you think the tasks will take. Log all pomodoros that belong to the task, with a short description on what you did during each pomodoro. When you finish your task you will have a visual report of how much time (or how many pomodoros) the task actually required, which helps you set better estimates and manage your time better. 

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Manage Your Time With the Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro technique is a time management system created by Francesco Cirillo. It’s based on the concept of using a kitchen timer to manage your work sessions.