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The Pomodoro Method: A Time Mastery Technique

The Pomodoro method is a time management technique developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. Cirillo is an innovator, entrepreneur, and software developer, as well as a mentor and instructor. As a student, he was looking for a way to spend time more productively. And he found it... In his kitchen! A tomato-shaped timer gave Francesco the idea to divide time into equal intervals, changing between work and rest. Francesco has taught his method to thousands of people across the world, and he continues to build up new tools to boost productivity, while running his company Cirillo Consulting.

The Pomodoro method is based on the simple idea of dividing work time into periods dubbed “pomodoros” and breaks. Each pomodoro usually lasts 25 minutes and it is followed by a short break. During each pomodoro, you focus solely on completing the task, without distractions. Then you rest for 5 minutes. After four pomodoros, the break should be longer — 15−30 minutes, otherwise, you risk losing concentration.

Systematic breaks during self-learning or solving complex tasks are beneficial. For example, this study shows that students who followed an arranged break scheme, similar to the one in the Pomodoro method, demonstrated more effective results in task completion and finished tasks faster.
The Tracking tool in Mind Tracker is inspired by the Pomodoro method, but with very important addition: it is totally tailored and can show how accumulates your fatigue in real time.

In our internal research, we found that effective duration of involved work and rest is individual (and can even change throughout the day). Some can focus effectively for 25 minutes, while others can concentrate for as long as 40 minutes. Some benefit from a 5-minute break, while others need 7 or 10 minutes. Based on real-time brain activity data, Tracking determines individual productive intervals and effective time of rest for each user, eventually helping to deliver more tasks in the same period.