I recently came across some news about multi-touch computer screens, and it got me to thinking about the ways in which small groups could use such a large, touch-sensitive computing interface to do mind mapping. A Google search led me to several videos that show prototype applications of this type of visual mapping technology, circa 2009, but little has happened since then.

Here is a video demonstration of some software called MindFlow that was apparently written as part of a graduate student’s master’s thesis. I have tried to contact the author, but he hasn’t replied to me.

A search of Microsoft Surface, the software giant’s foray into this new, tactile computing paradigm, led to another video, produced by several interns at Intuilab, a French company that has been moving aggressively to develop commercial applications of large-screen multi-touch technology. Their primary focus is on manipulating geographical maps, providing rich shopping experiences and making stunning interactive presentations. The company also builds custom interfaces, which can run on Microsoft Surface and a number of other large, multi-touch devices.

This video was also produced in 2009. I exchanged several e-mails with a sales representative of the company, trying to learn if Intuilab is still developing this mind mapping application. Unfortunately, they’re not doing so. Apparently the market for touch-sensitive mind mapping just isn’t big enough to focus upon. Instead, the company is wisely focusing on applications where it can help merchants and other users to develop immersive experiences that help to drive new revenues.

One final video is a demonstration of version 2.0 of Microsoft Surface, which was premiered at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January, 2011. Developed in close cooperation with Samsung, it features a new approach to sensing touch and proximity that is simply amazing. Among other things, it lets Surface “see” anything you place upon its surface – which could literally be used to scan or photograph items you want to add to your mind maps.

These videos are compelling – especially the one from Intuilab, which shows several people working a mind map at the same time. This could be an ideal small-group productivity and brainstorming tool.

But with a significant percentage of business people still not aware of the benefits of mind mapping, I think it will be some time before any developer takes a chance on creating a visual mapping tool for this platform – perhaps after the cost of the hardware and software are reduced to the point where it wouldn’t be viewed as an exceptionally risky venture.

As part of Mindjet’s intensified focus on collaboration and team communication, MindManager 2012 was officially released today. It picks up some new features that help to support this direction, as well as some others designed to enhance the experience for new users of MindManager.

Here’s is a summary of the most significant new and enhanced features of MindManager 2012:

Helping new users get started faster

Redesigned ribbon toolbar: Mindjet has redesigned the toolbar in MindManager 2012 to place 80-90 percent of the most commonly-used features on the home tab. This makes it easier for new users to find the commands they’re looking for without leaving this tab, and should also speed the work of all users.

Video guides: The new program ships with a set of video guides (above) that appear in a panel on the left side of the work space, which explain how to perform common tasks with the program, as well as tips on what types of tasks it can be used for.

Right-hand tabs: The set of tabs on the right-hand side of the work space, which give access to icons, images, smart map parts and task data, are hidden by default for new users. The developer’s intent is to reduce the amount of visual clutter on the screen, which tends to confuse new users. They can be turned back on by clicking on the small folder icon in the lower right corner of the work space. Mindjet officials say that if you are upgrading from an earlier version, this “newbie” feature will be turned off – in other words, if you had tabs visible, they will still be there after you upgrade to the 2012 version.

Integration with online gallery: MindManager 2012 also displays mind maps from the developer’s growing MapsForThat.com map gallery, giving users access to hundreds of additional examples and starting points they can adapt for their own projects. In the template viewer, maps are categorized by type, with thumbnail images and explanations in a panel next to them. It was very slick to be able to drill down through this great collection of maps, which displayed and loaded quickly over a high-speed internet connection.

New users of mind mapping software almost always need some inspiration, according to my surveys. They want to see what others are doing with it. This integrated viewer is an awesome way to bring these map examples to users of MindManager 2012, within the program itself.

Longer term, Mindjet plans to make it possible to upload maps directly from MindManager to MapsForThat. If you want to be a thought leader in the mind mapping space, now’s the time to take MapsForThat seriously. As usage of the new version grows, your mind maps will be accessible to thousands of users worldwide!

Brainstorming capabilities

One of the most exciting new developments in MindManager 2012, at least for me (because I also write about creativity tools and software on InnovationTools.com) is the program’s new brainstorming feature. The developer licensed an add-in called TheRealizer (click here to read my review of it), and significantly expanded and improved it, with the help of the firm that created it. It now offers users of MindManager a process for defining a problem or challenge, generating ideas and evaluating them.

The program ships with predefined challenges; you can also create your own. Stimulation is provided by a large collection of question, image and word cards, which are designed to get your mind thinking in fresh, new directions. Finally, ideas can be categorized using a set of pre-defined idea types – or, once again, you can add your own types. Plus, MindManager 2012 provides a number of methods for refining your ideas, including Edward de Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats and attribute analysis. This is bound to be a powerful tool for many users of MindManager 2012.

Watch this blog for a separate post on this new feature. I interviewed Michael Deutch from Mindjet to learn more about how, specifically, this new toolset compares to TheRealizer. I was pleasantly surprised at just how far the team has expanded it. More details to come!

Real-time collaboration

MindManager 2012 will fully integrate with the new Connect workspace (see here for my coverage of it) and its CoHuman social task management component. A basic Connect account is free; Users of the desktop program and web client will be able to co-edit mind maps in real time; Mindjet says they plan to extend this capability to all of its mind map clients, regardless of platform – which means you will be able to co-edit maps from their mobile apps as well.

From within the program, I was able to use my Mindjet login as a springboard to create a new Connect account. I then signed into it from MindManager, created a simple map and saved it to Connect. It all worked very smoothly.

Other productivity enhancements

Multiple hyperlinks and attachments per topic: This is something that Mindjet has needed to do for a while, and I’m glad to see it in the 2012 version. I tried adding two random attachments to a topic in the program. The minute I added a second attachment, the paperclip icon gained a down arrow next to it, which can be used to display and select the list of attachments.

Enhanced integrated web browser: Since the integrated web browser debuted in MindManager several years ago, I have been disappointed that I couldn’t drag and drop content from web pages into my mind maps. MindManager 2012 will now support this capability. Also, Mindjet has added a home page icon to the browser’s toolbar, to make it more like a full desktop browser.

Improved power filter: MindManager’s power filter has always been an excellent tool. It’s just not that easy to figure out how to use at first glance. To address this issue, Mindjet has equipped its latest version of MindManager with a number of pre-set filters (above). This will help to transform the power filter from a tool only for power users into one that anyone can benefit from.

Powermarkers added: This is another tool that formerly was a plug-in for MindManager, but now has been integrated into the core functionality of the program. This tool extracts all of the task data contained in your mind map, and displays it in a vertical panel on the right side of the workspace. In other words, no matter where tasks are physically located within your mind maps, they will be visible to you in the Powermarkers sidebar, helping you to easily see your top priorities. The Powermarkers view is interactive: If you mark a task complete in your map, it will disappear from the Powermarkers view.

New map smart parts connect with online services: MindManager 2012 desktop and the web client will gain new map smart parts that will enable you to query popular online services like Twitter, Linkedin and Bing, as well as integration with Evernote, a popular personal information management tool (in which this post is being written, BTW!). In phase 1 of the Evernote integration, MindManager Web will be able to push information from your mind maps to Evernote. Longer term, you will be able to query your Evernote database and pull selected information from it into your maps.

With the map open in MindManager Web that I originally created in the desktop version of the program, I selected a first-level topic and clicked on the Export to Evernote button. A dialog box popped up with a set of radio buttons, giving me options: I could format the topic and its subtopics as an outline or an image (Evernote is very adept at handling both). For the outline, it provided a set a set of radio buttons to enable me to select the current topic, the current topic plus children, the map’s central topic and subtopic, or the complete map, including any floating topics. The dialog box also gave me the ability to edit the note title, the notebook to which it will be saved, tags and any additional comments. When you send it, a black, rectangular status box pops up to verify that the content you specified was sent to Evernote. That’s good interface design, especially when you have an action taking place that’s not visible to the user.

When I opened my Evernote account, I found a new note with the specified content, plus a link back to its exact location within Connect. I didn’t expect to see this last element, but considering that Mindjet now enables guest views of your map content, I guess it shouldn’t have been a surprise. The process worked just as well for an image export to Evernote. In fact, it was very cool to see my mind map within this app, which I use heavily as an idea file and writing platform.

I also tried out the Twitter smart map part, and found it to be a another slick enhancement. You enter a search term and specify the number of results; MindManager quickly displays the latest tweets that match your search term, with meta data stored in a map note. I can see how this could be an awesome research tool.

The Linkedin map part searches your contacts, and displays any matching results. I can see how this would be useful if you’re looking for someone with a specific type of expertise – say, for example, “innovation.” You can quickly pull their contact information into your mind map, without having to open a web browser, navigate to Linkedin, login and perform the search there. Very cool! It’s great to see that after the idea of smart map parts wasn’t expanded in MindManager 9, it’s finally starting to show more promise – and a welcome social media focus – in version 2012!

Enhanced Sharepoint integration: Last year, Mindjet launched a Sharepoint-enabled version of MindManager that could query multiple Sharepoint databases at one time. Concurrent with the launch of MindManager 2012, Mindjet will release MindManager 2012 SP, which further enhances the program’s integration with this commonly-used enterprise information management tool. The new version adds a capability called MapShare, which will enable users of Sharepoint to view mind maps within this environment. In addition, users will be able to create mind maps from within Sharepoint, starting later this year. This product will also be integrated with Mindjet Connect.

For more details, please visit the MindManager 2012 Professional web page on the Mindjet website.

Conclusion

Mindjet is getting very aggressive at targeting the needs of enterprises, where teams are more frequently dispersed across multiple locations. Economic conditions have forced work groups to rely more on remote collaboration tools, which haven’t usually addressed all of their needs. As part of a larger collaboration and team communication framework, MindManager 2012 promises some impressive new gains in efficiency and productivity.

Even if you don’t need the Connect workspace, there appears to be much to like about MindManager 2012. I’m thrilled to see that brainstorming is now integrated into the program, for example. I’ve been saying for a long time that mind mapping software is a powerful creativity tool, because it enables you to capture your ideas, see connections between them, and build upon them. Now, Mindjet makes it possible to generate ideas from within the program.

I also applaud the steps that the developer is taking to make the program easier to use. Like many high-end mind mapping programs, MindManager can be daunting to first-time users. That’s a problem in enterprise environments, where the IT department doesn’t want to be answering a lot of “how do I do this?” questions. The program needs to be intuitive enough so users can figure out how to grow beyond the basics on their own, for the most part. If Mindjet can succeed in enabling newbies to get up to speed faster, as well as expose them to the types of applications for which MindManager can be used, it will have a major accomplishment on its hands.

• Produce a mind map and send it to others for review. The mind map keeps track of who made which edits and added which comments to the map.
• A centralized mind map repository within a secure web environment serves as the center point for collaboration. Maps produced on the desktop are uploaded to this space, where other team members can access them, work on them and then save an updated version to the shared work space. Everyone on the team has a licensed copy of the same mind mapping software.
• A mind map is created on the desktop, then shared online. Team members can access the map from this repository in a number of ways, potentially including a licensed desktop mind mapping program, a web-based mapping application and mobile devices such as an iPad or iPhone.
• Small teams can do real-time co-editing of mind maps – sort of an online brainstorming session, where the mind map is used to capture everyone’s ideas. The program tracks who made which additions and edits.
• A mind map is stored in a shared directory on your company’s file server, where each team member can access it, edit it, add comments and then re-save it to the network. It’s low-tech, but it works.
• A mind map can “push” task updates to Sharepoint, and vice versa.

What’s happening in your work environment in terms of small team collaboration? Please share your comments below in answer to these questions:

• What are you doing now for collaboration?
• What would you ideally like to be able to do with your team?
• Is your team all in one location, or geographically dispersed?
• Do you need to be able to collaborate with people outside of your organization, such as consulting firms, vendors and clients?

If any of your stories are particularly interesting, I may want to interview you for more details for a future blog post. I really want to shed some light on this aspect of using mind mapping software.

I look forward to your insights!

• The challenges of gathering, organizing, managing and utilizing information
• How she uses mind mapping software as a problem-solving tool with clients
• Curating, purging and repurposing content
• Mind mapping software as a powerful “universal facilitator” in meetings
• Why marketers have been relatively slow to adopt mind mapping software

Although Kelli is a marketer and writer, the way she thinks about visual mapping, managing information overload and collaborating with others effectively contains many lessons that you can use, no matter what your profession. In fact, I’m convinced that this is one of the best interviews in the Mind Mapping Insider series to date. It’s a don’t-miss session!

This report is only accessible to Mind Mapping Insider members. Why not make a commitment to make a bigger impact in your life and work? The resources in this program will help you to become a better planner, problem solver and project manager. You’ll triumph over information overload, and discover a clarity that will help you to make better decisions, faster. Sign up today to join the growing group of MMI members who have made selected the option to be more influential and creative in their lives. New introductory pricing is more affordable than ever: Only $1 for the first 14 days!

But don’t just think of it in this context; the creative brief is a useful tool that can be adapted to almost any type of small project where you need to get a team of people on the same page.

In this new Mind Mapping Insider report, I will explain how to create a creative brief, and some of the ways in which you may adapt it to your needs.

If you cannot see the link to this report, that’s because it’s accessible to Mind Mapping Insider members. Why not make a commitment to become a more effective mind mapper – which will enable you to become a better planner, problem solver and project manager? Sign up today to join the growing group of MMI members who have made the decision to be more influential and creative in their jobs.

During the last year, the number of web-based environments for collaborating around mind maps has grown significantly. In most cases, these are online environments created by developers of desktop mind mapping software, designed to enable their customers to share mind maps with their colleagues and team members easily, and to provide a web-based version of their software that people can use without having a licensed copy of the software on their desktop.

Here’s a summary of the major players in this mind map collaboration space:

Mindjet Catalyst: Catalyst enables sharing of mind maps and other documents in a collaborative, foldered environment. Team members can also use its built-in chat capabilities to carry on a discussion while working on a mind map. The application also contains a web-based version of MindManager, so your team members can share maps, even if not every team member has the desktop version of the program.

MindView Shared Workspace: This tool, recently introduced with the launch of MindView 4 several months ago, enables multi-user editing of mind maps, distribution of tasks to your team members and monitoring of task status via a series of web based dashboard reports. You can upload mind maps directly from the desktop version of MindView to Shared Workspace.

CS Odessa MindWave: This application started life as a mind mapping tool for the now-defunct Google Wave collaboration application. Since Google killed that tool, CS Odessa has relaunched it as a separate collaboration environment, complete with real-time collaboration and the ability to easily move maps from MindWave to your desktop copy of ConceptDraw MINDMAP. MindWave recently announced that MindWave is now available within SAP StreamWork, a cloud-based collaborative decision-making tool. Within StreamWork, MindWave functions like a gadget, in much the same way as it did inside of Google Wave.

iMindMap Online: Recently announced by ThinkBuzan, this new tool will offer a web-based version of its iMindMap mind mapping software, plus support for real-time collaboration on mind maps.

Several other software developers, including XMind, enable you to upload mind maps directly from their desktop mapping software to an online gallery, with the option to mark a map as unlisted or private – so you can share your maps with those people to whom you give the the URL, but they don’t appear in public listings of maps on the sites. But they don’t offer tools for online collaboration or co-editing of mind maps.

Still others, such as Mindomo and DropMind, developed web-based mind mapping applications and then launched desktop versions that are designed to integrate with each other.

As you can see, the mind mapping collaboration environment is really maturing and growing. If I have missed any tools or services, please note them in the comments section. Thanks!

Mind mapping is an incredible team-building tool

It’s creative and analytical: “What is so exciting about mind mapping is that its framework offers a way to think both analytically and creatively at the same time. A common analytical framework is to organize material around big ideas and sub-ideas – big concepts and then bulleted sub-topics. Yet for people who have creative minds, it’s very difficult to think in a linear fashion. Creative minds make links that others don’t think of or see right away. Having the freedom to create links that don’t follow any type of logical order – and to do it visually – is at the heart of the mind-mapping approach.”

Most business tools are either designed to encourage creative thinking or analytical thinking. Mind mapping is one of the few tools that enables you to do both.  I guess I hadn’t thought about the ways in which mind mapping software enables you to move seamlessly between the two modes of thinking. Or perhaps I hadn’t heard it stated this clearly before. But it makes a lot of sense. By her own admission, Glaser is ADD. Mind mapping transforms that from a weakness into a strength – in other words, she can do a brain dump initially, without worrying about the structure of her ideas, and then analyze and organize later.

Mind mapping is a tool for building collaboration – but not in the way you would think: Yes, today’s mind mapping software enables teams to collaborate effectively on projects and serves as a powerful catalyst for group brainstorming. But in Glaser’s mind, it does something even more important: She talks in the article about how she uses mind maps with clients and colleagues to move from “I” to “we” – to build shared understanding.

“I knew there was something going on in the minds and hearts of my clients when we graphically mind-mapped change together. We could feel an organic shift take place that turned foes into friends, and my idea into our idea.”

Creating what she calls “WE technologies” – using mind mapping to break down barriers between team members who may be trapped limiting perceptions such as “silo thinking” and “us/them thinking” – has enabled her to give clients ways to create a safe space for breaking down barriers to trust, a key to business success.

In this blog, I have written extensively about the benefits of using mind mapping software for collaboration, enabling everyone’s ideas to be captured and built upon in a small group brainstorming session, and for co-management of projects. But this whole idea of utilizing it as a tool to encourage consensus building and “we” thinking was a fresh perspective for me.

Double-clicking your way to shared understanding: As part of her methodology, Glaser developed a technique called “double clicking” as a way to surface each person’s perceptions about a given topic, and then to build consensus of what it means.

“I call it double-clicking because the process mimics opening folders on your computer to drill down into details. When I use this approach with teams, I ask them to delve into their individual mindscapes to share and compare word meanings and perceptions with each other… By drilling down to individual perceptions, teams can begin to understand each other’s perceptions better and improve how they collaborate… We all hold different views of reality, and when we double-click, we explore the unique connections that are at the heart of the matter. We are able to breathe new life and possibilities into a business and relationships – the first step to creating organizational transformation.”

Most people tend to be trapped within their own mindset, perceptions and opinions. Anything that doesn’t fit into their worldview gets rejected, or at least energetically resisted. In other words, we’re not as open-minded as we think. And that tends to derail teams and organizations. People refuse to support corporate initiatives. They drag their feet or check out mentally. Or they sometimes work to undermine the rest of the group’s efforts, or become very vocal opponents of them.

When we share our thinking with others, we open ourselves up to others’ ideas and perceptions. In the process, that forces us to rethink our own thinking. When this happens, according to Glaser, barriers fall and shared understanding leads to better teamwork and greater commitment to supporting change and transformation.

Mind mapping is the perfect tool for entrepreneurs: “Mind mapping is a great tool for any entrepreneur with big aspirations who is not yet sure how to achieve them. Mind mapping helps people play with new ideas and possibilities before trying them out. You can create different maps, each with different scenarios for what to do and how, and then evaluate the options before taking the risk. Mind mapping has no limits – only those you impose on yourself.”

I couldn’t agree more. Mind mapping strips away the blinders and opens us up to new possibilities. It enables us to think about our thinking in powerful ways. And it helps us to transform nebulous ideas into hard-core action plans, so we can bring them to fruition. In short, mind mapping is a perfect match for the entrepreneurial mindset!

I love Glaser’s insights in this article. What do you think?

How do you collaborate with mind mapping software?

• What types of projects do you collaborate on?
• What types of content are you collaborating on? Tasks? Group brainstorming of ideas? Or something else?
• How do you share your mind maps – via e-mail, posting maps on a shared network directory or in an online map sharing environment? If the latter, how effective has that been for you?
• Or do you just work on mind maps by yourself?

Please share some of the details, so we can all learn from your experiences!

In a recent phone conversation, Mark Salamango from Spinscape shared with me two stories about his his firm and his web-based mapping/information discovery tool is already moving in that direction. In one case, 47 people were collaborating on a single map at the same time! I was so intrigued that I asked him to send me brief write-ups of both stories to share with you:

Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) “is the world’s largest organization devoted exclusively to advancing unmanned systems.” The group sponsored a conference on June 22-24, and Spinscape attended to help facilitate the panel discussions and breakout sessions.

The goal of the conference was to get 200 of the brightest minds in the growing field of unmanned systems all together in one place to discuss the future of ground robotics.  The work product was a white paper that was going straight up the chain to the White House.

Several Spinscape product specialists sat in on the conference panels and captured information while discussions took place. Two large projectors provided a view of the mind maps to the attendees. Others with laptops were able to view and collaborate as the discussion progressed. At any given time, five to ten people were adding topics and information to the maps. Spinscape’s node-level security meant that conference organizers could easily give just a handful of key people access to the full map; attendees were given write access to other parts of the map (meaning they could add topics), while some sections were read-only.

On the final day, the group met to go over action items and to confirm that the document structure was sound. After the conference, attendees were given access to the mind maps so they could continue to collaborate in areas of their specific expertise. In several weeks, the map will be exported to a document, it will undergo final proofreading and OPSEC (operations security) approval and it will be sent to all participants.

The beauty of this process was that the mind map was easily organized and ideas were easily captured and viewed in a graphical way. Attendees could focus on brainstorming, structure, and content rather than taking notes.  They also know that their data is safe, can be exported, and is now a “living, breathing, entity” that will continue to evolve.

World Cup soccer tournament

The Spinscape team caught a little bit of World Cup fever this year and decided it was time to create a map of all the countries in the World Cup this year.  The goal (no pun intended) was to get as many people as possible adding information about World Cup teams at the same time.  The result was quite cool.  At one point there were 47 people working on the same map at the same time. The number of nodes on the map fluctuated quite a bit, but was up close to 800 at one point in time. This map was much more exciting than many of the games this year. Next: A map of the Tour de France!

What’s significant about these stories?

I believe that, longer term, applications like Spinscape could potentially become a new flavor of crowdsourcing tool, enabling large numbers of people to contribute ideas to a single map and to build upon the ideas of others. At the very least, I believe more robust mind mapping tools will enable larger teams to contribute to visual maps, with granular controls over who can view, edit, add topics and other access rights. The future for collaboration using this technology looks very bright indeed

Using MindWave, you can easily insert a new map into your wave, invite others to collaborate with you and then co-edit it in real time.That means you can use it as a tool for planning simple projects and for small group brainstorming.

MindWave supports Wave’s playback function, which enables you to see how a mind map was constructed, and who added what content to it. This is ideal for new users, who may not be familiar with mind mapping.

Mind maps built within MindWave can be downloaded and developed further using CS Odessa’s ConceptDraw MINDMAP software for Windows and Mac OS X.

Thankfully, MindWave supports a number of keyboard shortcuts, including:

• Shift+Enter to add a new topic.
• Double-click on a topic adds a sub-topic.
• Paste a word or phrase to add a new topic.
• Paste a column of words to add many topics at once.
• Drag and drop organizes your mind map.
• Press Delete or Backspace to remove a selected topic.
• Arrow keys navigate you through the map.

I added MindWave to a wave in my Google Wave account, and found that it installed easily. Creating a new map and adding topics to it was also a breeze; it behaved exactly as I would expect it to. The shortcut keys are non-standard, but then again you’ve got to remember that you’re working on an extension that has to play well within another, larger application. So CS Odessa had to select hot keys that don’t interfere with Wave’s functionality.

The only limitation I foresee with MindWave is that the maps you create within it must, of necessity, be fairly simple. You’re constrained in terms of space to only one-third of the browser – because the other two panels are used by Wave for managing waves, folders and users.

Still, MindWave is a great little applet that is stable and intuitive to use. Kudos to CS Odessa for taking the lead and producing this neat little application to support one of the web’s most compelling new collaboration tools.