The Mind Mapping Software Weblog

Please participate in my latest mind mapping software survey

Last fall, I conducted a survey of mind mapping software users, which was the largest research of its kind ever performed in this fast-growing software genre. The results were quite significant: It showed, for example, that mind mapping software increases the productivity of its users by an average of 20 percent!

It's now time for my next research project. This time, I'm focusing on issues like sharing your maps and collaborating with others, exporting maps into other data formats and a "wish list" of future software capabilities. This survey also includes several open-ended questions, where you can share your thoughts and opinions with me and your peers.

Please take a few minutes to complete this brief, 10-question survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=323173213778

I look forward to your thoughts!

Another web-based mapping tool: Bubbl.us

Simple, web-based mind mapping tools seem to be gaining in popularity lately. Earlier this week, I told you about Thinkature. Now I've just discovered another online visual mapping application: Bubbl.us. It uses several keyboard commands (Enter and Tab) to enable you to add topics and subtopics, while the mouse can be used to drag and drop individual topics and change their relationships between each other. You can store maps within the service, and access them again via a personal login. Bubbl.us is free, and its developer hopes to suppport this new service via advertising.

Applications like Thinkature and Bubbl.us are very simple, and lack many of the features of desktop-based mind mapping software. But don't underestimate them: They are only version 1.0 of what may soon become a revolution in visual mapping and collaboration. I expect these services to improve and add functionality in the near future, and they may turn out to meet the needs of some business and personal users.

My review of NovaMind v3.2 for Windows

I have just finished writing a review of NovaMind version 3.2 for Windows on my InnovationTools website. Among the highlights:

• Discussion of the program's new Office 2007-esque "ribbon" toolbar - the first for mind mapping software program to introduce this productivity enhancement
• Lots of great new and improved features for business users
• Plus several unique capabilities that differentiate NovaMind from other programs in this software genre

I gave it five stars - read my review to find out why!

Getting the most out of MindManager on the Tablet PC

If you're using MindManager 6 on the Tablet PC platform, there are a number of things you can do to optimize this popular mind mapping application to give yourself more room to work. Chris Pringle explains how in this blog post.

New online mapping tool: Thinkature

Here's an interesting web-based collaboration tool that has some of the characteristics of mind mapping software: Thinkature. This tool features a virtual "whiteboard" where you can add topics, move them around the workspace and join them together to show relationships between ideas. Anyone you're collaborating with can create and manipulate objects in the workspace, and you can even have a live chat with your colleagues while working together on a set of ideas. Cool!

At this point in time, Thinkature is free. You can sign up for an account and begin collaborating in a matter of minutes.

New OneNote 2007/MindManager 6 integration

Mindjet Labs has created a new MindManager 6 add-in that enables users to send maps to a OneNote 2007 notebook as an image that can be sketched on and annotated, and OneNote pages can be sent to MindManager as hyperlinked topics. This add-in addresses a need that MindManager power users have been wanting for some time now - the ability to link specific OneNote pages to MindManager maps. One catch, however: This add-in only works with the latest version of Microsoft's personal information manager, OneNote 2007. It will not work with OneNote 2003.

Looks like this could represent a huge potential productivity boost for those of you who utilize both of these programs!

A map template for outcome-based planning

Nick Duffill shares a very cool way to do outcome-based planning -- to visualize our relationship with a business event, such as solving a problem, launching a product, delivering a presentation or establishing a new process. Most mind mapping software programs, he points out, tend to cluster topics on the right and left sides of the main topic, which enables you to create a map that displays the converging factors that lead to the event on the right side, and the divergent consequences of that event occuring on the left side of the main topic.

"This... gives us simple way to correlate the consequences listed on the right with the actions and decisions on the left, to ensure that we will deliver on expectations. This is hardly a new idea, but formal statement and verification of requirements is not often used in general business. All we want is a simple visual device that can easily be explained to almost anyone and conveys a real sense of the consequences of decisions and actions."

Nick's post includes several example maps to help you to visualize how this event or outcome-based planning can be done in a visual map. Very cool stuff, Nick!

New upgrade to SmartDraw 2007 features enhanced mind mapping functionality

On January 9th, SmartDraw.com announced a major update to its new SmartDraw 2007 business diagramming software. Release 8.1 now fully supports Tablet PC and Microsoft's new Vista operating system, and also features a new Mind Mapping Smart Panel (above right) that makes it easier than ever to add details and ideas to visual maps using this versatile business drawing program. SmartPanels echo the "ribbon" toolbar of Microsoft's new Office 2007 Suite.

Wanted: Your input on my next mind mapping software survey

Thanks to many of you, my first mind mapping software survey, conducted last fall, was a great success.

I'm now beginning to brainstorm questions for my next survey. And I'd like your help! Please use the comments section of this post to tell me what YOU would like to know about the business use of mind mapping software. Please note that this survey will not be focused on one specific vendor or software program. Rather, I envision it exploring issues related to how it's used in business settings, collaborating with it, integrating it with other popular business applications, and other usage-related issues. I look forward to your feedback!

To view the results of my last mind mapping software survey, please click here.

Tony Buzan video on YouTube

I just got word from Chris Griffiths, the managing director of Buzan Online, that a new video featuring Tony Buzan (the inventor of mind mapping) has just been released on YouTube.com. In this 5-minute video clip, Tony clearly explains why mind maps have curved branches, the importance of only placing one word on each branch, and the power and impact of using color and images in your maps. Great stuff!