Brainstorming - Learning the Power of the Mind Map
So I was working on some planning for various things when I ran across this post by fellow blogger Joanna Young. It really got my attention on planning and generating ideas.
I’d heard a lot about mind-mapping and the great results that many accomplish by using the technique, but for some reason over the years, I’d never tried it out. Sure the odd brainstorming session at work, but nothing to promote my own agenda. Aha! Another tool to use for my own purposes!
So being the typical geek I am, off I went to find a simple, inexpensive (read: free) tool to do this with. I’ve found a few to try and will do a roundup of what I found - but won’t try to do a review by any means. However, the consensus from my Twitter friends is that pen & paper rules the day.
With that said, here are some mind-mapping sites & software that my Twitter query came up with:
There may be one or two I somehow missed - but that’s what I find in my Replies & DM pages.
I’d like to thank Twitter friends @inkedmn, @andytinkham, @suzemuse, @joannayoung, @amypalko, @rosasay, and @pfhyper for their suggestions and sharing their successes with me! You guys are great.
I happened to work through two mind maps in an hour or so that got a great start on direction on business plans, and some post ideas. Have you tried mind-mapping? What were your results? What tools did you find that work best?
Some related posts you may enjoy:
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Comments
Comment by Eli Sagor Hey Rick. A few months ago I started using Mindomo to plan my work and dissertation research. I used it a lot for a while, then put it down for a couple of months, and recently picked it up again. Not sure ultimately if I’ll stick with it or not.
What I like: The ease of organizing and connecting ideas, and the visual aspect. It helped me to see some connections that I had not previously considered. I haven’t used the others but I like Mindomo a lot.
What I don’t like: Although I can share my map, it really only has the one function. I can’t really export or cut and paste pieces out the way I could if I’d written an outline.
Thanks for the post. Curious to hear about others’ experiences with mind mapping.
-eli
Comment by Ron C. de Weijze When I studied, there were no mindmapping tools. So I started developing one. The main difference with the other tools is, I believe, that it supports synthesis much more than (just) analysis. And, perhaps less interesting, I have a whole philosophy around it 
Comment by Rick Mahn Joanna, your tip on mind-mapping along with a 2hr conference call with a few SOBCon08 alumni has clarified a number of things for me. Very excited for the rest of the year now!
Eli, I’m finding the software tools interesting, and nifty (as any geek would), but really only needed a simple tool to run with. As it is, I’m going to take mind-mapping offline with a few good tools (pen & paper) as I don’t want to loose momentum when the ideas are flooding out of my head. Software sometimes keeps me from that goal - though MindMeister was fairly simple to master.
Ron, I think it’d be interesting to hear some of that philosophy on the topic. What software tool are/did you develop?
Rick
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I’m glad you found it useful Rick. As I said I’ve tried various software forms thinking it would make the difference for me but actually it’s slowed me down, and got in the way of the free flow of ideas. It’s pen and paper for me every time!
Joanna