I like the idea, but I find it really difficult to actually stop when I'm "in the zone". I tend to recognise when I am and treasure those moments of hyper-produ

I like the idea, but I find it really difficult to actually stop when I'm "in the zone". I tend to recognise when I am and treasure those moments of hyper-productivity to get lots done. I use the technique in the article and have for a while. I find that the relatively easy task of fixing a compile error will gently lead me back into coding. I expect it's a personal thing, though. As an aside, I like to leave a bunch of TODOs lying around in code for things like documentation, so I can come back and do that boring stuff when I'm feeling brain dead. I never use TODO for something important that needs to be done because chances are it won't! (I don't know why, I think it's just something about the nature of TODO).