PragPub #5 — free PDF magazine released today!

Published 2009-11-4 Adaptive Process , Agile , Brain , Howto , Iterative , Kitchen Timer , Lean , Memory , Mind , Pomodoro Technique , Pomodoro Technique Illustrated , Programming , Psychology , Technology , Tecnica del Pomodoro , Thoughts , Time Management , Time box 1 Comment
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In what fresh magazine can you read the following stories?

  • Agile coaches Rachel Davies and Liz Sedley share advice on coaching your Agile team.
  • Bill Dudney walks you through building a rudimentary multiplayer game for the iPhone.
  • Frederic Daoud shows you how to create Stripes extension classes to customize the framework to your needs.
  • Brian Tarbox tells you simple strategies for avoiding dumping your mental stack.
  • Staffan Nöteberg (that’s me) explains the pompatus of Pomodoro.

Of course it’s PragPub issue #5. It was released today. You better check it out; right away if you want your friends to rate you as an early adopter:

(BTW: Pomodoro Technique Illustrated went straight to the top of the league in its first month. The book is right now #1 on direct sales from Pragmatic Bookshelf’s online store. The full list is of course in the PragPub magazine—at page 2)

Pomodoro Technique Illustrated – now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble etc.

Published 2009-10-7 Adaptive Process , Agile , Brain , Decision Awareness , Gestures , Howto , Iterative , Kitchen Timer , Lean , Memory , Mind , Overlearning , Pomodoro Technique , Pomodoro Technique Illustrated , Procrastination , Programming , Psychology , Repertoire , Sustainable Pace , Technology , Tecnica del Pomodoro , Thoughts , Time Management , Time box Leave a Comment
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Three Pomodoro sessions this autumn

I’ve been invited to present Pomodoro Technique on three occasions in November-December:

  • Devoxx09 November 16th – 20th, Antwerp, Belgium
  • Ciber 35 years anniversary November 26th, Stockholm, Sweden
  • Dansk-IT Agile’09 December 2nd – 3rd, Copenhagen, Denmark

Pomodoro Technique Illustrated – at Amazon and almost anywhere

My book Pomodoro Technique Illustrated can now be pre ordered from any online book store, e.g.

Very soon it will also be available at Pragmatic Bookshelf. Right now we’re having a tech (peer) review. It will hopefully be finished in next week. After that, the book is in the shop-window.

The Now List

Published 2009-10-2 Adaptive Process , Agile , Brain , Decision Awareness , Gestures , Howto , Iterative , Kitchen Timer , Lean , Memory , Mind , Pomodoro Technique , Pomodoro Technique Illustrated , Procrastination , Programming , Psychology , Repertoire , Sustainable Pace , Technology , Tecnica del Pomodoro , Thoughts , Time Management , Time box Leave a Comment
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(This is an excerpt from the book Pomodoro Technique Illustrated)

In 1933 Hedwig von Restorff performed a set of memory experiments. Her conclusion was that an isolated item, in a list of otherwise similar items, would be better remembered. If I read a shopping list with one
item highlighted in azure blue, it’s more likely that I remember the highlighted item than any of the others. This is now identified as The
Von Restorff effect.

The Now List is not another artifact in Pomodoro Technique. It’s my name for a concept: what I give my attention to right now. The cardinality of my Now List is binary. Either I focus on 1 activity or 0 activities. It can
never be 2, 3, 4 or any other number of activities. Before I wind up the clock, I choose one single activity. My challenge during a 25 minute Pomodoro is to not give another activity attention for a minute or two.

The Von Restorff effect tells me that I can provoke my memory to store things that I highlight. I may use a highlighter felt-tip pen to mark the current activity on the To Do Today sheet. Or I can explicitly write the
activity title on a slip of paper and put it in front of me.

The Now List

The Now List

A Cucumber and an Artichoke Meet at the Races

Published 2009-09-29 Adaptive Process , Agile , Brain , Decision Awareness , Estimating , Gestures , Howto , Lean , Memory , Mind , Overlearning , Programming , Psychology , Repertoire , Retrospective , Sustainable Pace , Technology , Tecnica del Pomodoro , Thoughts , Time Management , Time box Leave a Comment
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Cucumber: Number five will win.
Artichoke: How do you know?
Cucumber: I know it, I promise. He won when I was here last week.
Artichoke: Today’s race was run last week?
Cucumber: Of course not, each race is unique.
Artichoke: What if he does not win today? He may get injured in the
middle of the race or just have a bad day.
Cucumber: Then, I was wrong.
Artichoke: So it’s not a promise that number five wins?
Cucumber: No, it’s a guess. But based on what I know right now it’s
my best guess.
Artichoke: But not a promise?
Cucumber: No, just a guess based on empirical knowledge.

A Cucumber and an Artichoke Meet at the Races

A Cucumber and an Artichoke Meet at the Races

(This an excerpt from the book Pomodoro Technique Illustrated)

My Pragmatic Bookshelf release

Published 2009-09-9 Adaptive Process , Agile , Brain , Daily Mind Map , Decision Awareness , Estimating , Gestures , Howto , Index Cards , Iterative , Kitchen Timer , Lean , Memory , Mind , Mind Map , Mind Mapping , Mind Maps , Overlearning , Pair Programming , Pomodoro Technique , Pomodoro Technique Illustrated , Procrastination , Programming , Psychology , Repertoire , Retrospective , Sustainable Pace , Technology , Tecnica del Pomodoro , Thoughts , Time Management , Time box Leave a Comment
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Pragmatic Bookshelf

Pragmatic Bookshelf

Since February, 6000 people have downloaded the draft of my book Pomodoro Technique Illustrated. To have 6000 readers in the first six months was above all reasonable expectations. Many of you have sent me e-mails with comments, corrections and other kinds of feedback. I have read, analyzed, modified, and above all learned an awful lot.

Rumors have spread, and recently it became clear that the book – or a version of it – will be published by Pragmatic Bookshelf. It is as paperback, PDF, mobi (Amazon’s Kindle) and epub (eg Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch) – perhaps even as podcasts. Right now it looks like it will be released in February 2010.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me so far! I hope you will enjoy the new book.

Pomodoro Technique Illustrated book cover

Pomodoro Technique Illustrated book cover

AddQ booked up, Pomodoro at Agile2009 on Tuesday, and Pragmatic Bookshelf signed…

Published 2009-08-20 Agile , Agile Alliance , Pomodoro Technique , Tecnica del Pomodoro 7 Comments
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Some news:

  1. My Pomodoro Technique seminar at AddQ is unfortunately already all booked up. Contact AddQ if you want to be on the wait list.
  2. Are you going to Agile2009 in Chicago and want to learn Pomodoro Technique? Attend my session in room Crystal B at 11 am on Tuesday. One-click add to your calendar: http://agile2009.com/session_ical/1179
  3. Dansk IT has invited me to speak about Pomodoro Technique at a conferenence in Copenhagen in December
  4. Rumors say that Pragmatic Bookshelf have signed a new author…
Pomodoro talk at Agila Sverige 2008

Pomodoro talk at Agila Sverige 2008

List of 50 Mind-Mapping Tools

Published 2009-08-15 Mind Map , Mind Mapping , Mind Maps Leave a Comment

In most cases, I prefer plain analog mind mapping over digital mind mapping. However, Emily Thomas has compiled a very useful list of 50 software tools, and many are free:

“As a hardworking student, you’ve got a lot to organize, including essays, exams, deadlines, and class schedules, not to mention your social and personal life–plus any part-time jobs you may have taken on. In an effort to keep you more organized, we’ve generated this list of 50 useful mind-mapping tools that are designed to help you see your ideas more clearly, analyze and outline research papers, become more efficient when you study, and get inspired to be more creative in your work.”

Read more here:
http://associatedegree.org/2009/07/27/50-useful-mind-mapping-tools-for-college-students

Sustained Momentum

Published 2009-07-29 5 S , Adaptive Process , Agile , Howto , Lean , Technology Leave a Comment
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To introduce and implement a new idea in an organization is one thing. To maintain the new level is quite different. It’s easy to forget the latter and just wonder why after a while we are back where we started.

Mary Lynn Manns’ and Linda Rising’s book "Fearless Change" offers many patterns for how to successfully introduce new ideas. Two patterns caught my attention more than the others:

  • Everyone involved
  • Sustained Momentum

Why? Because they are concerned with how to avoid falling back into old, bad habits.
“Everyone Involved” says that everyone should have the opportunity to support innovation and give its unique contribution. “Increasing support from as many people as possible means spreading the responsibility and the ownership of the innovation.”

Equally important is the “Sustained Momentum”. “Our natural tendency is to stop and rest once things are underway, but we run the risk of losing everything if we do not keep it going.” This is one of the strengths of Google. They did not stop with the number one search engine. They keep introducing new tools that drive users to their SERP. Manns/Rising writes: “Take a pro-active approach in the organization to the ongoing work of sustaining the interest in the new idea. Take some small action each day, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to move you closer to your goal.”

This also reminds me very much of Shitsuke in the 5S Kaizen methodology. We must not allow a gradual decline back to the old ways of working.

Free Pomodoro seminar in Stockholm

Published 2009-07-7 Adaptive Process , Agile , Brain , Decision Awareness , Estimating , Gestures , Howto , Iterative , Kitchen Timer , Lean , Memory , Overlearning , Pomodoro Technique , Pomodoro Technique Illustrated , Procrastination , Programming , Psychology , Repertoire , Sustainable Pace , Technology , Tecnica del Pomodoro Leave a Comment
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1. Free seminar in Stockholm 1st of September

I will give a free Pomodoro Technique seminar in Kista/Stockholm on the 1st of September. Pre registration is mandatory and these events tend to be fully booked in advance. So if you plan to go, I would recommend you to register already today. You can read more and register here:

2. Talk at Agile2009 in Chicago

Agile2009 in Chicago will be an exciting event, not only because I’m invited to speak about Pomodoro Technique there. :-) Agile2009 Speaker My session is on Tuesday 25th of August at 11am. It will take place on the main stage in a room for 400 people. I will of course bring some paperback copies of my book Pomodoro Technique Illustrated to the conference.

Consecutive Events vs. Duration

Consecutive Events vs. Duration

Screen timer for Pomodoro Technique

Published 2009-05-28 Adaptive Process , Agile , Brain , Decision Awareness , Gestures , Howto , Iterative , Kitchen Timer , Lean , Memory , Pomodoro Technique , Programming , Psychology , Repertoire , Sustainable Pace , Technology , Tecnica del Pomodoro , Thoughts , Time Management , Time box 9 Comments
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Personally, I prefer an analog kitchen timer for Pomodoro Technique. As I wrote in my book Pomodoro Technique Illustrated it will support an established pattern of gestures and reflexes.

However, since both individuals and the environments we work in differ, there are also screen timers. Many are targeted for Mac OS X, such as Renzo Borgatti’s Pomodori and Guillaume Cerquant’s TimeBoxed. Viktor Nordling’s Pomodairo on the other hand, is developed in Flex in order to reach both Linux, Windows, and OS X with Adobe’s desktop application runtime AIR. In addition to these three there are many other screen timers.

Below is a wish list for a screen timer. Some of these features are already available in Renzo’s, Guillaume’s, and Viktor’s timers.

  • Countdown instead of counting up time
  • Default 25 minutes, but configurable length
  • Title of each Pomodoro is saved in a file for statistical analysis
  • Configurable ring signal and volume, or alternatively, the clock goes on top of the screen when the time runs out
  • Title of the interruption is saved in a file for statistical analysis
  • Activity Inventory where new titles can be added both during and after a Pomodoro
  • Void Pomodori without saving to a file
  • Automatic counting up of time during the break – without timebox or ringing
  • P2P communication between team members’ screen timers:
    • See the title of your friends present Pomodoro
    • Delayed messaging to friend – appears in the recipient’s timer when it rings

If you have a developed a screen timer, please tell us about it in the Pomodoro Technique google group or in a comment to this blog post.

Pomodoro Timer

Pomodoro Timer

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