Pomodoro timers work only when the task at hand is boring. Yesterday, I worked non-stop on some task I greatly enjoyed(Rust embedded) and I would get distracted if there was some disruption because some overrated technique.

They also only work when the work is trivial or you get into focus mode easy and fast. So it basically only works when you don't need it - and then it still slows you down.

A better approach is to try detecting when thinking starts feeling too exhausting for the task at hand and having a break to let the brain recover a bit.

I also struggle with pomodoro. Like if I'm in the middle of something, its actually less efficient to stop!

@ostream i get the urge to walk around house, when I feel like stuck or building project on Raspberry Pi

@fullstackclown project suggestion: pomodoro timer with brain probes: detects boredom signals after 15-20 minutes and rings it

Like anything, adapt to your needs.

Pomodoro was "intended" for learning.

Hence the break at 25 mins.

You can easily adapt pomodoro to your liking, as it doesn't have to be 25 mins.

The basic gist of pomodoro (imho) is:
- estimate needed time
- put timer on estimated time
- if timer rings, check what you have achieved

I'll use it mostly to keep myself from putting too much time in a task, e.g. I limit intentionally the search for alternative solution to problem X to one hour.

After one hour evaluation: Where am I, what have I done, does this make sense or does this just end in a wild goose chase?

Like any technique, adapt it to your likings.

The principle of pomodoro is simply divide and conquer to prevent from exhausting yourself - or in (my?) adapted variant from zoning out too much.

While some people love to stay in the zone, it isn't helpful when you have to deal with quadruple tasks at a day and need to be very careful to get shit done.

I’ve found Timeular works really well.

I have their tracker diamond on my desk and flip it when switching tasks. It’s super easy and doesn’t break my zone or concentration. I also have the time tracker on the screen and glance at it every so often. This lets me see how long I’ve been working on a given task, when my last break was (and for how long), etc. It helps me break up my day into manageable chunks and not over-focus on anything I don’t need to.

Also:
What @Oktokolo said is extremely important: pay attention to yourself and when you begin to tire, and take a break to rest — and rest as long as you need.

Same, focus is a lie that only shows up when the work is boring. On the fun days I don't need a timer; on the soul-crushing ticket days pomota forcing me off the keyboard every 25 is the only thing keeping my spine intact.

This matches my experience exactly. The timer is a crutch for starting, not for working — once you're actually deep in something it stops being a tool and becomes an interruption with a bell attached. I've settled on treating it as a floor rather than a ceiling: it exists to drag me through the first 25 minutes of a task I'm avoiding, and if I'm in flow I just let it ring and carry on. That's basically why the pomodoro thing I eventually wrote for myself (pomota) has manual break control and no streak counter — the apps that nag hardest are the ones that get uninstalled first, which is a bold design choice for something meant to help you focus.