The Pomodoro Technique for Managers

When it comes to being a manager, there is incredible pressure to maintain a focused environment with high levels of productivity. With this pressure, managers are looking for techniques to improve their team’s productivity. The Pomodoro Technique for Managers is an easy and effective hack.

In today’s day and age, companies aren’t looking for management skills beyond the threshold. They are looking for leaders. One of the ways to accomplish this is through the employment of Pomodoro Techniques.

[Photo by Lukas at Pexels]

What is the Pomodoro Technique for Managers?

Essentially, Pomodoro is Italian for Tomato but it has a deeper story behind it. Back in the 1980s, a student named Francesco Cirillo was having a hard time preparing for his exams. He decided that we would try and give himself 10-minutes of uninterrupted study time using a tomato-shaped timer. It was an attempt to improve his focus and the Pomodoro technique was born.

It is mainly a technique through which an individual can boost their productivity as well as help become a better manager. Use this technique with Brian Braudis’s 10-Minute Leadership Habit tool, for example.

Here’s how the tomato-shaped timer looks:

[Pomodoro Technique Image; Available Under the Creative Commons License]

Today, the common Pomodoro stint consists of dedicated 25 minutes focused on a single task and then a break for 5 minutes. This helps in improving project management skills as well as ensures the work gets the focus it needs when it needs it. A case study by Chris Winfield, entrepreneur, writer, and coach, also applauds the productivity hack for helping finish 40 hours of work in 16.7 hours.

How can the Pomodoro Technique for Managers help?

Pomodoro has been known to help in boosting productivity when it comes to project management. It helps improve focus among team members. And also aids in keeping them motivated and relaxed when you use the break metric technique. This can help any manager reduce stress and maintain morale.

The key is knowing the perfect balance of work time and break time. A study cited in The Atlantic found that the best balance can be 52-minutes of focus-driven work followed by a 17-minute break.

Managers need to be able to master and learn these things and master these concepts as soon as possible. Having a grasp on and being certified in project management can prove to be beneficial not only to improve as a manager but also to the company as a whole.

What tools help with Pomodoro?

Several tools can be used to implement the Pomodoro technique in any team or organization. Any one of these can be useful and effective moving forward.

• Focus To-Do: This is an excellent lightweight application that is available on multiple different platforms including web browsers, Android, Windows, and iOS devices.
  It accurately upholds the values of the technique while also keeping track of the time spent on different tasks to report back to you when you need them. This can prove useful for a company especially when it comes to checking team productivity and can help you become a better manager.
• Tomato One: This is a simple but efficient application available in the Apple Mac Store. It allows the user to keep track of 25-minute times and asks you to take a 5-minute break at the end of it. It embodies the main principles of the technique and can also help employees improve their project management skills and boost productivity.

[Photo of Author’s Personal Usage of Tomato One App]

• KanbanFlow: This is another web-based software that employs project management hacks like Pomodoro but also Kanban techniques to better manage teams and make you a better manager.This tool helps you keep track of tasks assigned to different members of the team while also tracking the time taken and the necessary breaks taken during the tasks. Ultimately a very helpful tool that can be used to manage a team and boost productivity.

Key Takeaway

The important thing to note is that Pomodoro is easily employable when it comes to companies. It can help put together a project management plan for any company. It will also help improve an individual’s productivity and overall management skills that can help a company not only improve its overall statistics but also the productivity of the company as a whole.

Author bio: Omair Khan is a Senior Content Writer and an avid practitioner of the Pomodoro Technique for productivity. In his free time, he likes to take care of a princess (aka his little kitten)…Twitter 

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