Let’s build a productivity-boosting app: A pomodoro timer!

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In this Tampa iOS Meetup, we’re going to build a Pomodoro timer app — a tool that used with the Pomodoro Technique, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique) an ingeniously simple lifehack (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_hack) that many people have used to help them power past distraction, stay focused on their work, and be incredibly productive.

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Pomodoro is the Italian word for “tomato” and refers to the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that the technique’s inventor, Francesco Cirillo, used in developing the technique. The technique itself is pretty simple:

• Pick a task that you want to tackle.

• Set a timer for 25 minutes. Because Cirillo’s timer was tomato-shaped, he called this 25-minute interval a “pomodoro”.

• Work on the task — and nothing but that task — until the timer rings.

• After the timer rings, put a checkmark on a piece of paper.

• If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a five-minute break, then start another pomodoro.

• If you have four checkmarks, take a longer break — typically 15 to 30 minutes — and reset your checkmark count back to zero. Then start a new pomodoro.

By breaking a large task or series of tasks into short, focused intervals, the Pomodoro Technique aims to have your brain to work in short sprints — which it’s evolved to do — and take regular breaks to help it recharge. The intended result is to ensure consistent productivity, motivation, and creativity.

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There are a number of Pomodoro apps out there, such Focus Keeper (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pomodoro-keeper-free-timer/id867374917?mt=8) (pictured above). In this meetup, we’ll build one that you can then expand upon and maybe even put in the store!

You’ll learn how to:

• Write code that gets executed at regularly-timed intervals

• Get user input in the user-friendliest and appropriate way

• Use sound and animations to make a polished-looking app

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If you’ve got a MacBook, you’ll want to bring it, because we’re going to code this app during the session! I’ll set you up with a starter project, and then write the actual code that powers it. By the end of the session, you’ll be able to write your own Pomodoro productivity app and tweak it to make it your very own.

(And yes, you can still come if you don’t bring a Mac laptop.)

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Once again, the fine people at Wolters Kluwer (and their doubly-fine representative, John Wang) are providing us with the space, as well as food and drink. Let’s give them a golf clap for making this meetup possible!