Now you come to mention it the “tomato shaped kitchen timer” rings a bell. No pun intended!

Not sure I’d get much done in 5 minutes though. I like the 15 minutes “break” as it’s enough time to get something else done without being so long that I need to wind myself back up into work.

Thanks for the links
Gillian

Have you tried the Pomodoro technique? It’s similar to what you describe but uses a 25 + 5 format… and a tomato shaped kitchen timer.

http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/

(as an aside…Your 45 + 15 method equates to 75% + 25% split. The pomodoro technique is 83% + 17% split.)

I saw Brent Snook give a good talk at PresentationCamp UK, on blending GTD (Getting Things Done) with Pomodoro. His insight is that with the two together there’s four parts to the task management process:

Capture & Schedule (GTD)

Execute & Improve (Pomodoro)

You can see his slides here:

http://www.slideshare.net/fuglylogic/wrangling-your-stuff