If you have purchased an iPad and are using one or more mind mapping apps, please share your experiences and impressions in the comments section of this blog post. Please tell us:

• What mind mapping app are you using on your iPad?
• What applications are you using this mind mapping app for?
• How would you rate the overall experience of creating visual maps on the iPad? Is it everything you hoped for? Or something less, after all the excitement has worn off?
• What does this combination  make possible for you?

As always, I look forward to your keen insights!

Whenever you’re brainstorming ideas and recording them in a mind map, there always comes a time when you hit the wall: Your brain, which was providing you with a deep wellspring of ideas and associations, suddenly goes dry. There is no more. What do you do then?

For most people, this is a sign that you have exhausted the easy ideas, which were residing close to the surface of your conscious mind. To dig deeper, to access the more creative ideas that lie at the boundaries of your conscious and subconscious mind, you need a catalyst to help draw them forth. One of the most reliable ways to do that is to utilize what poet Rudyard Kipling called his “six serving men” – open-ended questions based on these six words:

• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Why?
• Where?
• How?

Here is the full quote, from Kipling’s story “The Elephant’s Child”

I keep six honest serving-men:
(They taught me all I knew)
Their names are What and Where and When
And How and Why and Who.

In college, when I was studying journalism, these simple but powerful tools were called “5Ws and H,” and they were viewed as one of the keys that reporters can use to solicit all of the important information needed for a news story. Because they are open-ended questions, they aren’t easily answered with a “yes” or “no.” They invite more thinking and analysis. The Mycoted website, which contains an exhaustive list of creativity techniques, suggests the following 3 practical business uses for 5W and H:

• To generate data-gathering questions, during the early stages of problem solving when you are gathering data, the checklist can be useful either as an informal or systematic way of generating lists of question that you can try to find answers for.
• To generate idea-provoking questions, Whilst brainstorming, brainwriting or some other such similar technique, the checklist could be used as a source of thought provoking questions to help build on existing ideas.
• To generate criteria, the checklist could help in generating criteria for evaluating options.

Using 5Ws and H with mind mapping

5Ws and H are also quite useful to help you to ensure that your mind map contains all of the important details that it should. Whether you actually place these words on a branch, as I’ve done in the mind map above left, or simply use them as a mental trigger to help jump-start your creative mind, the “5 serving men” can help you to produce more thorough mind maps and better results. The key is to capture what you learn by asking these questions in your mind map.

The question “why?” can be quite fruitful. If you ask “why?” repeatedly, you will often discover new insights and ideas, says creativity expert Gerald Haman. For example, consider this series of “why” questions, and how they help us to uncover the root cause of a business problem. You can keep asking the same question, drilling down deeper into the nature of a problem or challenge. In effect, they help us to deconstruct it. The hierarchical nature of a mind map makes it easy for us to capture these successive layers of information, knowledge and ideas, so we can visually see the sequence of causes and effects.

The lesson is simple: The next time you get stuck when you’re developing a mind map, call forth your “six serving men” to help you to flesh out its details!

You can download the August 2010 mind mapping coaching call here (MP3, 20.5 MB, 22 minutes)

Topics covered include:

• Is there an iPhone mind mapping app that is colorful and imaginative that makes it easy to export my maps to a desktop mind mapping program?
• Is there a program that enables me to move structured data from an Excel spreadsheet into an affinity diagram?
• Is it possible to analyze your company’s competition using a mind map?
• Is there a free mind mapping program that exports to PowerPoint?
• How can I share mind maps produced in MindManager with coworkers who don’t have the program, but still preserve the maps’ interactivity?
• Is there a mind mapping program that would enable me to record audio (from a conference or meeting) and index the audio to creation of map topics and subtopics – so I can click on a topic and play back the segment of the audio from that part of the meeting?
• How can I keep track of a large number of mind maps for the projects for which I’m responsible?
• Is there a mind mapping program that enables me to not only display images in map topics, but also enables me to edit them?

Here are the links to the software programs I mentioned in this audio presentation:

• Sticky Sorter affinity diagramming application from Microsoft Labs
• ResultsManager 2 from Gyronix

Please be sure to send me your questions for the September mind mapping coaching call. You can use the contact form on this blog to submit them.

Please keep in mind that my plan is to make the first few coaching calls public, so you can get a sense of their format and value. After that, the contents of future coaching calls will only be available to Mind Mapping Insider members.

In writing this 3rd edition, I looked at the existing content with a critical eye, updating those tips that needed it, eliminating topics that aren’t as relevant today and – most importantly – populated it with a wealth of new, practical and actionable information that is designed with today’s programs, applications and resources in mind.

To learn more, please visit the Power Tips website.

For those of you who have already invested in the first or second edition, you will receive a link to download version 3 in the next week or so – free of charge. My goal is to provide you with an up-to-date collection of best practices for mind mapping software, not to extract more money from you. I prefer to be generous, because I’m firmly committed to helping expand the awareness and use of mind mapping software as today’s most valuable business tool.

A number of readers also participated in a pre-launch sale of Power Tips & Strategies for Mind Mapping Software 3rd Edition. During the next week, I will send out an e-mail with the download links to this new edition and its bonus reports. In appreciation for investing in this new e-book ahead of time, I’m even giving this group access to an addition special report. If you’re one of those early birds, please watch your e-mail in the next week for more details.

Thanks for your patience! I had hoped to publish this e-book several months ago, but real life intervened (trying to live a balanced life between my full-time work, my avocation – this blog and InnovationTools.com – and my family).

Sibbett makes a convincing case for why teams ought to use visual techniques for group facilitation. For starters, there is a lot more information today and it’s harder for us to make sense of it (and since the recession caused major layoffs and early retirements, there are fewer of us survivors left to make sense of it!). Also, many of the problems we’re trying to tackle are system-level challenges, which require groups to think bigger picture, or over longer time frames than they are accustomed to doing. In addition, today’s rapid rate of change requires that we update our mental models of how things work on a frequent basis.

Depicting challenges visually can help us in all of these areas. Simply put, visualizing challenges creates a shared frame of reference, builds a higher level of engagement of all group members, and tends to draw forth their best ideas.

Sibbett does a great job of explaining how to get started. While Dan Roam’s book, The Back of the Napkin, presented a framework or visual dictionary of shapes and symbols that we can use to communicate ideas visually, Sibbett goes another level deeper by demonstrating to the reader how to draw a collection of simple shapes – such as points, lines, triangles and squares – and then explains how to draw more complex shapes based on these building blocks.

I’m also impressed that Sibbett outlines some recommended exercises that help to build engagement among group members. Often, people walk into meetings with their own mental models about their roles, their perceptions about the other people in the meeting and their motivations, and what they have been called upon to accomplish. These perceptions often create conflict and get in the way of the group accomplishing its objectives. Some simple visual exercises help everyone to build a sense of shared purpose and trust, and improve their level of engagement in the meeting.

I still have much more to read, but so far I’m really really loving Visual Meetings!

Here is a summary of Mindo’s most notable features:

• You add ideas to a mind map using a simple double-tap gesture
• Ideas can easily be rearranged by dragging and dropping
• Topics can be grouped within boundaries
• Topics can be tasks, and display priority codes (1, 2, 3, etc.) and percentage complete icons
• Mindo can be used with an external monitor
• Text and topic colors can be easily adjusted using an intuitive color wheel
• Comments can be added to topics, and may be shown or hidden (it would be awesome if Mindo supported notes, which I consider to be an essential feature for any mind mapping software, no matter what platform it runs on)
• The app supports undo and redo when editing a mind map
• Topic shapes can be dragged to adjust their shape (in other words, a longer topic can be one line, or can be reduced in width so that the text appears on two lines) – this is the first time I’ve seen this on an iPad or iPhone app
• Relationship lines can be added to depict connections between related topics
• Maps created in Mindo can be e-mailed, converted to PDF or transferred to your desktop PC via iTunes.
• Maps can be imported from XMind and other popular mind map file formats

Based on a quick look at this Mindo video, this application does a nice job of utilizing the iPad’s interface features. I can’t wait to see what it’s developers do to improve it in the months ahead.

From agendas to travel arrangements, from facility arrangements to handouts, there are a mountain of tasks, deadlines and follow-ups that must be handled well in order for the meeting to be a success. That makes meeting management a perfect application for mind mapping software.

In this new video, I walk you through the preparations for a national sales meeting, and explain how you can manage each aspect of it, simply and flexibly, in your mind mapping program.

This video is accessible only to members of the Mind Mapping Insider membership program. Click here to learn how you can join.

Could mind mapping software be the ultimate “way finding” tool for people who are indispensable in their work? My recent analysis of Seth Godin’s new book says yes.

Godin’s latest book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable, is the closest thing that I’ve seen to a manifesto for doing business in this second decade of the 21st century. For years, we’ve been told to come to work, follow processes and procedures, and largely place our creative minds on hold – to check them at the door, as it were. There’s only one problem, as Godin points out: During periods of great uncertainty, like those we’re facing right now, “The compliant masses don’t help much when you don’t know what to do next.”

Linchpins and leaders need to be comfortable navigating their organizations through choppy waters, without a reliable map to the future. They must find their way, creating their own map as they go. In times like these, it seems to me that mind mapping software is an indispensable tool for way finding – for helping to discern a path where none exists, and for helping linchpins to make better decisions even when surrounded by uncertainty.

Linchpin is all about doing remarkable work. One way to do that  is by being creative. Left to our own devices, we tend to do things that are well within normal. Looking at things creatively, on the other hand, opens up a world of new possibilities. Mind maps help us to be more creative. They enable us to dissect, analyze and solve big problems more easily than any other method. Mind maps also enable us to envision new possibilities and, in general, helps us to contribute more of our unique ideas and our gifts, taking it to a much higher level.

Earlier this week, I reviewed the book, seeking  to isolate the character traits of linchpins – people who are indispensable today. The results are contained in the mind map above. When I took this list and bounced it up against the benefits of mind mapping software, I was amazed to discover just how well aligned this type of productivity software is with these important leadership qualities.

What do you think?

In some cases, these lines go behind existing topics, which is really a pain in the butt. It just looks dumb. Several programs provide one or more drag handles that you can use to change the curvature of these lines, but you’re limited in how much you can reshape them. Why can’t you draw more complex lines, like you can in a vector drawing program like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw?

Finally, one developer has done just that. NovaMind Pty. Ltd. recently launched an update to NovaMind 5 for Windows that enables you to draw more complex relationship lines, and does so in a very intelligent manner (click on the map image above right to view a larger version). The NovaMind Blog also contains a video where Gideon King shows what the new link lines feature can do.

You know me: I can’t just take a developer’s word for it. I’ve gotta download the update and play around with it, so I can tell you if it’s everything the developer says it is. I’m quite impressed with NovaMind’s new “link lines.” Here’s what I like about them:

• You simple draw a path that you want the line to follow, and the program smooths it out. Nice!
• Multiple control points along the line give you a finer level of control over the line’s shape; you can easily delete control points to further smooth its curvature.
• Adding a new control point is as simple has hovering the cursor over the line; a hollow circle appears on the line and you simply left click your mouse to insert a new control point at that location.
• When you select a control point, a faint line appears that extends to either side of it and it has a pair of handles, one at each end, which you can drag in or out, or rotate it to further shape the line (see close-up image at right).
• Right-clicking the link line gives you access to a properties palette that gives you further options for tweaking the appearance of it.

In short, this new feature is easy and intuitive to use, and is ideal when you want to show a relationship between two widely separated topics in a larger mind map.

If you already own NovaMind 5 for Windows, this is a free update. If you don’t, then I strongly urge you to check it out. The program’s development team is committed to ongoing innovation, and they continue to gain ground as one of the key players in the mind mapping software market. Keep up the great work, guys!

I recently conducted an audio interview with her, in which we drilled down deeper into this type of mind map and its many benefits – which go well beyond serving as a powerful differentiator for savvy job seekers. Imagine any professional setting where it’s advantageous to provide others with a colorful, visually engaging overview of your skills, experience and unique qualities. You get the idea.

This is powerful stuff, and a marvelous application of mind maps!

If you want to see examples of profile mind maps, Jamie has highlighted two of them on her blog, here and here.

If you’d like to access this report, I urge you to try out the Mind Mapping Insider program. As I pointed out in a recent post, it’s a modest investment (less than US$20 a month, or under $1 per day!) that can make a big  impact on your personal effectiveness.