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
Tags: , ,

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 2 Comments
Tags: ,

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

Tweet This PostTweet This Post

Paperback version of Pomodoro Technique Illustrated at Amazon soon

Published 2009-04-27 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 , Pomodoro Technique , Procrastination , Programming , Psychology , Repertoire , Retrospective , Sustainable Pace , Technology , Tecnica del Pomodoro , The Unschedule , Thoughts , Time Management , Time box 4 Comments

Today I started the long and winding road to publish my book Pomodoro Technique Illustrated as a physical paperback. Equipped with ISBN it can be ordered from lulu.com, Amazon and almost every book store. And it will be for the lowest possible price. I will take no personal revenue. If I got it correct, readers will pay something like 38 USD (printing cost) + postage.

Pomodoro Technique Illustrated has been available as a PDF in public draft for two months and this process has been more successful than I could ever dream of. All sorts of comments, corrections and ideas have been sent to me – in large amounts. Quality has increased significantly. I want to thank you all.

The book will of course continue forever to be available as a free PDF at www.pomodoro-book.com but some people don’t want to read 100 pages on the screen. That’s the reason why I also want to make a non-profit paperback version available.

Anyway, it will take several months before it’s available at Amazon. Here are the major steps that I have in front of me:

  1. Write the book – DONE!
  2. Publish a public draft in order to get feedback – DONE!
  3. Revise based on feedback, 2 months – DONE!
  4. Upload to lulu.com – DONE! (This step actually makes it purchasable already today for anyone at http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/6908159)
  5. Buy a distribution pack with a lulu.com ISBN – DONE!
  6. Revise the book to contain ISBN bar code on back cover
  7. Purchase proof copy
  8. After receiving purchase copy, approve the book on lulu.com
  9. Setup time before available to retailers, 6-8 weeks
  10. Amazon update their database, 6-8 weeks
Pomodoro Technique Illustrated book cover

Pomodoro Technique Illustrated book cover

Tweet This PostTweet This Post

My 3 views of the Pomodoro Technique

Published 2009-04-20 Adaptive Process , Agile , Brain , Gestures , Howto , Iterative , Kitchen Timer , Lean , Memory , Overlearning , Pomodoro Technique , Procrastination , Programming , Psychology , Retrospective , Sustainable Pace , Technology , Tecnica del Pomodoro , Thoughts , Time Management , Time box Leave a Comment
Tags: , , ,

My book “Pomodoro Technique Illustrated” will soon be available as a printed non-profit version that can be ordered from hardly any book store in the world. It is still available as a free public PDF draft at: www.pomodoro-book.com

To look at a famous tourist attraction – such as Hagia Sophia, Big Ben, St. Peter’s Basilica or La Sagrada Familia – from different views give a better idea of what properties it has. In the picture below there are three views from which I have seen the Pomodoro Technique.

My 3 views of the Pomodoro Technique

My 3 views of the Pomodoro Technique

Tweet This PostTweet This Post

Colophon of Pomodoro Technique Illustrated

Published 2009-04-16 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 , Pomodoro Technique , Procrastination , Programming , Psychology , Repertoire , Retrospective , Sustainable Pace , Technology , Tecnica del Pomodoro , Thoughts , Time Management , Time box 5 Comments
Tags: , , , , , , ,

My book “Pomodoro Technique Illustrated” will soon be available as a printed non-profit version that can be ordered from hardly any book store in the world. It is still available as a free public PDF draft at: www.pomodoro-book.com

Recurrently, I’m asked about what tools I used to create the book. A colophon is a brief description describing production notes relevant to a edition of a book.

Here’s the Colophon of Pomodoro Technique Illustrated:

I made the drawings in an A6, top spiral, 80 sheets pad from Esselte. The pad is Nordic Swan environmentally labeled and the sheets has 5×5 mm squares, no holes, and wood free 60 gr/m2 paper.

I did the pencil drawings with a BIC Matic mechanical pencil with 0.7 mm HB leads. Then I added water color from a Color & Co paint set filled with 6 tempera blocks in Size 2 (Ø 57 mm and altitude 19 mm) and in the following colors: Gold Yellow, Carmine, Ultramarine, Brilliant Green, Black and White. Finally, I scanned them with a HP Photosmart 1200 Photo Scanner in 300 dpi, 24-bit color.

The spiral pad, the mechanical pencil, the watercolor paint set and the photo scanner are all inexpensive, simple tools. I’m convinced that the content, the ideas and the way something is explained is more important than the quality, the sophistication, and the price of the tools.

In the running text, I use Goudy Old Style, a serif typeface originally created by Frederic W. Goudy in 1916. Headlines have Franklin Gothic, a sans-serif typeface designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1902 and probably named after Benjamin Franklin.

Tweet This PostTweet This Post

Yesterday’s Pomodoro Weather

Published 2009-03-27 Adaptive Process , Agile , Brain , Decision Awareness , Estimating , Extreme Programming , Howto , Iterative , Kitchen Timer , Memory , Mind , Mind Map , Mind Mapping , Mind Maps , Pomodoro Technique , Programming , Psychology , Retrospective , Technology , Tecnica del Pomodoro , Thoughts , Time Management , Time box , XP Leave a Comment
Tags: , ,

Below is an excerpt from my book “Pomodoro Technique Illustrated”, which is currently available as a free public draft at: www.pomodoro-book.com

One Pomodoro is a 25 minute iteration. Multiple Pomodori are surrounded by a larger daily iteration. The latter starts with planning and ends with the retrospective. In a Pomodoro I only allow myself to focus on one activity, but how many activities should I plan for one day?

In “Extreme Programming Explained”, Kent Beck told a story about how a national weather service spent a gigantic amount of money on a new forecast system. All the emerging technology was included and it had an accuracy rate of almost 70%. Then a clever person [probably a little girl - my comment] challenged the super machine with a much simpler algorithm. It was called Yesterday’s Weather: Tomorrow will be like today. Guess what? It had the same accuracy as the super machine.

Estimating future achievements is guessing. So why not use the history and assume it will repeat itself? If I can quantify my achievements every day, then this is presumably my velocity tomorrow as well. By measuring the number of Pomodori every day, I can even fine tune my velocity continuously with an average.

Tweet This PostTweet This Post

Yesterday's Weather

Yesterday's Weather

Index Cards in Pomodoro Technique

Published 2009-03-13 Adaptive Process , Agile , Estimating , Howto , Index Cards , Iterative , Kitchen Timer , Memory , Mind , Pomodoro Technique , Procrastination , Programming , Psychology , Technology , Tecnica del Pomodoro , Thoughts , Time Management , Time box 7 Comments
Tags: , ,

Below is an excerpt from my book “Pomodoro Technique Illustrated”, which is currently available in a free public draft at: www.pomodoro-book.com

The Activity Inventory and the To Do Today does not have to literary be two sheets of paper. One alternative is to keep each single activity on its own index card. An index card is a heavy paper stock most commonly sized 76 mm by 127 mm – often named “3-by-5 card” from its size in inches.

I take a fresh card every time I realize that I must add a new activity to the Activity Inventory. Then I write the title of the activity at the top of the card with a black felt-tip pen. Below the title I can add diagrams, phone numbers, web addresses, or anything else relevant to complete this activity. This kind of nice-to-have scribble should not be as conspicuous as the title, so I use a pencil for extra information. Finally, I add the same number of boxes as I estimate that it will take – in Pomodori – to finish the activity.

My Activity Inventory is now a deck of index cards. Each card describes one activity. I select an amount of cards every morning during the Planning Stage. This selection is my daily commitment – my To Do Today deck. It’s ordered with the most important activity card on top.

Tweet This PostTweet This Post

Using index cards while planning in The Pomodoro Technique

Using index cards while planning in The Pomodoro Technique

Cirillo’s and Kniberg’s forewords added to Pomodoro Technique Illustrated

Published 2009-02-26 Adaptive Process , Agile , Brain , Daily Mind Map , Decision Awareness , Estimating , Gestures , Howto , Iterative , Kitchen Timer , Lean , Memory , Mind , Mind Map , Mind Mapping , Mind Maps , Overlearning , Pair Programming , Pomodoro Technique , Procrastination , Programming , Psychology , Repertoire , Retrospective , Sustainable Pace , Technology , Tecnica del Pomodoro , Thoughts , Time Management , Time box Leave a Comment
Tags: , , ,

I have now added the forewords from both Francesco Cirillo (creator of the Pomodoro Technique) and Henrik Kniberg (author of “Scrum and XP from the Trenches”) to my book “Pomodoro Technique Illustrated”.

The book is still in public draft and can be downloaded for free here:

  • www.pomodoro-book.com
Pomodoro Technique Illustrated - book by Staffan Nöteberg

Pomodoro Technique Illustrated - book by Staffan Nöteberg

Give feedback on my Pomodoro Technique book

Published 2009-02-11 Adaptive Process , Agile , Agile Manifesto , Brain , Daily Mind Map , Decision Awareness , Estimating , Extreme Programming , Gestures , Howto , Iterative , Kitchen Timer , Lean , Memory , Mind , Mind Map , Mind Mapping , Mind Maps , Overlearning , Pair Programming , Pomodoro Technique , Procrastination , Programming , Psychology , Repertoire , Retrospective , Scrum , Sprint , Sustainable Pace , Technology , Tecnica del Pomodoro , Thoughts , Time Management , Time box , XP 2 Comments
Tags: ,

I have finally released a public draft of my Pomodoro Technique book – called Pomodoro Technique Illustrated. I can promise you that it will differ from what we are used to in Agile and Computer Science literature.

You can download the book as a PDF from the link below. Any feedback or advice you give me is appreciated. Here’s the link:

  • www.pomodoro-book.com
Pomodoro Technique Illustrated - book by Staffan Nöteberg

Pomodoro Technique Illustrated - book by Staffan Nöteberg

Tweet This Post
Tweet This Post

The smallest Lean Dictionary

Published 2009-02-10 5 S , Agile , Howto , Lean , Technology 2 Comments
Tags: ,

I had almost forgot about it, but yesterday Arjan Zuidhof blogged about my Lean Dictionary.

What Lean Dictionary? Well, see for yourself below:

Next Page »