I find it works well for the kind of focused work where you have a list of small tasks and are checking them off one by one, in units of 25 minutes or less.
For creative work you're right: it breaks your flow completely and you (I) end up either snoozing it (which makes it worse than useless) or obeying it, and then having to re-enter my context which can be a real pain.
However, I do appreciate the Pomo system for a few specific things, and these are why I sometimes use it:
1. If you have bad ergonomic habits, it can help you GTFO of your chair regularly.
2. If you're too distracted or full of ideas to actually get work done it can help force you to stay on tasks. "20 minutes of deleting emails, now go!"
3. It can structure a block of work enough that you probably won't be late for dinner.
I would be interested in a minimally social version of it, sort of like going to a coworking space with a friend: some social pressure might help you be more work-focused.
But this product doesn't look like that: chatting during the break is arguably the worst thing you could do, since you are still sitting at the computer, your focus is just going to get jittery, and now you have two things (the work, and the chat) you will have to decide to break off or not.
Seconded, with one difference wrt. creative work - I sometimes use it to break through the "potential barrier". Often enough, I find myself eager to be working on something big, but unable to actually get started. Committing to even a µPomodoro (more below) does help me get through that initial hump.
I also find Pomodoros useful as a self-reward system. Pretty much the only one that worked on me to date (not perfectly, but anything else I tried didn't work at all). The idea is this: when trying to make myself focus on things I avoid, such as work during periods of stress, I commit to counting pomodoros as points to spend on hobby projects or entertainment. The exchange ratio varies with time - 2 work pomodoros for one personal pomodoro is my default, though I sometimes go 1:1. First time around, I added reward multipliers for streaks, but I ended up gaming it and then trying to tweak to be more reliable, and it turned into a time sink, so later on I just did simple 2:1 or 1:1 exchanges.
The kicker is, I don't even spend the reward in the end. When I finish what I set out to do, I tend to have a good work week or more of reward pomodoros accrued, and then I don't feel motivated to use them. However, the act of collecting points is still a reliable motivator.
All that is modulated by a simple problem: I only ever remember to do pomodoros when things get bad and I'm getting stressed about a deadline.
Regarding µPomodoros (micro-pomodoros): sometimes when the stress or activation barrier is too high, I split my pomodoros into five 5-minute sessions, with no break in between. I call those 5-minute timer periods µPomodoros. Increasing the granularity tends to help me overcome mental barriers.
For creative work you're right: it breaks your flow completely and you (I) end up either snoozing it (which makes it worse than useless) or obeying it, and then having to re-enter my context which can be a real pain.
However, I do appreciate the Pomo system for a few specific things, and these are why I sometimes use it:
1. If you have bad ergonomic habits, it can help you GTFO of your chair regularly.
2. If you're too distracted or full of ideas to actually get work done it can help force you to stay on tasks. "20 minutes of deleting emails, now go!"
3. It can structure a block of work enough that you probably won't be late for dinner.
I would be interested in a minimally social version of it, sort of like going to a coworking space with a friend: some social pressure might help you be more work-focused.
But this product doesn't look like that: chatting during the break is arguably the worst thing you could do, since you are still sitting at the computer, your focus is just going to get jittery, and now you have two things (the work, and the chat) you will have to decide to break off or not.