Kamil Yopec

First time I’ve heard about pomodoro in July 2011. After some research I started with the Technique in September 2011 as a student and freelancer. Nowadays I am using the Pomodoro Technique as a Software Developer.

In order to increase my productivity, to achieve more tasks and eventually have more free time for my hobbies.

Learning languages, studying at the university, working from home, working in the office, software development. I am writing this report using the Technique.

I used to forget to make a mark on my to do list after each Pomodoro and therefore I couldn’t calculate the effort.

I created a habit of it. Every ring means to put a mark on my to do list. I do it automatically without thinking about it.

I exactly know what I am doing the whole day and see how much effort an activity costs. I can take better decisions if necessary.

In the beginning I had problems with Email, Facebook and other social networks. I had to check every few minutes new emails or posts. People used to interrupt me a lot in the beginning, asking for advise etc.

Internal – I removed all possibilities to access the Email, Facebook. Logged out, removed bookmarks, didn’t save passwords. Every time I want to access those sites I have to fill in the username and password, which always reminds me that I am working on something.
External – I educated my coworkers that when having my earphones on, I don’t want to be distracted unless it is an emergency. When I am in the middle of a Pomodoro I have my earphones on also if I don’t listen to any music. Usually I go to work earlier then my colleagues and have some time to do the most important things of the day.

I work without interruptions on tasks that have to be done. I get my work faster done and I am more productive.

At the beginning my estimations were not very exact and I didn’t know how to break down task to smaller chunks. In software development done means done, including testing, design and many more things. I used to forget about this and estimated only the time to make it work, not for getting it done.

With time I learned how to estimate.

I am able to estimate tasks better then anyone else, because of my daily experience. I can estimate what I can do in one day and following the project release date. Everybody sees tasks as a long term task. But I always break it down to in smaller pieces, estimate it. It’s easier to work when you see the end.

It took me some time to find out what this objective is about and to get a deeper understanding. Sometimes I get too much into the flow of doing something that I forget to do reviews.

I read the Pomodoro Book. I have the clock always visible and when time is coming to the end I stop working and review what I’ve been working on.

Recap it is nice to see what the task actually is about. I plan the next steps a bit deeper in my mind or on paper. When I review code I check what I have done and commit it to the version control system. While learning languages I repeat the vocabulary.

I plan the difficult tasks in the morning because I am always more productive then in the afternoon. Sometimes these tasks depend on other people which are not at work at that time.

While planning I always consider also the availability of other people which have to be involved in a certain task.

I can accomplish the tasks which requires a lot of thinking and creativity at the beginning.

Increase productivity, less stress. I want to be good in what I do. Learning and keep a balance between learning and working.

First difficulty was to get things done. I always had a problem to start and I was scared on the amount of things that had to be done. At work I was always working and not learning new technologies. Because in this moment it was not as urgent as some tasks. But learning is essential, learning is the key.

Pomodoro itself helped me a lot. Set a timer and start working. I plan learning as a task on my Activity Inventory List.

Happier life, more money. During the Pomodoro break I do some stretching and drink a glass of water. This helps me to avoid back pain and headache, which I used to have due to sitting the whole day.