It would be nice to be hyper-enthusiastic for every single job but the truth is that some coding jobs are tedious and the temptation of Twitter, Urban75, BBC news site etc. has a habit of overriding the work on hand.
One method of handling these dull jobs was first introduced to me by a fellow member of Forrst.
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It works by breaking down the work time into the following segments:
- 20 minutes of work
- 5 minutes break
- 20 minutes of work
- 5 minutes break
- 20 minutes of work
- 5 minutes break
- 20 minutes of work
- 20 minute break
And then repeat again.
This has the advantage of making you more disciplined with the time at hand. Not only does this strict structure of working to the clock mean you are less likely to let your mind wander, but it is easy in coding to become fixated on minor bugs. With the clock ticking down I release that these minor problems aren't fundamental to the current state of the project and so I put them aside for later.
Another positive aspect is that it stops me from continuously working in front of a monitor for hours at a time. In the break segments I make myself a cup of tea or have a fag. These moments are also important reflection periods.
To assist with timekeeping I use a great AIR app called Pomodairo. It's a small little device that runs in the background as you work and chimes when a segment has ended.
Give it a go and tell me what you think.
