The Pomodoro Techinique has received a lot of attention lately. The reason is simple: it works. It improves focus, removes anxiety because of time and, most of all, help us getting things done.
But the greatest benefit of the technique in my point of view is that it exposes all the interruptions and bad habits we have when doing our jobs. And that’s my reason to believe it should be used as a learning tool instead of a new way of working.
That means using the technique as temporary assistance, not the end solution. Instead of using the tool to avoid the factors that decrease our focus, we use it to make them visible and then find ways to avoid them.
After all, do we really need a timer all the time to do our job efficiently?
Another day of coding is over and you produced some beautiful code. Now what? Do you know exactly how long it will take until that brand-new feature gets to its intended user? A week? A month? Never?
It’s a shame that most code produced out there will park for all that time until is released. Maybe that was normal when it would take days just to compile the whole system. But today, even with all the processing power and automation, new releases are always delayed by deadlines, testing stages, approvals, sign-offs or any other form of bureaucracy.
If the code is really good it shouldn’t have to wait. Maybe it’s time for programmers to stop hiding behind the green bars of their builds and start pushing their code out of the door.
At the Ágiles2009 coding dojo, instead of trying to explain the whole concept of coding dojo, I jumped straight to a quick list of items that attendees should bear in mind during the session:
- If you know how to code, you should code
- If you’re coding, everyone else has to understand what you’re doing
- If you’re the next to code, avoid breaking the flow
- If you’re not coding, don’t disturb who is
- If you have an idea, show it with code
- If you’re stuck, ask for help
- If you liked the challenge, try it again at home
Interesting how this simple “etiquette” helped to make what I consider one of the best dojos I’ve participated so far.