The Pomodoro Technique - Illustrated [book, review]

[elfs]

The Pomodoro Technique - Illustrated is one of those self-help books of which I am excessively fond, seeing as it's all about turning yourself into a productivity machine and not wasting your life away. This books is called "The Pomodoro Technique - Illustrated," because it's basically a re-write, with amateurish crayon drawings, of Francesco Cirillo's 1990s chapbook, "The Pomodoro Technique," which is available online, as a PDF, under a Creative Commons license, downloadable for free.

Which more or less makes this book worthless.

It's not a bad book, mind you. There are the silly illustrations, and an ill-fated attempt to meld mind-mapping with a sound and well-known time management technique, and really ridiculous dialogues at the beginning of each chapter, but the basics are solid. There are just so many better guides out there. If you've never encountered personal time management for projects before, this book will help, and probably won't hurt.

But everything in it can be gotten for free elsewhere. Zen Habits is a good place to start, and won't cost you $24.95.

Comments

[mikstera.livejournal.com]

I like the Pomodoro Technique, but I wish the apps available to automate its use allowed for different categories of tasks... if I'm coding, 20ish minute blocks are far too short. The Flow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)) for code development does not lend itself to short bursts with breaks in between.