Article / Noma Yema

This article is a reading note on The Tomato Work Method Illustrated.

Francisco Cirillo created the Tomato Work Method in 1992, but to start at the beginning, it goes back to the late 1980s, the first years of his college life.

Cirillo at one point struggled with inefficiency, failing to do his homework and studying.

"Can I study for a while? Really study for 10 minutes?"

"I need to get a timing coach, but who's going to pinch the clock for me?"

Then he found it, a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato (i.e. Pomodoro in Italian, the Pomodoro Technique). And that's how Cirillo met his tomato clock.

Q. How does the Pomodoro Technique work?

Simply put, make a list of what you want to do that day, set an alarm for 25 minutes, and start with the first thing. At the end of the first tomato clock, take a 5-minute break, move on to the second tomato clock, and so on.

Finish the first thing early or run out of tomato clocks, start the second thing.

Also have daily reviews, daily commitments, control interruptions, estimate the amount of work to be spent, etc.

Q. Why is Tomato Work so refreshing?

Because it breaks down our inherent concept of time-work.

We often default to the idea that time is continuous at work, as in "I have to catch the bus in 10 minutes", "deadline is this Wednesday", etc. Time here represents the distance between two points - the start and the end. Here, time represents the distance between two points - the start point and the end point. We are clear about the two points, and we don't know anything about what happens in between.

Thinking about, calculating, and dividing the future in terms of time duration is akin to feeling the elephant in the blind, at least when faced with a completely new task in a completely new way.

For most people, it is this unpredictability that triggers anxiety. And anxiety undoubtedly leads to decreased productivity, and may even screw things up.

The tomato approach promotes the idea of alternating time, where chicken 1 lays egg 2, egg 2 lays chicken 3, chicken 3 lays egg 4, and so on. These events do not overlap each other, we may not know the exact point in time, but we know the order in which they occur.

If we can think in terms of time alternation, and work as a series of events to break down, the efficiency of the work will be improved. This is the basic principle of the tomato method.

Q. What tools do I need for the Tomato Method?

The Tomato Method requires only a pen, a timer, and three pieces of paper.

The purpose of the three pieces of paper is as follows:

1) "Activity List" form: a list of recent activities to be carried out, fill in the form as you wish, simple and concise, do not need to be sorted.

A good way to do this is to use the first word to represent the type of topic of the activity (there are many things to do, but they can always be categorized into a few topics), followed by a second word that clearly expresses what you want to achieve.

The same Activity List form can be used for many days, adding new activities and crossing off the ones you have already done.

2) "Today's to-do" form: Fill in today's date, your name, give yourself a ritual, and pick out the activities from the "to-do" list that you want to do today.

I mentally replaced "must do" with "where to start" and "this project is big and important" with "I can take a small step". can take a small step".

The decision to do one activity in the present moment is implicitly a decision not to do the hundreds of other activities on my backlog list. Dance with that task*** for a little while, and then reassess whether it's still the most important.

This list needs to be new every morning.

Distinguish between the "Activity List" (traditional to-do list) and the "Today's To-Do" (extracted commitments) form.

3) "Record" forms: Record the process metrics sampled to improve the process. The same "logging" form can be used for many days to compare daily tracking.

Q. How do I implement the Tomato Protocol?

The Tomato Worker's day has five phases:

1) Planning: At the beginning of the day, you take the most important activities from your backlog (known as the "Activity List") and fill out a "Today's To-Do" form. This is your self-commitment for the day.

2) Tracking: Once you've identified the day's activities, start a 25-minute tomato clock, starting with the first of the day's activities. Within each tomato clock, you want to collect some process metrics such as counting the number of interruptions encountered.

3) Record: At the end of the day, file the data you collected that day in a "record" form. If you tracked interruptions, write down the number of interruptions.

4) Processing : Extracting useful information from the raw data recorded.

For example, you could calculate the average number of tomato clocks spent on each activity. If the number is large, you have to try to split the activity into smaller, more manageable parts.

Or you could calculate the average time an activity spends on the Activity List form, that is, from the time it is written down to the time it is processed.

5) Visualization: Ultimately, you want to organize the information in a way that allows you to identify ideas for improving the process.

In order to avoid making the same mistakes the next day, Tomato Work does three things by the end of the day: record, process, and visualize - these daily reviews are the key to improving personal processes.

This also has the advantage that, at first, you are applying the tomato method according to the book, and then when you recognize your own work habits, you can make adjustments, such as a work period of 30min or 45min, to be able to form their own unique set of methods.

Q. What are the rules for implementing the Tomato Protocol?

There are two rules:

1) Once the tomato clock is activated it must go to the bell.

This is because the tomato clock is atomic - indivisible.

The tomato clock is the smallest unit of currency in this process approach, and the use of decimals is not allowed, e.g. 1/2 or 2.2 tomato clocks is not OK. If a task is put down, such as an urgent trip to the restroom or an impromptu meeting, whether temporary or long-term, the current tomato clock must be voided. It won't count, and it shouldn't draw an X. You'll have to start a new 25-minute tomato clock in its place.

2) Make sure you're always doing what's most important and nothing else.

Before I start work, I'm going to twist start the tomato clock, which will later ring to remind me to stop and reconsider the activity I was just focusing on...is it still the top priority? Make sure you've been doing what's most important and nothing else.

Q. Why does Tomato Work emphasize doing one thing at a time?

Behavioral psychologist Roy Baumeister, in his classic book Willpower, used numerous experimental cases to argue that when too many goals are set, a person's decision-making power and willpower are heavily depleted, and the results often become unattainable.

When researchers asked people to list their goals, 90 percent of them would easily list six.

And continuous monitoring of these subjects, who were also carrying out 6 goals, revealed:

1. They were persistently caught up in irritability and anxiety, with an elevated misery index;

2. At the same time, they were doing less, spending more time thinking than acting, and were too busy fretting to make any headway;

3. In addition, these people were in significantly poorer health, with a variety of negative stressors. The first thing you need to do is to get rid of all the negative stress reactions that pop up one after another.

You see, our psychology dictates that it's more effective to focus on one thing. multi-tasks require training, and only a small percentage of people with superior intelligence and willpower are able to design inhuman tasks.

Q. I'd like to work well for half an hour and 40 minutes, but I'm always interrupted.

Interrupts are categorized into internal and external interrupts.

Internal interruptions, subconsciously, are intended to procrastinate. Procrastination is the same as going to the hospital without registering, wasting time and waiting for the situation to worsen!

Now let's look at the strategy to follow when an internal interruption occurs:

1) Accept it first,

2) and then record it (the bottom half of the "Today's To-Do" form has been divided out, under the Planned Commitment activity, with a heading called "Unplanned Urgencies"),

3) and then immediately continue with the task at hand to avoid any real interruptions.

Turning a blind eye to internal interruptions and thinking about cheating on yourself is not helpful. Recording tracking data is all about self-improvement and process improvement.

External interruptions are interactive. Email software dings, always alerting you that you have new mail and that someone is waiting for you to reply.

For each external interruption, add the title of the activity requested by the interruption to your "Today's To-Do" form. Write it down, keep it out of your head, and make sure you take it into account in your future plans.

The strategy for dealing with external interruptions consists of four steps:

1) Tell: "I'm busy with something."

2) Negotiate : "I'll do it for you on Friday, okay?"

3) Plan : Write down the name of the activity and plan a future Tomato Clock for it later.

4) Answer : Call back or answer as promised, otherwise people won't be able to trust you next time.

Q. How can I use different symbols to mark work interruptions?

Suppose I choose three activities this morning: "Prepare invoices," "Receive prizes," and "Fill out tax forms.

Being the good old boy that I am, I definitely prioritize the tax forms. One ketchup clock later, I drew an X. Two ketchup clocks later, I finished the tax form, and then it was time to prepare the invoice.

I drew an X in the second box because I'd completed another tomato clock, and crossed out the "Fill out tax form" activity on the "Today's to-do" form because it was already done.

And what are ①, ②, and ③ in the picture?

① There was an internal interruption while preparing the invoice. I somehow remembered to call Ming. I write it down in the "Activity List" form and plan to do it another day. Then I put an apostrophe to the right of the "Prepare Invoices" heading. At the end of the day, the tracking data is summarized.

② While filling out the tax form, Red calls me. I told her I was busy and asked if I could call her back later. This is an external interruption, so I put a minus sign to the right of "Fill out tax form". Again, this tracking data is left to be summarized at the end of the day.

(3) After the minus sign, I also wrote "Phone Red" in the "Unplanned Emergency" area.

Q. What if the Tomato Clock runs out and the work isn't done?

If the squares are full before the activity is completed, i.e. the activity was predicted to take a number of ketchup clocks, but those clocks run out and the activity isn't finished, what do I do? What happens next?

This is where a second prediction is made.

Guess how many more tomato clocks are needed to complete the activity. Then, next to the previous box, draw the number of circles corresponding to the number of secondary estimates. Now, when the bell rings at the end of each tomato clock, you can continue to draw X's in the circles.

If there are frequent inconsistencies between the number of tomato clocks predicted to be needed and the number of clocks actually spent, there are two possible reasons:

1) the method or ability to make the predictions needs to be improved;

2) new situations and problems have arisen since the start of the work, making the environment change.

Q. What are some of the realizations from implementing the Tomato Work Method?

Realization 1: "I didn't think it would take so long to do something". After anticipation, if an activity requires more than 7 Tomato clocks, you should split it.

Recognition 2: "I didn't expect something to get more complicated as it went on". If a secondary task pops up in the middle of an activity, put it in the "Unplanned Urgent" column, and then pick up where you left off with the primary activity.

Recognition 3: "The mind is overrun with ideas". Extra ideas should be kept under control so that they do not interfere with the main task, and on the other hand, they should be refined in a timely manner, as they are a source of innovation in the workplace.

Recognition 4: "Treat predictions as commitments". The time spent on an exploration or development activity cannot be predicted in advance, but only estimated as close as possible. Always treating an estimate as a promise creates unnecessary anxiety, both for yourself and for your colleagues.

To avoid this dilemma, the tomato method counts only the tomato clock. Even if a deadline is looming, you can spend 25 minutes focusing on what needs to be done.

Yet it should also be done in such a way that you are always communicating so that the people involved can see how things are progressing.

Realization #5: "Process management, just sayin'." The tracking phase is all about collecting real data about the workflow throughout the day, which can be used in daily reviews to improve the process the next day.

Which data to track is up to you, and will vary depending on the work situation, but you can start by counting "interruptions" and "completed tomatoes".

Recognition 6: "Perfectionism gets in the way". "Wait, there's a better solution" is actually another form of procrastination.

The tomato method doesn't give "procrastination" any chance. You can only move forward and start a tomato clock without thinking about how to be "perfect". Remember that completion is more important than perfection.

Recognition #7: "Choosing activities in the morning and realizing in the evening that most of what you accomplished today was not chosen in the morning". As is often the case, there is no sense of mission in the planning stage to make a commitment. If there is no sense of commitment, then when doing a summary of the day, it will feel like there is only hard work and no credit.

More importantly, there is no distinction between the Activity List and Today's To-Do list. Commitment is at the heart of the Tomato Method. The "Today's To-Do" form is a daily commitment! The activities selected should be feasible.

Tips. Make a game of identifying Today's To-Dos

If you can't decide which activities should go on your Today's To-Do list, have a prioritization contest!

If you can't decide which activities should go on today's to-do list, why not hold a "prioritization contest"?

Start by writing down the list of participants - i.e. the titles of all the activities, one small slip of paper for each activity.

Then line up all the slips of paper, regardless of importance. Compare the first item with the second. If I can only do one thing today, which one should I do? After deciding, the losing side puts it to the left and the winning side takes it in their hand.

Next, take the next slip of paper from the original column and continue comparing it with the winner of the earlier match. So analogous, one game than the next.

The winner is always in the hand, and the loser is put to the left. By the time the original column is cleared, there is a winner for the whole season. The highest priority activity is the one in hand.

However there is more than one activity that can be done in a day. So start a new season from the losers column on the left. Take a few of the winners selected and fill out today's to-do form as a realistic commitment.

Tips. Tomato Tips for Progress Forms

If the same activity keeps showing up in the To-Do Today form, but doesn't get done, then you need another form of Activity List form!

As an example, the author takes a piece of A4 paper with a 5x5mm grid, with the month and name in the top left corner. Then along the short side of the paper, write down the dates of the month from right to left, 31, 30, 29, ...... all the way to 1, with a number in each grid.

This leaves about 5 centimeters of blank space on the left side. Write all known activities here, one line for each activity. Then replace the Activity List with this Progress Form.

The Progress Form is still the same idea as the Activity List, just implemented differently.

What about "record" forms? A "record" form is an arbitrary record of data that the author wants to track, such as how many phone calls were made.

Every morning, when the author selects an activity and enters it into the Today form, a circle is also drawn in the corresponding box on the Progress form, in the Date of the day column, on the row for the selected activity.

At the end of the day, when you do your daily review, if an activity is completed, draw a star in its circle.

After a while, if you see a lot of empty circles, you are always overestimating what you can deliver. If an activity has many empty circles, it may need to be broken down.

Tips. 0&7 for Tomato Clock Setting

If an activity is predicted to take more than 7 tomato clocks, it is too complex and needs to be broken up. Each of these smaller activities has a separate row in the Activity List table, and each has its own estimate. The larger the activity, the less accurate the estimate.

If an activity does not have an estimate of 1 Tomato Hour, you can mark it with a 0. This does not mean that it will take 0 Tomato Hour to complete, it just means that it will take less than 1 Tomato Hour. Such activities still have their own row in the Activity List table.

Later, when selecting activities for the To Do Today form, you can combine several of these less-than-1 ketchup activities and write them on the same line, treating them as a single activity.

Written in the back

"Tomato Work Method Illustrated" is a practical type of book, reading time of 10 days, the whole book read down or very rewarding, the method is simple and easy to do, is very suitable for the office family.

Here are some excerpts from the text to share with you?

* One pair of feet can't do two dances at the same time. In other words, one thing at a time.

* Laziness of all kinds is the branches, procrastination of all kinds is the trunk, anxiety is the main trunk, and causes are the roots. How tall the tree of laziness is depends on how many roots there are, and the more roots there are the more complicated it is, and the harder it is to cut down the tree of laziness.

* The right decision is a balance between consciousness and intuition. In order to make the right decision, you need to simplify the problem so that it contains only important facts and areas that you are competent enough to analyze.

* Change is a constant theme in the business world, and you don't want to have your hands full by giving and receiving frequent feedback on the task at hand.

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