KeepFocused is a portable Pomodoro Technique timer for Windows

In case you aren't familiar with it, the Pomodoro Technique is a time management system. The original book by Francesco Cirillo has been extremely popular since its publication in the early 1990s and it's now available as a free PDF download [Google Viewer link].

The technique is simple and involves setting up 25-minute intervals for a given task and taking a short break at the end (five minutes or so). Every four intervals you take a slightly longer break, and the cycle begins again.

While the only supplies necessary to follow the technique are a timer, a piece of paper, and a pen or pencil, you can cut down on desktop clutter by using a program on your PC - like Keep Focused.

It's a tiny, portable app which is as simple to use as Pomodoro itself. The white square is your "stop button" - click it to end a session. Click "play" to start a new session and tell Keep Focused what you're going to work on. Move the miniscule toolbar anywhere you wish by clicking on the hand icon and dragging.

When a session is done, take a break and then start anew!

Keep Focused is currently an alpha release, but it works well. It's a nice little productivity tool to add to your USB flash drive.

Tags: codeplex, management, open source, OpenSource, oss, pomodoro, portable, productivity, technique, time, timer