But if you are to believe Cirillo, the Pomodoro technique has changed two million lives already. This kind of solution, offered up as a miracle fix for the umpteenth time by some influencer coach, always makes me laugh. I say “supposed to” because at this point, I’m still a bit skeptical. The idea is that taking a little rest repeatedly is supposed to boost your concentration, intellectual agility and memory. How does it work? You use a timer –– a tomato-shaped one for the purists –– to schedule 25-minute work periods, each dedicated to its own task, followed by a short break. But there are no MasterChef recipes here: we’re talking about a serious time-management technique developed by the consultant Francesco Cirillo at the end of the 1980s. For those of you who have a little Italian, the name “Pomodoro” might make you smile: “pomodoro” literally means “tomato”. I first came upon it, and other time-management tools with odd names, when I set up my company in 2017. Is the Pomodoro technique, a time management method devised by Francesco Cirillo, the perfect ingredient for organizing your schedule? We tested it and here’s what we thought.Įven if you’re not an expert in organizational skills, you’ve probably heard of the Pomodoro technique.

Productivity techniques like pomodoro