The Mind Mapping Software Weblog

Bringing the STAR format to MindManager

Many companies today incorporate behavioral questions into job interviews, to get a sense of your problem solving abilities. One way to prepare for these tough questions is to do what's called "STAR" planning. STAR stands for:

• Situation: give an example of a situation you were involved in that resulted in a positive outcome
• Task: describe the tasks involved in that situation
• Action: talk about the various actions involved in the situation’s task
• Results: what results directly followed because of your actions

According to the MIT Careers Center, you can use STAR to prepare stories that you can tell during your interview. Jason from the Dorkotech blog is a big fan of MindManager, and will soon be graduating from college. To help him to prepare for behavioral interviewing questions, he has created a simple MindManager map part that enables you to add STAR to a map, and begin fleshing out your "stories" in a visual format.

Visual Mind 9 now available for purchase, download

Visual Mind 9, which I told you about in February, has apparently emerged from beta testing and is now available as a shipping product. The home page of the Mind Technologies website now offers a 30-day trial download of version 9, and all of the site's marketing copy refers to this as the current version.

For a description of the most notable new features of Visual Mind 9, please see my previous post about this product. Hint: Be sure to check out the new Visual Mind Server, which now enables real-time collaboration on mind maps.

XMIND: A new mind mapping program from China

Mango Software, a developer in China, recently released XMIND, a Java-based mind mapping software program for Windows and Mac OS X. I recently downloaded and installed it, and I must say it appears to be quite solid for a new program. The interface is nicely laid out, incorporating a lot of functionality into tabbed dialog boxes along the right and bottom sides of the workspace. An outline view is integrated into the vertical panel on the right side of the workspace - a nice touch!

XMIND supports floating topics, notes, topic symbols and a variety of map shapes - including right and left trees and four types of organizational charts. You can also create "associated" maps - submaps connected to the main one. You can also filter the contents of your map, based on the symbols you've attached to its topics. You can't filter your map based on keywords, however. For a complete list of XMIND's features, please click here.

Curiously lacking is support for using the insert key to add new subtopics - functionality that has become a de facto standard for many mind mapping applications. Also, XMIND doesn't seem to support file or hypertext links, a capability that its developers need to add if they want business users to take it seriously.

XMIND looks like a good, basic mind mapping tool, which I'm sure will steadily improve with time. You can download a 21-day trial version from the Mango Software website; a full license costs US$99.

Coming soon: A Japanese version of Pocket Mindmap

JKRB Software, the developer of Pocket Mindmap for the Windows Mobile PC platform, recently announced on its website that it will soon be releasing a Japanese version of the program. It will enable users to work with mind maps that incorporate the Japanese character set. Cool!

If you're not familiar with Pocket Mindmap, please click here to view a list of its many features.

CS Odessa launches ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5

Earlier this week, CS Odessa launched ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5, the newest version of its mind mapping software. Version 5 has an improved new look and feel, and increased integration with MS Office and MS Project management software. To read the official news release, please click here. To read my analysis of the program's new and improved features, which I posted to this blog last week, please click here.

Managing meetings using mind mapping software

If you have an effective process for preparing for a major business meeting, the meeting itself is more likely to be successful. Preparing for a successful meeting is a special type of project: It requires you to set objectives, to solicit the participation of co-workers, partners and people outside of your organization, to manage a myriad of room and facility details, and much more. Mind mapping software, with its powerful ability to gather and organize numerous bits and pieces of information, can help.

Here’s how to utilize mind mapping software to plan your next meeting:

• Define your objectives: What is the purpose of this meeting? What do you hope to accomplish? What will a successful outcome look like? Place each objective on a separate branch in the “objectives” section of your map.
• Determine who should attend the meeting: Who needs to be there? Who has the information or input you need for the project? Which decision-makers should be involved in this meeting, if any? Which of your subordinates will be working on this project, who need to be part of this meeting? Are there any outside partners, consultants or other people outside your organization who should be involved? Record each person’s name and pertinent contact information on a separate branch in the “attendee” section of your map.
• Define agenda items: Let the objectives you have defined help to drive the agenda for your meeting. List the topics to be discussed, and who will lead the discussion of each time segment. Place each agenda item on a separate branch in the “agenda” section of your map.
• Determine your facility needs: Next, create a new branch within your map to explore your needs for the meeting room. Will any participants be making PowerPoint presentations (or use MindManager for group brainstorming)? You can use your map to define audiovisual needs (such as an LCD projector and screen), support for teleconferencing, lunch arrangements and much more.

Why not use mind mapping software to structure and organize your next business meeting? I'm sure you'll find that it's a great tool for streamlining your workflow and keeping a myriad of details well organized!

Excerpted from my popular e-book, Power Tips and Strategies for Mind Mapping Software.

Wanted: Your mind mapping software success stories

According to the surveys of users of mind mapping software that I have conducted, one of the biggest needs that many of you have is to see examples of successful software-produced mind maps, and to understand what makes them work. In other words, many of you are looking for case histories that illustrate some of the best practices of visual mapping.

As part of my research for an expanded and updated second edition of my popular Power Tips & Strategies for Mind Mapping Software e-book, I have decided to address this need by collecting mind mapping case histories from you, the readers of this blog. If you have used mind mapping software to create a visual map that meets your needs exceptionally well (it has saved you time, helped you solve problems or handle "information overload" very effectively, for example), I'd like to hear from you. I'd like you to submit a case history and send me a screen shot of your favorite productivity-increasing map.

To make this easy, I have created a Word document where you can submit your information to me in a structured format. To download this form, please right click on this link, and save it to your computer. The document contains instructions and guidelines to help you gather your thoughts and write your case history.

What's in it for you? If I use your case history in my e-book, you will receive a free copy of it when it is published (hopefully a few months from now!). In addition, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you're contributing to a growing body of knowledge of the best practices of software-produced visual maps.

I look forward to hearing from you!

theRealizer adds an expansion pack

In November, I told you about theRealizer, a MindManager add-in that transforms this leading mind mapping software program into a powerful brainstorming and problem solving application. Recently, the developer (Realize AB) announced that it has added an expansion pack to theRealizer. It includes:

• An expanded selection of pre-defined challenges (general, product development, marketing, sales, organizational and individual challenges)
• New "impulse" cards that include images and random words (in addition to idea-provoking questions) as idea stimuli
• The option to designate specific impulse cards as favorites
• Support for Swedish and German languages
• The ability to assign "weights" to each idea evaluation criterion

This expansion pack makes an already valuable MindManager plug-in even more compelling. The expansion pack can be purchased by itself for 50 € (approximately US$67); a single license of theRealizer (which includes the expansion pack at no extra cost until May 15, 2007) is 99 € (approximately US$132).

A preview of ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5

The developers at CS Odessa were kind enough to give me a preview of the newest version of their mind mapping software program to play with. ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5 for Windows will be officially launched on April 10th, with the Mac OS X version to follow in early May. According to Alexander Tyagulsky, the marketing director for ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5, the developer's primary goal for this new version of the program was to improve its look and feel, and the overall user experience.

One of the biggest changes in version 5 is the overall look and feel of the user interface. Toolbar buttons are more colorful than in previous versions of ConceptDraw MINDMAP. This may not seem like that much of an update, but when you're trying to decipher the meaning of small buttons, a dash of color can definitely increase their usability. Under the hood, the program has been completely rewritten to improve its performance.

ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5 also features a much-improved brainstorming mode. Version 4's brainstorming mode was heavily based on the program's outline view, which was somewhat limiting. In this new version, new ideas are entered as free-floating topics. When you click the "finish brainstorming" button, you are returned to the program's map view, where you can then drag and drop your ideas to connect them to appropriate parent topics. This grouping process is much like a brainstorming team writing their ideas on Post-It notes, and then grouping them into logical collections of ideas. In other words, the program now acts more like an actual brainstorming session.

Also new in version 5: you can simultaneously view and make edits in a side-by-side map/outline view. Changes in one view are immediately reflected in the other one (see image, above right).

In addition, CS Odessa has done away with the simple, clipart-like image library from version 4, and has replaced it with higher quality bitmapped images, which should lend a more professional appearance to maps that incorporate them.

ConceptDraw MINDMAP continues to draw upon the strength of the ConceptDraw family of graphic design programs, which means you can add freeform drawings to your maps - one area where this mind mapping program is unique among its peers.

While not a revolutionary update of this popular program, version 5 does offer some solid improvements to ConceptDraw MINDMAP. Watch the developer's website for more details next week, when version 5 is officially launched.