Pomodoro. A word of many meanings – Italian for “tomato,” a battle cry of Gru’s minions, and the namesake of an impactful, easy-to-implement time management technique. This post will explore only one of these: the linguistic history of the Despicable Me universe how the Pomodoro time-management technique can be employed by C2ABM professionals to improve readiness.
There is no shortage of responsibilities for C2ABM professionals working in an operational unit. Training events, professional study, tactical planning and preparation, personal readiness requirements, unit readiness and reporting requirements, and “hot taskers” abound. Taken individually, each may be easily manageable. Considered together, the amount of apparently competing requirements can quickly become overwhelming. This is a problem, as overwhelmed individuals do not naturally dig in to get out from under their massive workload; instead, they tend to become less productive, are less capable of retaining new information, and engage in counterproductive procrastination or other avoidance behaviors – potentially to the point of avoiding responsibilities altogether. This phenomenon can be observed even when the overwhelming stimuli are not directly related to the work at hand – an C2ABM professional overwhelmed by one aspect of their work (or life) may avoid all forms of responsibility in response. In a career field built on disciplined attention, prioritization, and rapid synthesis, unmanaged overload is not just frustrating, it is corrosive to readiness.
Individuals experience overwhelm and engage in avoidance behaviors when stressors in life exceed the capacity of their coping mechanisms. As such, there are two pathways to consider that might maximize productivity and minimize detrimental avoidance behaviors: 1) reducing stressors, or 2) improving coping mechanisms. Considering that many of the professional stressors facing C2ABM practitioners are all but immutable, the only viable path forward is to explore the application of coping mechanisms.
Coping mechanisms may take the form of individual coping strategies, may be systemic or institutional mechanisms – including strong social support networks or group-level social outlets such as those described in Honoring History, Shaping the Future: Nurturing C2ABM Culture – or, for best results, may be a combination of these. This is where the Pomodoro technique thrives, as it may be applied either by individuals alone or can be adopted at nearly any scale to contribute to a larger environment designed to reduce the prevalence of overwhelm and disengagement.
The Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro technique is a time management tool that can help individuals cope with otherwise-overwhelming amounts of work. The technique was developed by author and entrepreneur Francesco Cirillo while he was a college student in the 1980s. Francesco used a tomato-shaped kitchen timer to track short “sprints” during which he focused on only one task at a time. As he experimented with the technique, he came to name it after the Italian word for Tomato, or “Pomodoro.” The technique itself is simple:
1) Pick a single task (or study area) requiring attention
2) Set a timer for 25 minutes
3) Work uninterrupted on the planned task (or study area) until the timer stops
4) Take a 5 minute break
5) Repeat up to 4 times before taking a 20-30 minute break
This technique is effective in combatting overwhelm and procrastination because it forces individuals to focus on a single task rather than their mass of responsibility (step 1); promises only a manageable and finite time commitment (step 2); avoids distraction or rabbit-holes that might highlight or re-reveal the otherwise-overwhelming scope of broader responsibility (step 3); forecasts breaks during which individuals can refresh and recover (step 4); and is not infinitely stackable, reducing the likelihood that the use of the technique itself might be overwhelming (step 5).
Individual Applications
C2ABM professionals working at the unit level can employ the Pomodoro technique on their own.
Step 1 – Pick a single task (or study area) requiring attention
There are an immense number of tasks that C2ABM professionals need to accomplish during any given week. These may include mission-related tasks ranging from product/briefing development to completing post-flight documentation such as debrief forms or student grade sheets, administrative tasks such as updating trackers ahead of staff meetings, professional growth tasks such as studying specific systems or tactics, or any variety of other requirements. It may be helpful to create a list of tasks, and then to prioritize tasks that might fit well within a Pomodoro or series of Pomodori. If a task is too large, consider breaking it into its constituent parts to better fit within the Pomodoro timeframe.
Step 2 – Set a timer for 25 minutes
This step is straightforward. Set a timer for no longer than 25 minutes. Shorter Pomodoro blocks are acceptable, but the benefits of the technique wane as focus periods extend beyond 25 minutes. A timer that ends with an audible cue is ideal, as this allows the user to ignore the timer while it is running, preventing it from becoming a distraction during the Pomodoro.
Step 3 – Work uninterrupted on the planned task (or study area) until the timer stops
To see the benefits of the technique, practitioners must remain singularly focused for the duration of the timer. This means avoiding all distractions such as phone calls, emails, conversations, adjacent tasks (or “rabbit holes”), etc. Disabling Outlook and Teams notifications may be helpful and wearing headphones (if in a suitable location) or notifying coworkers that you are starting a Pomodoro may help to reduce outside distractions.
It is best to always finish a Pomodoro once started, without changing tasks. If a task takes less time than a single Pomodoro period, it should be re-explored, checked for errors, or “over-learned” – practitioners should not simply move onto another task, as each Pomodoro should carry the promise of being singularly-focused. Conversely, if a task remains incomplete at the end of a Pomodoro, it should be halted immediately at the timer and then may be resumed during a new Pomodoro after a break – the technique itself guards against the threat that blocks of work will grow into overwhelming time commitments. Rigid adherence to step 3 is what makes the technique so effective in breaking down overwhelming workloads into manageable, predictable chunks.
Step 4 – Take a 5 minute break
If you plan to start another Pomodoro, take a 5 minute break from work or other stressors. Walk around, drink water, have a snack, socialize… whatever you like.
Step 5 – Repeat up to 4 times before taking a 20-30 minute break
Four Pomodori should take approximately two hours. Who wouldn’t want a break after all that?
Group Applications
Shop or Unit Applications
While individual C2ABM professionals can use the Pomodoro technique to improve their own effectiveness and efficiency, it may also be adopted at scale. Setting aside shop- or unit-wide blocks of time designated to Pomodori can reduce the risk of distraction for all involved, and would serve as a systemic bulwark against the possibility of individuals becoming overwhelmed with their workload and attempting to cope using harmful avoidance strategies. These blocks could either be “choose your own adventure” style blocks, wherein individuals are required to complete Pomodori, but get to select their own work or study task, or could be assigned blocks, wherein supervisors assign tasks to individuals to accomplish during each block. The former may be helpful during routine operations, while the latter may be helpful during shop-wide projects such as deployment/exercise read-file creation, monthly flight/crew scheduling, or annual performance evaluation closeouts.
Operational Applications
The technique can also be applied operationally, to improve efficiency during mission planning. Mission planning for routine C2ABM training missions requires a balance of individual and collaborative efforts. Individual efforts might include populating forms, developing sensor plans or communications flows, or calculating retrograde ranges. Collaborative efforts may include developing contracts, executing rehearsal of concept (ROC) drills, or conducting team or crew briefings. Crew and team leads, who assign specific planning tasks to individual crew members, could go one step further by assigning times for Pomodoro blocks for the tasked individuals to tackle individual tasks. This could improve efficiency during the planning day, and the dedicated focus afforded by the Pomodoro technique could also be expected to yield superior outputs.
Challenges and Drawbacks
The Pomodoro technique is not without its challenges. For one, the technique is at odds with another helpful task-management phenomenon: flow state. While most C2ABM professionals do not achieve flow state during their daily work, some may be fortunate enough to do so on occasion when working on tasks that are perceived to be important and interesting, such as study or solving a scheduling “puzzle.” The Pomodoro technique, by design, would interrupt this state should it be achieved during a Pomodoro block. To allow for longer blocks of work, as well as work that may benefit from moving from task to task multiple times within a 25-minute block, Pomodori should not fill a day – in some instances, it may be helpful to spend a morning on a four-Pomodori series. Other days, a single 25-minute Pomodoro might do fine. Selecting the right approach to individual tasks is key, and the Pomodoro technique is but one approach to consider.
Additionally, while the Pomodoro technique is designed to increase the chance of uninterrupted focus, the C2ABM professionals that may implement the technique are still human and will likely struggle to remain on track during Pomodori later in the day as energy and motivation ebb. In these cases, trying to adhere to the Pomodoro technique may itself become a source of counterproductive frustration. When practical, C2ABM professionals may be better off focusing on tasks that do not lend themselves well to the Pomodoro technique during these periods, such as checking email or exchanging ideas in the squadron heritage room.
Conclusion
The Pomodoro technique is a simple time management technique, designed to improve efficiency and effectiveness of work or study periods. It does so by allowing individuals to break out small, manageable tasks from their otherwise-potentially-overwhelming pile of responsibilities, and by providing a framework for uninterrupted work on these tasks. By applying the technique at the individual, shop, unit, or planning cell level, C2ABM professionals can improve their individual and unit readiness. In that sense, the Pomodoro technique is more than a personal productivity tool, it is a scalable readiness practice that can help C2ABM professionals and organizations turn discipline, focus, and manageable work rhythms into better performance across training, administration, and operations.
Lt Col Douglas “Opie” Foulk, USAF, is a Senior Air Battle Manager, currently on staff as a Legislative Affairs Officer at the United Stated Indo-Pacific Command. He previously served in various positions across multiple E-3G AWACS squadrons.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. Air Force, Department of Defense, or U.S. government.
Photo by Yanus Kilic on Pexels
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