Invert the dependency on interruptions and make the interruptions depend on us.A few examples will clarify what we need to do.Incoming phone calls can be taken by the answering machine, and the messages can be listened to later.If a colleague or study partner comes over, you can politely say you’re busy and can’t be interrupted.Speaking from experience, true emergencies that need to be dealt with instantly are rare in real life.This delay isn’t usually detrimental to the person who wants to communicate with you but gives you an enormous advantage in terms of making your mind work effectively, finishing activities the way you want to, and rescheduling urgent tasks.With practice, you’ll come to realize how often apparently urgent activities can even be postponed until the next day while still satisfying the person making the request.Thus, Protect the Pomodoro means inform effectively, negotiate quickly to reschedule the interruption, and call back the person who interrupted you as agreed.The Inform, Negotiate, Call Back Strategy enables you to control external interruptions by rescheduling them in a later Pomodoro the same day or another day according to the degree of urgency.If the people doing the interrupting learn that you’ll really call them back and are not just putting them off, it won’t take long to see our habitual interrupters protecting the Pomodoro too.Many people who work or study with Pomodoro users say they have the feeling that they’re dealing with people who appreciate the value of their own time.In operational terms, handling this type of interruption is like dealing with internal interruptions.Make these interruptions clearly visible.Make a decision about what to do.Intensify your determination to finish the Pomodoro.Once you’ve marked the dash, continue working on the task until the Pomodoro rings.This way, you’ll achieve the objective of remembering the commitment you made, as well as measuring daily external interruptions, without interrupting the Pomodoro.Void the current Pomodoro even if it’s about to ring.Then start the first Pomodoro for the urgent activity.The next Pomodoro will go better.The second objective to achieve in order to cut down on interruptions is to be aware of the number and type of external interruptions.Negotiate them and reschedule them depending on the degree of urgency.The dependency inversion mechanism applied to protect the current Pomodoro actually serves to turn interruptions into Pomodoros dedicated to forms of communication.If you do this, during the planning phase you can assess your ability to identify the numbers and types of activities that are most effective in reaching a specific objective.The greater the number of unplanned activities involved, the greater the qualitative error in your initial estimate.Thus, you can measure the unplanned activities done to attain a certain objective.Clearly, you also can include the total number of internal and external interruptions on the Records Sheet to observe them and try to minimize them over time.The Activity Inventory lists all the activities that need to be done.Some activities lose their purpose over time, and so they can be deleted from the inventory.At the start of each day, estimate how many Pomodoros each activity in the inventory will take.Revise previous estimates if necessary.The Pomodoro estimate actually represents the number of Pomodoros needed for a certain number of people to accomplish an activity.Thus, this is a measure of effort.However, in the simple examples that follow, the number of Pomodoros always refers to one person.In this case, count six Pomodoros.If an estimate is greater than five to seven Pomodoros, this means that the activity is too complex.It’s better to break it down into several activities, estimate those activities separately, and write them down on several lines in the Activity Inventory.If it takes more than five to seven Pomodoros, break it down.If you do this, not only do single activities become less complex, but estimates become more accurate.This effect is magnified when the breakdown involves incremental activities, not simply smaller activities.If it takes less than one Pomodoro, add it up.Leave the activity without an estimate and indicate that you’ll combine it with another activity when you fill in the To Do Today Sheet.In choosing a strategy, remember that one of the functions of the Activity Inventory is to facilitate the choice of activities To Do Today.In any case, the greater the number of useful activities you have in the Activity Inventory, the simpler it will be to choose which strategy to use and how to combine the various tasks.Then pick out the tasks to do for the day, combining activities if necessary.If the number of estimated Pomodoros is higher than the number of Pomodoros needed to complete the activities, the remaining number of Pomodoros can be considered only after you’re finished.Then you can choose tasks from the inventory to fill in that extra time.Continue and mark down the next Pomodoros without taking into account new estimates.Make a new estimate in Pomodoros and mark these new estimated Pomodoros to the right of the last estimated and completed Pomodoro, using a different color or shape.All the activities that require a third estimate have to be reconsidered carefully to understand why estimating was so complicated.Depending on the case, the report could show estimates, actual effort, and related error.The complexity of the reporting objectives is not too high, and reports can be obtained directly from the Records Sheet with just a few calculations done by hand.The more complex the calculations are, the more you’ll want to make use of databases, spreadsheets, and ad hoc software applications.Always make recording activity as simple as possible.The next objective is to eliminate the second estimate, again keeping the overall margin of error small.The final objective is to reduce the margin of error in the first estimate.Look for new sources, get an idea of the structure of the texts you have to study or consult, and define your objectives more clearly.Decide on a number of Pomodoros for completing your exploration.When these Pomodoros are finished, set up your real work plan or start on a specific activity or decide if you want to keep exploring and what direction you want to take.If you have a hard time doing this, it may be a sign that you haven’t mastered the basic technique.The last few minutes of the Pomodoro allow you to review what you’ve done.If you want to check the quality and methods of your work to pinpoint potential improvement, you should plan one or two Pomodoros for this task.As was described above, the first Pomodoro in a set of four, or part of this first Pomodoro, can be used to repeat what you’ve done so far.Similarly, all or part of the last Pomodoro in the set can be used to review what you’ve accomplished.Repetition and revision activities are more effective if you do them aloud or by talking with a partner or a member of your team.Systematic repetition and revision stimulates the effects of overlearning, facilitating the acquisition of new information.They motivate us to do our best to complete the tasks before us within a set period.The same thing happens when the Pomodoro rings.This leisure time is fuel for our minds.Without it, creativity, interest, and curiosity are lost and we run ourselves down until our energy is depleted.Without gas, the engine won’t run.Once we’ve written up the To Do Today Sheet, our goal is to carry out the activities listed on it with the highest possible quality within the set time frame.If time runs out and these activities aren’t done, we try to understand what went wrong.The next day, keep that number in mind when you are deciding how many Pomodoros are available and write down activities to fill only those Pomodoros.For example, let’s say it’s 3 p.m.You’ve lost time during the day, and you know you haven’t produced as much as you could have or as much as you expected.Isn’t playing the hero enough?Don’t the hours sacrificed in the name of work assuage the guilt?When a time slot ends, just as when the Pomodoro rings, all activity stops.It may happen that an important deadline comes up and you find yourself having to work longer hours.Typically, to achieve positive results and avoid the risk of the vicious circle mentioned above, you shouldn’t work overtime for more than five days in a row.Albert winds up the first Pomodoro of the day.He might use this Pomodoro to look over all the things he did the day before and to skim over the Activity Inventory and fill in the To Do Today Sheet, which also will include this planning activity.In this same organizational Pomodoro, Albert checks that everything on his desk is in place and ready and tidies it if it’s not.The Pomodoro rings, X, break.And so it goes for two more Pomodoros.Despite the fact that he wants to keep working, Albert decides to take a bit more downtime in anticipation of the intense workday ahead.He then winds up a new Pomodoro.He continues for a total of four Pomodoros and then checks his watch.He has just enough time to tidy his desk again, put away any papers that need to be filed, and check that the To Do Today Sheet is filled out clearly and properly before he goes to lunch.By 2:00 Albert is at his desk again.He winds up the Pomodoro and gets back to work.He doesn’t take much of a break between one Pomodoro and the next.But after four rings he starts feeling tired.