It's Focus Time!

Staffan Noteborg was kind enough to answer my questions on his fantastic book “Pomodoro Technique Illustrated” and share his thoughts on various aspects of the technique. It was too long an interview for a mini-blog so I split it into two pieces. This is the first one – enjoy!

- When did you start using the Pomodoro Technique? How often do you use it? Are you a disciplined, “classical” practitioner or did you only loosely adapt the technique to your daily routine?

I’m not sure, but it might be five years ago now. Since it’s an adaptive process, I’ve customized it for my needs. I use time management in all my work at the desktop.

- Pomodoro Technique Illustrated is a fantastic book. How did you come up with the idea of writing it?

Thanks! I wanted to practice writing – it just happened to be about Pomodoro. So I wrote a document, put it on the Internet and asked for feedback. The feedback was so massive, that I decided to submit the manuscript to a publisher.

- Personal curiosity given my background: What is the Istanbul connection? Both you and I your wife are Swedish, right?

Me and my wife are Swedish. We have no Turkish origin. Istanbul is a fantastic city: outstanding history, many museums, great food, and friendly people. Since some years we have an apartment in downtown Istanbul where we spend a lot of free time. Normally we live and work in Stockholm.

- Who could take advantage of the Pomodoro Technique the most? Which professions? Or is it universally applicable?

Time management of this type is applicable to anyone working at an office and who isn’t totally event driven. It’s great for studying as well. However, you should never forget to adapt the method and recurrently self inspect.

- Is the technique getting more popular? Are you expecting a big Pomodoro revolution any time soon?

 I think brands come and go, but good ideas remain. Time management is getting more popular for a long time now. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, was first published already in 1989. And there were probably other books before that.

- Are you working on a new book or planning an update on your book?

Yes, I am. For various reasons, I work on two book projects at the same time. The first one has the working title “Regex applied”. It’s about ways to use the declarative programming language Regular Expressions. The second one has the working title “Squared A6″ and it describes a method for visual problem solving.

Hope you enjoyed the interview so far. In the second part, we will hear his take on some of the specifics of the Pomodoro Technique. Stay tuned.