I like the Pomodoro approach as people with full-on or borderline ADD can get a thing done and accomplished in 25 minutes, chill for 5 minutes, then get to work on getting another thing done for the next 25 minutes. Nice.
Really liked this because it's actually realistic. You give good reasons why 30, 60, and 90 mins is a good amount of time depending on the task. It's the conclusion I've naturally come to after trying short Pomodoro blocks and also long stretches of 3-4 hours. You're right that we only have limited focus/concentration and most tasks should be able to be achieved in one of these 3 windows if you've broken the task down enough.
Thanks for sharing! I normally do 60 mins block with my tasks regardless of the difficulty and I completely agree with being fried after that mark, also found out that small breaks just won't reactivate my brain again. Will definitely have to try that dynamic break lengths based on the minutes worked on.
I like the breakdown of this. I usually tinker with a task for 5 minutes to get focused. These longer blocks make the possibility of finishing a smaller project possible.
Thanks for sharing. I'll try this method for a smaller project I'm working on this week.
Thank you for starting conversation on this topic. An important point to add is - leave room for flexibility. You might time box those 90 mins but you might not be that inspired when the time comes. You might time box 30 mins and you might get in the zone where you can go ahead and sit for next 2-3 hrs to ship your best work.
I've tried using the pomodoro technique but it unfortunately doesn't work for me. 25 minutes is very little time to get anything worthwhile done. With your technique, 30 minutes at the low end gives me 5 minutes to switch mental contexts and get me in the zone.
Having said that, your approach is super-easy to remember. It's something that I can quickly break down in my head and get to work as fast as possible. To be honest, I only read the article after reading the comments because in my head, I thought "Oh, yet another babble on the pomodoro approach" but I was pleasantly surprised.
Question? When coding at what point in time is it normal to start feeling tired / less productive mentally. Does anybody know why this happens if you are just sitting in a chair ?
I usually get up to walk, get outside, and/or play with my dog after 1-2 hrs of coding. It really helps to take 10-30 min breaks in between a day long session of programming
This is very honest and valuable information. Tahnk you very much. For someone just starting out like me it is nice to figure out what are some healthy parameters. Also, how many coding sessions do you regularly do per day ?
NP! Outside of my SWE job Monday through Friday, not much recently because a lot of my focus needs to go towards sales and marketing. Otherwise, when I'm focused on building product, 2-4 hours in total on weekdays (after work) and 6-8+ hours on weekends.
Expected this to be obvious advice but I was nicely surprised at how helpful this was. I always over or under-estimate how much time a task will take but you've given me a great way to determine how much time is actually needed. I'll definitely be using this going forward. Cheers!
Same for me. I went in expecting an obvious, basic article and was very pleasantly surprised. It was really helpful and far from basic, though the advice is simple which is always nice. I'll definitely be trying it out too.
Feels like Pomodoro timer work where just starting and having 25 mins is a great forcing function to get started.
I like the Pomodoro approach as people with full-on or borderline ADD can get a thing done and accomplished in 25 minutes, chill for 5 minutes, then get to work on getting another thing done for the next 25 minutes. Nice.
Really liked this because it's actually realistic. You give good reasons why 30, 60, and 90 mins is a good amount of time depending on the task. It's the conclusion I've naturally come to after trying short Pomodoro blocks and also long stretches of 3-4 hours. You're right that we only have limited focus/concentration and most tasks should be able to be achieved in one of these 3 windows if you've broken the task down enough.
Thanks for sharing! I normally do 60 mins block with my tasks regardless of the difficulty and I completely agree with being fried after that mark, also found out that small breaks just won't reactivate my brain again. Will definitely have to try that dynamic break lengths based on the minutes worked on.
I like the breakdown of this. I usually tinker with a task for 5 minutes to get focused. These longer blocks make the possibility of finishing a smaller project possible.
Thanks for sharing. I'll try this method for a smaller project I'm working on this week.
Thank you for starting conversation on this topic. An important point to add is - leave room for flexibility. You might time box those 90 mins but you might not be that inspired when the time comes. You might time box 30 mins and you might get in the zone where you can go ahead and sit for next 2-3 hrs to ship your best work.
I've tried using the pomodoro technique but it unfortunately doesn't work for me. 25 minutes is very little time to get anything worthwhile done. With your technique, 30 minutes at the low end gives me 5 minutes to switch mental contexts and get me in the zone.
Having said that, your approach is super-easy to remember. It's something that I can quickly break down in my head and get to work as fast as possible. To be honest, I only read the article after reading the comments because in my head, I thought "Oh, yet another babble on the pomodoro approach" but I was pleasantly surprised.
Happy to try something different!
Question? When coding at what point in time is it normal to start feeling tired / less productive mentally. Does anybody know why this happens if you are just sitting in a chair ?
I usually get up to walk, get outside, and/or play with my dog after 1-2 hrs of coding. It really helps to take 10-30 min breaks in between a day long session of programming
This is very honest and valuable information. Tahnk you very much. For someone just starting out like me it is nice to figure out what are some healthy parameters. Also, how many coding sessions do you regularly do per day ?
NP! Outside of my SWE job Monday through Friday, not much recently because a lot of my focus needs to go towards sales and marketing. Otherwise, when I'm focused on building product, 2-4 hours in total on weekdays (after work) and 6-8+ hours on weekends.
Thanks for the detailed answer :) all the best
np :)
Love this thanks for sharing!
Very interesting, I'll have to try this out this week. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing.
I've known similar approaches but maybe it's now time to try this matrix out in Notion. :)
Expected this to be obvious advice but I was nicely surprised at how helpful this was. I always over or under-estimate how much time a task will take but you've given me a great way to determine how much time is actually needed. I'll definitely be using this going forward. Cheers!
Same for me. I went in expecting an obvious, basic article and was very pleasantly surprised. It was really helpful and far from basic, though the advice is simple which is always nice. I'll definitely be trying it out too.