The Mind Mapping Software Weblog

Is Mindjet expanding into web-based tools?

Mindjet announced today that it has hired two new vice presidents - a VP of marketing and a VP of products. In the company's  news release, it states that it has made these hires to "prepare for web expansion."

Neil Mendelson, the new VP of products, comes to Mindjet from Business Objects, where he led development of its first software-as-a-service offerings - in other words, Web 2.0 stuff! Although the news release doesn't explicitly state anything more about Mindjet's strategy, other than the cryptic headline, it would appear that the company plans to launch a new web-based visual mapping tool. Very interesting!

I am scheduled to have a conference call with Mindjet CEO Scott Raskin in mid-June, which should result in more details about the company's plans. Stay tuned to this blog for more details as they develop.

Beyond hierarchies: A better paradigm for mind mapping – Part 2

A few weeks ago, I pointed to a post by Shelly Hadyuk from TheBrain Technologies, in which she made the case that traditional hierarchical mind maps may not be the best way to present complex information and knowledge. This post generated more comments than any other in the history of this blog (22 to date). Most readers agreed with Shelly’s assessment, and were excited at the prospect of being able to represent more complex relationships in their visual maps. Here is a sampling of reader comments:

This reader addresses the limits of hierarchical mapping: "I find the radial tree structure of mind mapping very limiting. It works OK for representing a restricted set of knowledge, but if you need to dissect a large problem it fails, as you cannot rotate the problem around (you are always in the pathway of a set hierarchy). That means you’re limited in your problem solving or analytical approach by the way you structure your tree."

One reader compares the branches of mind maps to tables in relational databases, where multiple tables of data can be linked in multiple, complex relationships: "I believe we should take the next step and (be able to) link any record to any other record in whichever table (map topic). Then the notes in mind maps can be truly object-oriented and the mind maps (can show) multiple perspectives."

This reader envisions a visual mapping tool where selecting one topic causes related topics to re-cluster themselves into a new constellation, which will reveal new insights and connections: "If this is the beginning of a trend in mind mapping software, it's good news! I imagine ‘picking up’ a semantic network by the mode I'm interested in, ‘shaking it out’ so the links cascade down, studying it, then selecting a new node and repeating the above process."

A PersonalBrain power user tells us how he employs the program: "As an avid user of both MindManager and PersonalBrain, I believe that both have their place. However, I think that in order to deal effectively with the glut of information we receive daily, we need to organize beyond simple hierarchical systems, and work in conjunction with our brains…  I currently have nearly 14,000 thoughts in my brain (his PersonalBrain file, not his “wetware” brain), and am able to see connections beyond the normal hierarchical view. I use PersonalBrain as my main interface, storage system, information management tool, creativity laboratory, presentation system, etc.  Everything else links to it and through it, including MindManager, Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.."

PersonalBrain is a great tool, but the interface still needs work, according to this reader (I agree - CF): “My biggest struggle with MindManager is that each topic can only be a child of one other topic. Relationships are visually cumbersome at best. If PersonalBrain (TheBrain’s single user mapping software) gets more polished (the user interface feels pretty cludgy right now), I would be hard pressed not to switch over. The ability to navigate nodes and see the relationships to other concepts is extremely powerful."

If you want to read all of the comments or share your opinion on this topic, please add your comment here.

Review: ConceptDraw MINDMAP Pro 5 offers a well-designed toolset to business users

I recently posted a review of ConceptDraw MINDMAP Pro 5 to my InnovationTools website.  Read on to learn all about the new features and functionality of this new version, and why I consider it to be an excellent tool for business users, especially in the areas of project management, brainstorming and adept handling of mind maps and linked sub-maps.

New Visual Mind 10 features ribbon toolbar, SDK

Mind Technologies just announced to its resellers that it will launch a new version 10 of Visual Mind on May 30, 2008. Enhancements include:

• A ribbon toolbar, which will expose more of the program's tools to users.
• The image library is now categorized by type, and you can create an image "favorites" group for quick access to frequently-used images.
• Keyword search of the image library
• The ability to drag and drop external images into a Visual Mind map
• A new auto-capitalize feature, which automatically capitalizes the first letter of the first word of each topic in your map.
• A problem with producing PDFs from Visual Mind maps on the Microsoft Vista operating system has been solved.
• A Software Development Kit (SDK), which will enable third party developers to integrate their applications into the new Visual Mind ribbon toolbar.

I have downloaded the beta version of Visual Mind 10, and will be playing around with it in the coming weeks. I will let you know what I think.

A call for visual literacy (and an end to death by PowerPoint)

In the transition from the industrial age to the information age, we are now faced with a growing volume of visual, non-linear information. But as a society, we are largely visually illiterate. Dave Gray, writing in his CommunicationNation blog, recently touched on this apparent paradox.

In this post, Dave is writing about PowerPoint, a visually-oriented business tool that is almost ubiquitous, but is poorly utilized. The problem, he explains, isn't due to Microsoft. It's primarily because we live in a visually illiterate society. In this context, he defines literacy as the ability to not only view and interpret visual media, but also to be able to effectively create it - in much the same way that traditional literacy implies the ability to read AND write. Visual illiteracy leads to the much-dreaded "death by PowerPoint" syndrome, caused by the inability of many people to effectively use this software.

One major problem, Dave theorizes, is that our school systems aren't doing enough to prepare today's students for tomorrow's visual-centric world:

"Our world is changing fast – faster than we can keep up with our historical modes of thinking and communicating. Visual literacy – the ability to both read and write visual information; the ability to learn visually; to think and solve problems in the visual domain – will, as the information revolution evolves, become a requirement for success in business and in life.

"We’re leaving an industrial age and entering an information age, yet we continue to teach, and operate our schools, as if they were factories. In an information age, visually literate societies will succeed and thrive. Shouldn’t we be one of them?"

What does this have to do with mind mapping software? It probably has much to do with the fact that it isn't more widely accepted as a genre of productivity software. Yes, its influence is steadily growing, but some managers don't like it because they prefer to consume information and data in linear form. So what happens is that many companies have small "islands" of users of mind mapping software, which prevents larger numbers of workers from benefitting from the collaboration and communication benefits it has to offer.

New NovaMind 4 enhancements will give the program a more "polished" look

Gideon King has announced that NovaMind 4 will soon be updated with several improvements that will enable users to enhance the look of their mind maps:

• The ability to fit branch images automatically into the branch (scaling them to fit)
• The ability to fill the branch with the image (cropping as necessary)
• The ability to stretch the image to fit the branch by scaling the width and height independently to fit.
• Reflections on the images - cool!
• 4 styles of "glassy" button styles for branches and connection lines (rectangular, chamfered, rounded and oval)

To understand how these options will affect the look of your maps, please click on the image above. Clearly, these visual enhancements echo the semi-transparent, glassy user interface features of the Windows Vista and Mac OS X Leopard operating systems. These features are in beta testing and should be released soon. Watch the NovaMind site for more details.

NovaMind Development also recently announced a new ScreenWriter enhancement for NovaMind for Mac.

New visual mapping conference features all-star cast of speakers, topics

Visual mapping is growing in importance, so it's not surprising that it finally has its own conference. Fellow blogger Dr. Brian Friedlander has launched the IQ Visual Mapping Conference, which will be held October 3-4, 2008 at the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, NJ, USA (in close proximity to the New York City and Newark airports). Its main focus will be on helping attendees to transform their organizations and streamline their personal information management using visual mapping strategies. There will also be ample opportunities for networking and knowledge sharing.

Topics that will be covered during this important event include:

• Project Mapping: Visual Thinking in Project Management
• Utilizing Visual Mapping for Personal and Professional Motivation and Goal Setting
• Increasing Personal and Business Productivity through Visual Mapping Strategies
• Visual Mapping as a Systematic Framework for Business Improvement
• Visual Mapping Software- Tools of the Trade
• Using Visual Mapping Tools for Marketing Your Business
• Using Visual Mapping Tools in Academia

Brian will host the conference; the speakers include a veritable "Who's Who" of key folks in the world of mind mapping, including Adam Clayman, Stephanie Diamond, Arjen Ter Hoeve, Kyle McFarlin, Wallace Tait and me! If you've read this blog for any amount of time, many of these names should sound familiar. They're some of the "best and the brightest" people in this area of expertise!

As one of the speakers, I've had first-hand access to the planning for this conference, and I think it's shaping up to be a great conference. One of the biggest challenges that mind mapping software faces is that not enough executives know about it. This conference should help to address that.

For more details about this important conference, please click here. To register, please click here.

Mindjet acquires JCVGantt, strengthens its offering to project managers

Mindjet, the developer of the popular MindManager mind mapping software, announced today that it has acquired JCVGantt Pro 3 from Gantt Solution. This MindManager add-in makes it very easy for project managers to transform the tasks in their maps into Gantt bar charts - a key tool for project planners. JCVGantt Pro 3 will now be available through Mindjet and its distribution network for US$129.

In recent years, several competing mind mapping programs have added the capability of Gantt charts to their core functionality. This move doesn't get Mindjet to quite the same place, because you still need to purchase JCVGantt and install it separately, but clearly the developer feels the need to offer more of a strong, integrated solution to project managers, one of the biggest groups of users of mind mapping software.

This is the first time Mindjet has acquired one of universe of add-in suppliers, but I suspect it won't be the last. My gut feeling is that the developer plans to make several other acquisitions that will further improve its value proposition to prospective buyers.

How to use mind mapping software to recession-proof your career

About a month ago, I asked the community of bloggers who cover mind mapping software to give me their perspectives on how this type of productivity tool can help you to recession-proof your career. My thought was that mind mapping software has the potential to help you to add more value to your employer – and therefore make you less likely to be laid off when their employer downsizes staff to weather a recession.

I didn’t get many responses, and so I just put this idea on the back burner. Apparently Vic Gee from the Mind Mapping Blog felt as strongly about this subject as I did, because he contacted me several times, asking if I ever did anything with his submission. So he went ahead and published it on his website, which you can read here or in the compilation of tips below.

Vic’s persistence has caused me to rethink my original decision. So here are my thoughts on utilizing mind mapping software to recession-proof one’s career:

Who gets laid off in a recession? To answer this question, let’s consider a ship as a metaphor for this scenario. On an ocean-faring vessel, what gets thrown overboard when seas get rough? Everything that's non-essential to the survival of the ship. So it is with corporations today. Recessions are a prime time for companies to trim "dead wood" - people whose skills are no longer current - because they can do so with relative impunity. One of the big areas where you can improve your skills is in creative problem solving. And a key tool for doing that is mind mapping.

Be an opportunity finder. A downturn is a prime time to identify new opportunities – cost-saving opportunities, new product line extensions, business processes that can be simplified and creative new business models - where others only see liabilities. Mind maps can help you to conduct this research, explore gray areas and "white space" opportunities. In particular, I recommend that you spend time using your software to brainstorm creative ways to generate revenues or cut costs – two areas that top management always appreciate help with in a recession.

Polish your reputation as a can-do problem solver. Understand your organization's short- and long-term strategic goals, and position yourself to meet those goals and provide creative solutions. As one executive once remarked (I don’t recall the source): "Be amazing, be remarkable, be brilliant, be the very best at what you do."

Alberto Martinez, Mind Mapping Everywhere Blog

By increasing my productivity, then I will be a recession-proof worker. If we define productivity as results divided by investment, then visual mapping techniques do help to reduce the amount of time needed to get results in many different ways.

One key question is how do visual mapping skills contribute to my productivity? Here are some of the ways that visual mapping helps me:

Gathering information data, and connecting them to provide new, different and fresher ideas. Because mind mapping software provides new methods to connect information, thoughts, notes and so on, it can help you to discover new paths to get the best solutions to your goals in a time-saving way. Many times, getting the best solution comes down to having the best information and the best tools to extract meaning from it.

Visual mapping techniques also provide extraordinary tools to improve your organization (defining tasks, deadlines and priorities). They provide this information in a ‘brain-friendly’ representation, so you get your whole brain working together to help you to solve problems and generate ideas. This can help you on your path to productivity.

Finally, visual mapping tools help to stimulate pre-analysis of information with  a clear strategic vision. For applications like strategic planning and business process mapping, mind mapping software can help you to determine a faster path to reach your goals, as well as help you to uncover ways to reduce your risks and maximize your profits.

Vic Gee, The Mind Mapping Blog

Surviving in a shrinking economy and nervous times is most often about being better than the next guy or gal. But it's not enough just to be better, if you are a cog in the machine, or even a bigger wheel, you need the higher levels to know that you're better. The fastest and most memorable way to get that message across is visually.

My advice to the real survivors is:

• Don't just know what you know, show what you know.
• Don't just know what you're planning, show what you're planning.
• Don't just know what you're doing, show what you're doing.

A well-organized mind map or series of maps can show all that quickly, and doesn't depend on the boss sitting down to read a report. As a consultant I've consistently found that the higher the level of a decision-maker is, the more often they want a diagram or some other visual encapsulation of a complex problem. They rarely want detail.

Once you have hooked senior management's interest visually, using mind mapping software to go to the next stage shows that it's not just a party trick. Showing that a mind map that kicked off a presentation is linked directly to data that tracks, for example, progress or costs can be truly impressive. One of the "dashboard" add-ins for popular mind mapping software can help you pull that one off and keep it up to date automatically.

Or a project's main mind map, or series of maps, can be linked directly to files of information. Direct, clickable links on the maps allow project team members to find information they need quickly, just where they'd expect it to be, because they've worked with the same mind maps as they were developed.

Finally, out of the many possibilities, here's another chance for you to shine. If you work in an environment where there are too many meetings, mind maps can keep a meeting focused, record next actions and decisions made as you go alone, as well as making the meetings more effective, and shorter, as a result.

You'll be remembered and appreciated for that!

The online mind map smackdown

During the last year and a half, a number of web-based tools for mind mapping have evolved quickly into competent business applications. Several of them are now approaching the functionality of desktop mind mapping software.

I've been planning to create a comparison chart that details how the offerings of each of the major developers of web-based mind mapping software tools compare, but just couldn't seem to get around to it - until recently. During a recent web search, I came across a chart produced by blogger Tiffany Brown that compared MindMeister, Mindomo, Mind42 and Comapping, and provided brief reviews of each of the programs. It was dated July 2007 - almost a year old, an eternity in Web 2.0 terms - and so I contacted Tiffany to see if I could use her chart as a jumping off point to an up-to-date comparison. She said yes!

I first made a detailed set of features and performance criteria, drawn from a similar chart that I offer for desktop-based mind mapping software, and added in other capabilities that are unique to these web-based tools. I then sent the form to each developer, asking them to fill in the required data. Finally, I compiled their answers into a detailed side-by-side comparison chart, which is now available for you to download.

This detailed chart covers criteria such as:

• Overview (versions, pricing)
• Map formats supported
• Map level features
• Topic-level features
• Import options
• Export options
• Publishing options
• Collaboration
• Other features

This is the most comprehensive comparison of web-based mapping tools ever created. And it's yours by clicking here.

By the way, if you're interested in reading Tiffany's original report, my comparison chart contains a link to her blog post at the bottom of the last page.