I've slipped on my usage of MindManager in recent weeks and it's been bothering me. I really need to get back into it and update my maps. I need to start a MindManager 12 Step program. "Hi I'm Cameron and I haven't mindmapped for three weeks. I am so ashamed."
I think many people slip from using MindMaps, and MindManager, and many people pretend they are using them!!
MindMaps
are difficult to consistently use, because it helps if you can write
and draw, and there's always a fear you'll create the wrong branch or
name.
MindManager solved all of this by giving you a software version that does it for you.
You can correct mistakes, and you don't have to draw graphics, it's all there for you.
The trouble is you're not actually drawing the MindMap, you're
"entering" the MindMap, so it's not quite as right-brain as a
handwritten MindMap.
Again, this is partly solved by having the Tablet version of MindManager, in which you're almost drawing the MindMap.
So here's the rub. How many of us are using our Tablets as tablets all the time.
My Acer C300 is quite big, so I use it as a laptop for 98% of the time, and occaisionaly as a Tablet.
At
the beginning of the year I was determined to take my Tablet to all
meetings and take notes in MindManager with my pen. But it fell
by the way. Maybe my Easter resolution is to go back to work
tomorrow and start using the Tablet with MindManager for note taking.
My other suggestion is to use MindManager for something nothing else can replace.
The
best use I've found for this, is to use MindManager in Presentation
Mode to create a presentation, instead of using PowerPoint.
It's worked really well for me, having recently presented presentation skills to 3 groups of 80+ people.
I kept it different by not using PowerPoint, and handing out a single A4 page of the MindMap on Presentation Skills.
I do use MindManager all the time, but I'm finding myself looking at
these massive creations with a glazed look. I can't take it all
in. Sometimes I can't even take a Topic with 20 sub-topic actions
falling off it. I think I'm going to have to change how I use
MindManager.
It's great for capture but somehow not as good for recall.
It's great as a personal tool, but not so good so show to other who didn't take part in the creative process.
It's great as a brainstorming tool to capture with a projector what people are saying, but not so good as a handout.
It's great with a few well illustrated Topics/Branches, and few sub topics/branches, but difficult with 100+ items.
I've just written to Hobie Swan of MindJet, with some suggestions.
It's good news that he has a weblog, as does the founder of MindManager, Mike Jetter.
The software is fantastic in terms of the sheer number of things it can
do, from simple MindMap creations to building websites, to
synchronising with Outlook, and exporting to Word, PowerPoint, and MS
Project.
A few suggestions, if they don't already exist:
1. Be able to slide topics behind each other so you can fit more on the map when you print.
2. Something has to be done about creating a many-to-many relationship,
starting with being able to reverse a floating topic so that it faces
another topic and there's then space to start a many to many
relationship with graphics and arrows.
3. Let the topics Zag as well as Zig, a fundamental part of MindMapping
is to be able to Zag back in another direction, MindManager doesn't do
this.
4. Be able to zoom topics/branches in isolation.
That's enough MindMapping and MindManager for today.