Mind Mapping

A technique I was exposed to when being trained in using a TimeText for organizing thinking and turning a project or concept into concrete, discrete and actionable ideas/steps. It turns out that it is an effective tool to use in ideating individually or in a group. The central idea or challenge or PO (as Edward deBono labeled it) goes in the centre - and key thoughts, support, subheads, ancilliary ideas... radiate outward and are captured to be built upon, broken down, turned around and rebuilt.

I was recently investigating software to help processing challenged individuals capture and organize information and came across a number of software tools that facilitate mindmapping. I really enjoyed "INSPIRATION" - an easy-to-use tool that turns the mindmap you build on the fly into a printed list for the linear thinker...


here is some content on mindmapping from http://members.optusnet.com.au/charles57/Creative/Mindmap/index.html
Mind Maps™, developed by Tony Buzan are an effective method of note-taking and useful for the generation of ideas by associations. To make a mind map, one starts in the center of the page with the main idea, and works outward in all directions, producing a growing and organized structure composed of key words and key images. Key features are:
Organization
Key Words
Association
Clustering
Visual Memory - Print the key words, use color, symbols, icons, 3D-effects,arrows and outlining groups of words
Outstandingness - every Mind Map needs a unique center
Conscious involvement
Mind Maps are beginning to take on the same structure as memory itself. Once a Mind Map is drawn, it seldom needs to be referred to again. Mind Maps help organize information.
Because of the large amount of association involved, they can be very creative, tending to generate new ideas and associations that have not been thought of before. Every item in a map is in effect, a center of another map.
The creative potential of a mind map is useful in brainstorming sessions. You only need to start with the basic problem as the center, and generate associations and ideas from it in order to arrive at a large number of different possible approaches. By presenting your thoughts and perceptions in a spatial manner and by using color and pictures, a better overview is gained and new connections can be made visible.
Mind maps are a way of representing associated thoughts with symbols rather than with extraneous words something like organic chemistry. The mind forms associations almost instantaneously, and "mapping" allows you to write your ideas quicker than expressing them using only words or phrases.