MindMapSwitch

So a couple of weeks ago I wrote about my most common mind mapping mistake. For years I have been using lowercase keywords in my mind maps which made them hard to read later on.

Well, a couple of weeks later and after producing 10 mind maps, I think I have finally broke my bad habit of lowercase keywords. Here's how I done it.

I always carry a notebook for ideas, sketches, and other things that I don't want to forget. After trying out a couple of different sizes, I finally settled on the plain pocket journals by Moleskine. Their cheap and really portable. This was my secret weapon for breaking my bad mind mapping habits.

For my bad keyword habit, I created a sketch of a single branch with the habit I wanted to change and added a couple of branches that I thought were important to my habit and emphasized my habit.

Right, it doesn't look much but before I started each mind map, I opened my notebook at the this page and just reviewed the branch for a few seconds. Just a few seconds is all it takes. Now with the good habit still in my head, I started to create my mind maps using my new habit.

I reviewed this page before each mind map for a week. After a week I found myself turning to my notebook less and less and instead starting to mind map with uppercase keywords right away. For the last week I have been creating mind maps with uppercase keywords for all my mind maps without my notebook.

I plan on trying this technique for the year to help me with my mind mapping habits and I hope you try it too! It's not only a great way of breaking your bad mind mapping habits, but other habits too!

Happy mind mapping!

On the Systems Wiki blog, I read an interesting article regarding a new contextual analysis feature in the online mind mapping service, Comapping. What this feature does is analyze an attached document or URL and creates new branches in your mind map using keywords extracted from the document or URL.

This is an extremely helpful feature for information gathering, but I can't help wonder on the dangers of allowing technology to make these decisions for you, and especially when it comes to a thought process like mind mapping.

Everyday Decision Making

Everyday we allow technology to make decisions for us and influence our decisions. Probably the biggest decision maker today is the search engine. From millions of articles and references on the Internet it decides which results would be the best fit for the query you have entered.

This is okay for things that are clearly impossible for a single human to do, but when it comes to analysing a document or website then use these forms of automation with caution. For example, you don't always assume that the first post returned from a search engine is the best fit do you? Of course not!

Mind Mapping is Your Thought Process

You see, mind mapping is a process of getting information from one place to another. Part of this process is deciding on which information is important to you and should be included in your mind map.

As a long time mind mapper, I have taken a number of different sources of material and mind mapped the information that was important to me. Each time I did this, I made decisions that would be of benefit to me. Some of these decisions were made based on emotion or irrational thoughts. Can a machine make such decisions? Of course not.

Always Review

Tools that automate processes for us are great when we tell them exactly what to do, but when those processes employ a form of decision making in your mind maps, take some time to do a review.

If your software application employs such automation and returns 5 keywords from a business proposal, don't automatically assume those are the right keywords.

Scan the document yourself, and compare the keywords you have extracted with the keywords your mind mapping software has extracted.

You'll more often than not, create similar lists, but there might just be an important piece of information that your mind mapping software has missed.

What do you think? Is the process of information gathering for your mind map something you would rather do, or are you quite happy to delegate this process to your mind mapping software? I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

After the positive feedback from my previous mind mapping exercise, I wanted to try another mind mapping exercise with my son.

Now that he is 3 years old, he has already decided which toys, stories and games are his favourite. To let him see them all as one, I sat down with him to mind map his favourites. For this exercise I decided on the following topics:

• Colour
• Food
• Animal
• Weather
• Story
• Toy

These topics are everyday things that he knows about.

Starting at the top right, I worked round each branch asking what his favourite was and why. Before I started this exercise, I had a rough idea what each of his favourites would be, but once we completed the mind map, I realised I only got 2 of his favourites right!

   

Click here to download:

Favourites_A_Mind_Mapping_Exer.zip (260 KB)

This is a great exercise to explore what your child likes and their reasons for that favourite, but don't feel you need to stop with your children! Reverse the roles and let your child ask you about your favourites.

Once your done, compare your own mind map with your childs. Let them view the mind maps side by side and ask them if they can spot any favourites that are the same or similar.

If you're not confident in creating your own favourites mind map, you can download the first mind map from this post to use in your own exercise.

Happy mind mapping!

My apologies for the poor quality in the scanned mind maps. I thought I had my scanning process finalised, but it appears something has went wrong when I resized the images. I hope to rectify this soon.

When I'm mind mapping the most common mistake I make is writing my keywords down in lower case. I've been making this mistake for years and each time I start a mind map I end up with a quarter of the mind map with lower case keywords and the rest of the mind map in upper case.

You would think I would have overcome this by now, especially after mind mapping for over 15 years. Well I'm still making the same mistake today.

It's not a bad thing really, because although I am still making that mistake, I am also aware of it.

In the interest of developing my own style of mind mapping, I'm keen to make it a habit of using captials in my mind maps, but when you're against the clock for projects and you start a mind map to re-group yourself, your style goes out of the window.

If you mind map using software though, you're covered. Lots of mind mapping applications have preset styles that automatically captialize your keywords for you. Yes, I could switch to mind mapping using software, but I still prefer to use paper mind maps 

I think I have solution though, that I hope will change the way I mind map, but more of that later.

When you're mind mapping, what's your most common mistake?

Let us know your mind mapping mistakes in the comments below and go public. Nothing motivates you more than going public with a mistake so that you can rectify it.

It was interesting to read Chuck's post about the iPad being a game changer for mind mapping software. Exciting times are ahead for mind mapping software, but what is so exciting about the next generation of mind mapping software?

10 years ago mind mapping software was truly innovative software that could be used for a number of things, but it never felt as easy to use as pen paper.

However, fast forward 10 years and I'm still seeing limitations on mind maps that I saw 10 years ago. Too many mind mapping applications still adhere to the horizontal display of branches. It seems that while we get all these great new features, we still need to limit ourselves on the way our mind maps look.

The mind mapping software that has broken this mould however is iMindMap. Its ability to draw branches with keywords at any angle you want means you get more freedom with your mind map. This is something that any next generation of mind mapping software should offer.

But why stop there? With the iPad, software makers should be envisioning the iPad as a smart piece of paper. Don't like the mind map you're working on, shake the iPad to remove all your branches and start again. Moving branches, could be as simple as dragging those branches with your finger. There are just so many more options with device that knows when it's being moved or touched.

With a device such as the iPad, we will have a more natural device for creating mind maps. Instead of fiddling with a mouse, we can rely on simple hand gestures and the use of the iPad's accelerometer to allow us to mind map in a more natural way.

It will be interesting to see how the mind mapping software market plays out over the next couple of years and to see how innovative software makers will be, harnessing the the gesture features of devices such as the iPad.

For me, the best mind mapping software will be the one that gives complete and unrestricted control over my mind map. It's why I started mind mapping with pen and paper in the first place anyway!

A couple of weeks ago I talked about the types of mind maps that I am going to be focusing on for 2010. Since writing this I've have discovered a couple of revelations about my mind mapping.

Mind Mapping is Fun

Okay, it's might seem a silly reason to mind map, but if you're not happy doing something, then why do it?

When I first started mind mapping, it was always for fun. When mind mapping ideas, books or personal reviews, it was always fun and it was always for me. A couple of years ago I started using mind mapping to manage my software projects. What started out as a great idea quickly turned into a nightmare.

At the start of this year I made a decision. I'm going to stop using mind mapping to manage projects.

Since then I have been able to enjoy my mind mapping more, because I'm mind mapping the things I want to mind map. It's fun again!

Mind Map for Yourself First

My mind mapping is primarily for myself, but when I produce mind maps for public consumption, I start to wonder if my mind map is conveying the right information. That's when mistakes start to happen. Single keyword branches become 2 or 3 keyword branches, extra information is added, and lot's of other unnecessary information gets added to my mind map. This is not the way to do it.

In an effort to improve my writing in general I bought Stephen King's book, "On Writing". I've had heard so many good reviews about it that I decided I must give it a try. The one part of the book that really stood out for me was Stephen's comment concerning writing and drafts.

Basically the first draft you write is for yourself and the second draft is for anyone else who wishes to read your manuscript. We can apply this to mind mapping, but we don't usually prepare multiple drafts of a mind map. So how does it work for mind mapping then?

It's simple. Mind map for yourself, let others take from your mind map what they need.

Your mind map is based on your thinking, but you can't anticipate the thinking of each person that reads your mind map. If you stick to the guidelines of mind mapping then each person that reads your mind map will be able to take what they need from it.

The Reward

A rewarding mind map is one that you enjoy making. I've only just discovered that I don't enjoy mind mapping everything, but the topics that I like to mind map often result in being the most rewarding mind maps.

Review the way you use mind maps and find alternatives for those things you don't enjoy mind mapping. Instead focus on the things you enjoy mind mapping. It's much more fun and rewarding!

Happy mind mapping!

2010 has started and with it, dreams of a better year. Here's my favourite articles from January.

The mind mapping software blog kicks us off with two great articles. The first article looks at how mind mapping software saves time. Lots of good points here, but some of these can also apply to paper mind mapping as well. The second article focuses on a form of mind mapping I have struggled with since I started using mind mapping software. Starting a new project mind map is never easy, but the 10 steps to a killer project mind map article should keep you on the right track.

Every day is special, but did you realise that every day you can start a new? Paul Foreman's 24 hours mind map is a great source of tips and inspiration when you're at the start of the day.

Alberto Martinez has just produced a white paper on note taking using mind mapping. Some great advice in here for those who wish to use mind mapping for business purposes like meetings and attending talks. 

While tweeting about my weekly mind map, Niall Daly asked me on Twitter how I mind map my weekly review. Today I am going to show you!

Mind mapping your weekly review is a great way to reflect on the previous week and prepare yourself for the week ahead. The best part is it only takes a few minutes of your time.

I tend to split my weekly review mind map in half down the middle of the page:

1. The left half is where I reflect on the past week.
2. The right half is where I prepare for the week ahead.

I always start with reflecting on the previous week. It's give me an idea of areas or projects that I need to place more focus on. Before I start mind mapping my reflections, I create two branches on the left of my mind map called 'Hits' and 'Misses'.

Under the hits branch I add branches for roles in my life or projects that I am working on. Under each of these I add branches where I have performed well in. Using a single keyword to denote the area in each roles or project I have done well in, it gives me a good overview of where I have made progress.

Under the misses branch I add branches for roles and projects similar to my hits branch. Under this branch I mind map out aspects of each role or project that I have neglected.

I spend a couple of minutes reviewing my past week and start thinking about roles and projects that I want to focus on for the week ahead. Taking a couple of minutes to just reflect on your past week let's you identify roles or projects that you have neglected. Now we can start preparing for the week ahead!

On the right hand side of your mind map add a separate branch for each of the roles or projects that you are going to focus on for the week ahead. Under each role or project, mind map the next actions you need to complete in order to move that project forward. In no time, you'll have a list of next actions for the next week.

When you're mind mapping your weekly review, remember these tips:

1. Messy is good, the mind map gets thrown away in a few minutes anyway.
2. Stick to single keywords for branches. Using associations we want to generate ideas and actions for our projects and roles.

This is just my preferred way of mind mapping my weekly review. I also use a similar mind map to review activities at work. I like to keep my work and personal projects separate, but there's no reason why you can't use a single mind map for both.

I hope this helps you in your weekly reviews.

Happy mind mapping!

I've been using Google’s Gmail application for a few years now, but up until a few weeks ago I didn’t realise how much time I had been wasting. Since I had started using Gmail, I had been using the mouse to shuffle emails about. Not very productive when you consider that using the shortcut keys can be much faster than fiddling about with a mouse.

In an effort to spend less time in my inbox, I decided I would learn the shortcut keys so that I could process my emails faster.

So what was I going to use to remember all these shortcut keys? Mind mapping of course!

Mind mapping your short cuts keys is a simple process. Starting out with a list of shortcut keys, mind map each of the shortcut keys based on their context.

What’s great about this exercise is that the actions that you are mind mapping tend to be only 1 or 2 words long, so it’s really easy to organise your shortcuts into branches that mostly consist of 1 keyword. Also the actions you are mind mapping can be easily annotated with images that make your mind map stand out more.

Here's my mind map for Gmail's shortcut keys:

Tips

Trying to remember shortcut keys for your favourite applications is a marathon not a sprint. Remember these tips when you're learning your shortcut keys to make it easier:

1. Keep the mind map in view while your working. Having it nearby as a reference means you can quickly look up those shortcut keys you’re not familiar with.
2. Review the mind map each morning and identify those shortcut keys you haven’t memorized yet. Make a point of learning those for that day. Next day test yourself on the shortcuts you used the previous day and see if you remember them.
3. If your application has hundreds of shortcut keys, then try to learn only those shortcut keys that you will use on a day to day basis. I don't use the Tasks feature of Gmail so I left it out of my mind map.

I’m hoping to turn this into a habit in the next few weeks, by which point I won’t need the mind map as I will have committed everything to memory.

Being able to work smarter means learning more about the software you use on a daily basis. Each month I’m going to make a point of mind mapping a single application’s shortcut keys and start using them.

Happy mind mapping!

Last week I mentioned my mind mapping focus for 2010. These were uses of mind maps that I was going to explicitly focus on for the year. This also means however that I am not going to be using mind maps in other areas. Blasphemy? Well, no.

As a long time user of mind maps, I've used mind mapping for lots of different things. Some uses of mind maps have stuck with me and are used  just about every day. Others though I have struggled with.

Rather than struggle on with using mind maps for these purposes, I have decided to cut the cord and stop using mind maps in these areas.

These are the three key areas where I won't be using mind maps:

1. Project Management - As a web developer, I'm very picky about the software I use and how I use it. I frequently collaborate with different people through different mediums, but I have yet to find an effective mind mapping solution that let's me manage projects and information as well as collaborate with others.
2. Information Storage - Mind mapping for me is about the moment. Ideas are born, decided upon and then processed. Mind mapping just doesn't work for me as a way of holding information.
3. Planning & Scheduling - Nothing beats a calendar for scheduling and planning work. I've tried so many time to schedule appointments and such using a mind map, but I always end up going back to the 

In these cases, I felt that mind maps were not a suitable tool to use and have since started using other tools, such as calendars, wikis and project management software.

Mind mapping is a wonderful tool that can be used in so many ways, but it's only effective if it is used within the right environment. When you're in a changing environment, you need to adapt your tool set so that you can continue to work effectively.

To mind map effectively we need to identify areas where mind mapping excels as tool. Only then can you reap the benefits of mind mapping!