Most would agree that software tools such as Microsoft Outlook, Excel and Word have all helped us become more organized. We can make lists, communicate ideas, calculate figures and portray concepts with all kinds of representation.
But there’s software that does more than just help you with the organizational and communication aspects of your business. What about creativity, the lifeblood of new ideas and concepts?
Enter mind mapping, a much more sophisticated elder of brainstorming. Courtesy of Wikipedia’s thorough definition, a mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, and decision making.
Mind maps are tools that help us think and remember better, creatively solve problems and take action. Ultimately, mind maps work because they help you avoid thinking linearly. Not all ideas organize themselves tidily into an outline format, and linear thinking is limiting. In this way, mind maps open you up to creativity and new ways of thinking. They’re more realistic, because most things aren’t orderly to begin with. Most important, they naturally hook into your right brain, which is where your creativity and intuition really do their thing.
Mind Mapping Tools
Thankfully, software exists that helps make the usefulness of mind mapping come to life. Tools like this allow you to let your brain go wherever it may and then easily organize thoughts after the fact by simply dragging & dropping them into logical groupings.
Mind mapping software has become something of an industry in itself in recent years.
The market leader among commercial applications is MindManager, with 72.6% of users according to the recent survey by Innovation Tools. The next is an open source application, FreeMind, with 10.4%.
So, what does a mind mapping application allow you to do?
Never fear. From project management to productivity enhancements, you can quickly put mind mapping to work for you. Here are some suggested applications:
- Good old brainstorming: Many times the hardest part about creating is collecting all of your ideas. A mindmap lets you just dump them all into the application in a very free form way. Then, after you’ve exhausted your ideas, you can step back and easily organize them in logical groups.
- Idea file: A mind map is an ideal place to store ideas related to your product, service or ongoing projects. Better yet, you can maintain a separate mind map as your master idea file.
- Project management: You can use a mind map to list objectives of a project, and keep them close at hand throughout the project to help you stay focused on its outcome.
- Information needs: You can use a mind map to create lists of the information you need, research you need to do, resources you need to explore, people you need to contact for specific information or expertise, and other information needs.
- Links to resources: You can easily use your favorite mindmapping program to create links to web sites, documents, reports and other resources to which your team members need fast, easy access. Instead of wasting time searching through my file directories, looking for a key document or spreadsheet, you can create a link to it within your project map.
- Define team roles and responsibilities: You can create a branch of your map that concisely summarizes each team member’s roles and responsibilities.
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