Moving to a new task in Pomodoro Timer

Moving to a new task in Pomodoro Timer

I am new to Pomodoro Timer in Toggl Track. How can I move to a new task without starting a new 25 minute Pomodoro session?
When I finish one task and move to the next task, I have already done part of the 25 minute session. If I have to start with a new 25 minutes, it spoils the benefits of the Pomodoro workflow!

Hi there, welcome to our community! :tada:

Great question! Thank you for posting it! :raised_hands:

We often have discussions about this topic, and we’ve decided to stick with the original Pomodoro time management system developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. This method involves breaking tasks down into (typically) 25-minute sprints, followed by short breaks.

The purpose of the Pomodoro technique, as envisioned by Francesco Cirillo is enabling a deeper focus on individual tasks without distraction.

If your workflow demands frequent context switching, consider using a shorter Pomodoro interval for your needs while still having a framework allowing you deep focus on the task at hand before swithicnt to the next one with the next interval.

I hope this helps. If you prefer a continuous session involving various tasks, we would be happy to note this down as a feature request.

Thanks for your reply explaining this.
My work follows a pattern which doesn’t lend itself well with the method you are describing. I suspect many other workers may be in a similar situation to mine.
I want to use Pomodoro to increase focus, and also to implement frequent short breaks to keep fresh mentally. This benefits my clarity and efficiency.
However, my tasks are mostly short, and are very varied in the time they take. Many of them only take between 2 minutes and 10 minutes. It is also often hard to forecast how long each task will take - many of them are once-only tasks which don’t arise in the same way again.
Therefore I constantly need to be able to switch tasks “on the fly” within the 25 minute work periods.
I cannot simply set up specific shorter periods for my tasks, because it is generally not known how long they will take.
Even with tasks whose duration I know in advance, if I did try to setup a short period for each task, I would then lose track of the 25 minutes between breaks. So I would lose the benefit of the Pomodoro technique.
Therefore I do need continuous sessions involving various tasks. Without this, I will have to use another provider’s Pomodoro timer rather than yours.

Heya Graham! This is a great candidate for posting in our Product Feedback section. Do you mind if I move this over there?

Yes please Jake, do that.

Regards,

Graham

Thanks @graham

BTW, I edited out your email signature to remove your phone number, the forum is public so best to be careful about that when replying via email :slight_smile:

This is probably a deal breaker for me.

I’m a grad student that has to do A LOT of reading. I want to be able to track how much time I spend on each of my classes. I feel that this is in the same spirit as the original purpose of the pomodoro method as the only thing that changes (usually) from task to task is the book I am reading.

I also have a similar work related issue. If I plan on spending my day editing, it would be nice to be able to move to a different project/client and still use the timer.

Yes, I could set shorter timers, but 45/15 is what works best with my ADHD. Having to use two separate apps in order to do this is not efficient and disruptive. I planned on paying for a subscription when my trial ends, but this issue will probably keep me on the free plan.

Thanks for the honest feedback @Jennifer_Oswell :raised_hands: I’m sharing it with the product team, I hope we meet your needs better in the future! Also, for clarification, Pomodoro is not a paid feature, so if the Free plan meets your needs that’s great :slight_smile:

I’d like to add my vote to a way to more easily switch tasks inside a focus session. I think the answer may be to add the ability to select a favorite or recent task quickly from the full-screen mode the Web App has, and hopefully bring that full-screen mode to the phone/tablet apps as well. I love the focus mode on the phone, but also need to be able to switch tasks without changing the timer.

I am in a similar boat on needing to switch the task. It is not because i’m changing focus, but because the task I am doing is for multiple clients so I need to change my tags and/or the project the task is assigned to. So I’m not “breaking focus”, just switching the attribution of the task at hand.

I have not found the “perfect” solution yet. I hear that always searching for the perfect solution is a super-power of my ADHD. The closest thing I have found is two steps in toggl and an external timer:

  1. The web version’s “full screen” mode
  2. Adding recurring tasks to the “favorites” so they are easy to click
  3. Use the external timer (my watch usually)
  4. When I need to switch task the full screen mode has a stop button, so the process is “stop->select next iteration of current task->full screen” as fast as possible to hopefully avoid the distractions of switching.

I keep the full screen mode up on a side monitor as my own Mynah bird. I just wish it would occasionally chirp “Hear and now!”.

I came to the forums to search and see what other people were doing so I appreciate this thread and response.