For single tasks that take a long time to complete, I like to break these tasks into Pomodoros. I do this by making the task a sub-project and then adding a repeating task of "do 1 Pomodoro of ". Every time I do the Pomodoro I tick it off.
For example, “Read Getting Things Done” becomes a sub-project containing the repeating task “Do 1 Pomodoro of reading Getting Things Done.” After reading for a single Pomodoro I get the “win” of ticking of the task as completed.
So far I’ve been doing this manually.
Is anyone else doing something similar? I feel that entering this manually isn’t the right way to do this. Any suggestions?
I use repeating actions for this purpose. For example, the action might be called “Read Getting Things Done for 25 minutes” and be set to repeat one day after completion.
To clearly identify the type of action, I add a tag of RUC (short for “Repeat Until Complete”). As an alternative, some text could be added to the name of the action (e.g. “Read Getting Things Done for 25 minutes (RUC)”). You might also consider using a tag/name of “Pomodoro” to indicate that this action is intended for one Pomodoro session.
When the action is no longer needed (e.g. the book is finished) I either delete it or drop it. When dropping an action there’s an option to “Drop Completely”.
That sounds very similar to what I’m doing! I’m finding it a great way to work. I neglected to mention that I’m using the repeat function as well.
Are you manually inputting the first action and then ticking the “repeat every” box?
I’ve grow to really like this way of working, and now I’ve got so many tasks broken down into Pomodoros I’m finding it cumbersome to input the repeating task.
I was hoping that there might be a script available that would let me use a hotkey to assign a task a child with the text:
“do 1 Pomodoro of <PARENT_TASK>” with the repeat setting enabled.
That sounds very similar to what I’m doing! I’m finding it a great way to work. I neglected to mention that I’m using the repeat function as well.
Great minds think alike. 😉
Are you manually inputting the first action and then ticking the “repeat every” box?
Yes.
I’ve grow to really like this way of working, and now I’ve got so many tasks broken down into Pomodoros I’m finding it cumbersome to input the repeating task.
You could use Shortcuts (iOS/iPadOS), Keyboard Maestro (Mac) and/or use Drafts (Mac/iOS/iPadOS) to prompt you for the name of the action, then use TaskPaper to create a new action that repeats.
For example if you were to paste this TaskPaper code into OmniFocus it would create an action called “Read Getting Things Done” that repeats daily based on the item’s completion.
- Read Getting Things Done @repeat-method(start-after-completion) @repeat-rule(FREQ=DAILY)
You could use other metadata to further define the action, including @tags to specify tag(s).
I was hoping that there might be a script available that would let me use a hotkey to assign a task a child with the text:
“do 1 Pomodoro of <PARENT_TASK>” with the repeat setting enabled.`
This should be possible using scripting, but I don’t know of an existing script that provides this functionality.
When I’ve got a bit more time I might try my hand at a script solution here. I’m not that great at it myself, but there are some Applescript wizards around that have helped me around some tough issues in the past who might be willing to give me the advice I need to get it done.
If I ever manage to get it up and running I’ll post a reply here.
