For the last 6 months I have been using David Seah’s excellent Emergent Task Timer. I use it as a daily log of my work activities, and to track billable work for customers. I normally write a lot of notes during the day, so I also use the Emergent Task Timer to keep notes, reminders for myself and private to-dos. I keep each sheet several weeks to be able to look up notes I did last week. It often comes in very handy. David Seah suggests to use to the sheet in conjunction with a 15- minute timer, but I don’t do that, I use it merely as a simple time tracking tool.
Now that I have decided to try out the Pomodoro Technique I have designed my own Pomodoro Task Tracker as a combo of David’s excellent Task Timer and elements from the Pomodoro Technique. I have borrowed design elements from David’s sheet; it’s just so visually appealing.
For the Pomodoro Technique I use Focus Booster in stead of a standard kitchen timer. I think it’s annoying to listen to the ticking sound all day!
So here is a desciption of how I use it: When I start my day, I fill out the start time, day, and date information and set up the time for the day in the appropiate boxes. I then write down all my known to-do’s for the day, and then I start the 25-minutes timer. When this time has elapsed, I get beeped by the timer and immediately stop working. I mark the completed Pomodoro on the sheet, and take a five minute break. If I get distracted during the 25-minute period I mark it with a “/” if it is an internal distraction, e.g check mail, call mom, order tickets for game etc. and write it down under Unplanned & Urgent if I think it can’t be put off. I then keep working.
If one my colleagues walk in and wants to talk with me I try to apply the Inform, Negotiate and Call Back strategy. This enable me to control external interruptions by re-scheduling them in a later Pomodoro. I mark it with a “-” to mark it as a external interruption.
This goes on for a few hours. For every four Pomodoro I take a longer break for 15-30 minutes.
Visual Example:
