Support the Pomodoro Technique
The pomodoro technique is an extension of "getting things done", focusing not only of the task management but also on the fullfilling of the tasks. To support it, it is required to add some fields to each task.
You can read about pomodoro here: http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/
I would be very happy to have the possibilities of Pomodoro also here!
Jochen
2 Posted by johnt on 08 Dec, 2010 03:01 PM
I agree, I'd like to see this feature as well.
The pomodoro technique would fit in beautifully and complement Nirvana quite nicely. Nirvana is great at choosing the next task to work on at any given time, Pomodoro is great at getting that particular task done in 1/2 hour intervals. Nirvana already has the ability to estimate the time for a task, if it would also allow you to record the actual amount of time spent on each task and generate a report on estimate vs. actual, it would give us a tool to sharpen our time estimation skills.
3 Posted by Rique on 09 Dec, 2010 04:20 AM
Pomodoro technique and also Mark Forster's Autofocus system can potentially integrate well with GTD, I agree. But I wonder if it is a good idea for Nirvana to try to be all things to all people? I'm not so sure...
Maybe you could just download and run a decent Pomodoro Timer when you are working on your tasks?
4 Posted by johnt on 12 Dec, 2010 10:51 PM
You're right, I wouldn't want Nirvana to try to be all things to all people. That would just pollute the nice clean interface. I wasn't thinking of a Pomodoro timer built into Nirvana, I've already downloaded an app for that as you suggested. I was just thinking of one more field besides "estimated time" and that would be "actual time" so that we could use Nirvana's database to help us improve time estimates. But, I realize that's adding yet "one more field" and feature creep is to be avoided, so I guess I don't feel strongly either way. The Nirvana team could just put that field onto their list of "possible" future enhancements.
5 Posted by Guilherme on 22 Dec, 2010 07:47 PM
Just came to me that Nirvana could ask for the time it took to complete the task when you ticked it completed, and a textbox would show up IF the "estimated time to complete" had been filled in. It can always be left blank too.
6 Posted by ryan on 23 Dec, 2010 03:53 PM
I agree with Prox and I would much rather have the guys focusing on making it easier for me to get things done in the future than evaluate whether I misestimated in the past. IMGO, If I have already completed it, the last thing I want to do is go back and think about it again. And I tend to learn where I underestimate things by doing them....
7 Posted by scottschulthess on 11 Feb, 2011 08:46 PM
I think this is the kind of thing where add-ons work so well, or at least an option, but so few people would actually use it.
Since there's an api, maybe there is a way to write an app that uses your nirvana tasks in a pomodoro timer where you can merely select and track time against nirvana actions.
8 Posted by scottschulthess on 01 Mar, 2011 04:15 PM
At some point I'll definitely try to get my pomodoro technique workflow optimized using the api
9 Posted by Brian H on 04 Dec, 2011 03:20 AM
I agree. It doesn't have to be fancy--you don't have to support the timer, in fact I don't think you should. Just allow a nice way to record the number of pomodoros.
Support Staff 10 Posted by Mitchell Amihod on 04 Dec, 2011 03:27 AM
for the record, i'm a pomodoro fan as well.
I agree with scott - sounds more like an add on, or a user script.