Is Pomodoro Worth Your Time?

  Agile   Scrum   ProjectsAtWork  

The Pomodoro Technique is a popular approach to time management, and it shares obvious similarities with some ubiquitous concepts in Agile, Lean and Scrum such as timeboxing and sprints. But is it really a good fit for teams working in Agile environments, or is it better employed as a personal productivity tool?

One of the most popular approaches to time management in agile is the Pomodoro Technique. According to InfoQ, the technique became widely popular to the agile community when Staffan Noteberg, the author of the best-selling Pomodoro Technique Illustrated, discussed it in a session at Agile2008 and Agile2009.

But does the Pomodoro Technique really work?

Created in the early 1990s, The Pomodoro Technique started out as a personal experiment by developer, entrepreneur and author Francesco Cirillo. He used the technique to track his work as a university student, and came up with the name pomodoro (Italian) after the tomato-shaped timer that he used.

The concept is simple: When faced with any large task or series of tasks, break the work down into short, timed intervals that are spaced out by short breaks. This trains your brain to focus for short periods and helps you stay on top of deadlines or constantly-refilling inboxes. With time, it can even help improve your attention span and concentration.

Each interval is called a Pomodoro, a 30-minute …

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