Called the Pomodoro Technique of time management, it’s very simple: Time yourself doing a job for 25 minutes, then give yourself a break for 5. After a couple of hours (4 “Pomodoro” or tomotoes) take a coffee break of 15 minutes. Repeat for the rest of the day.

Of course there are variations. In my case, I’ve moved to 30 minutes on/5 minutes off, since I consult (most businesses would naturally stress over paying you for 30 minutes work when only 25 is done!) and I admit I frequently skip the 5 minute “off” break.

Having done it now for the better part of a year, I can attest it makes a difference, namely for two reasons: Accountability and Gamification.

A famous quote insists that if you don’t track it, you can’t fix it. The Pomodoro Technique encourages tracking in a way a simple time log doesn’t – by viewing the time as discrete “bite-size chunks” instead of either very small-sized units of minutes, or monolithic blocks of many hours (like a week of hours). Adding a 1/2 hour block of time is simple and shows results – even one a week is growth – growth that can be done immediately, say on a Monday. In contrast, telling yourself you’re going from 30 to 35 hours in a week sounds good, but it’s easy to push that extra amount of hours further down the week, until it becomes too much to get on the last day.

By the way, this is a key point in programming: Software projects are often encouraged to have many little milestones, rather than one big one, to avoid a project getting away.

Nonetheless, I can say the technique has made it easier to increase time on various projects, by increasing the numbers. Look online for a timer and give it a try. In may not be for everyone, but it does have the advantage of being a low-cost way to manage time effectively. Plus, it’s fun to talk about Tomato Timing!