No matter what your line of work, chances are you must deal with ideas. Either you’re creating them as part of your work, or are having them submitted to you by your subordinates. In either case, having an effective process for evaluating ideas effectively and selecting the best ones for implementation is becoming critically important.

In this new Effective Mind Maps report, I analyze a mind map that brings a simple, common-sense process to creative problem solving – from clearly defining your problem or challenge, to listing potential solutions, evaluating them and identifying the best one for implementation.

In this report, I go deeper than ever, not only analyzing what the author of this mind map has created and what can be improved about it, I show you what these recommended changes would look like. So I’m not only telling you, I’m showing you what to do. This makes it easier for you to adapt these ideas to your needs.

This report is only available to members of the Mind Mapping Insider membership program. It contains a wealth of resources that can help you to be more productive, creative and have a greater impact in your job. It’s not enough to have a mind mapping tool – you need the insights to use it in ways that deliver value and enhance your reputation. That’s what this program is all about! Click here for more details.

I’ve always been a fan of theRealizer, a brainstorming plug-in for MindManager (read my review of it from 2008 here). So when I learned that Mindjet integrated this terrific process-driven brainstorming tool into MindManager 2012, I was very excited. So I asked Michael Deutch at Mindjet to give me a deeper dive into how they expanded and improved it. Much has changed, which is why we’re going to take a closer look at it.

Deutch emphasized that Mindjet’s development team worked closely with the Realize AB, the Swedish company who developed theRealizer. This company specializes in doing facilitated brainstorming sessions, and Mindjet wanted to be sure to leverage their expertise to make this the best possible ideation tool for business users.

This brainstorming tool consists of three stages:

1. Define challenge

It’s been said that a problem clearly defined is already half solved. Accordingly, the challenge phase of this brainstorming tool helps you to accurately define the problem or challenge for which you want to brainstorm ideas. The program ships with a set of over 60 predefined challenge statements, categorized into product development, marketing, sales, organization and individual categories. theRealizer add-in only contained nine challenge cards, so this is a major expansion.

Adding a challenge to your mind map is simple: Select one statement and click the “add to map” button. The idea here is that once you’ve added your challenge statement to the map, you then add topics and sub-topics to it where you explore how to address your challenge. Sometimes, this deep exploration of your challenge can reveal a deeper problem that you didn’t realize existed. Perhaps you were trying to solve the wrong problem. Or it may lead to some useful ideas, even before you get to the actual brainstorming stage.

If you want to modify the wording of an existing challenge statement or add your own to the set that MindManager 2012′s brainstorming tool displays each time you use it, you simply click on the “edit” button. The challenge list becomes editable text, and you can delete, add, modify or regroup challenges with complete freedom.

If you want to create your own challenge, a separate “custom challenge” tab gives you fields to enter your own challenge statement and some notes about it. The note becomes a topic note attached to your challenge topic, as you would expect.

The challenges section of this brainstorming tool also contains a visual element: Over 600 challenge cards, which look something like cards you’d expect to find in a deck of playing cards. Each challenge card contains an image and a statement – such as “Describe a picture of success. What do you need to get there?” with a picture of a set of legs and feet standing in first place on the winner’s stand after an athletic event. Clicking on an information button below the card “flips” it over and displays a suggestion on how to utilize its message. Cards can also be designated as favorites by clicking on a star icon. Once you’ve selected one or more cards as favorites, a separate set of navigation arrows appears on screen, enabling you to browse only your favorite challenge cards.

One neat enhancement that Mindjet made for MindManager 2012 was to enable users to increase the size of the challenge cards on screen. The cards can be opened in a separate window, which displays them at roughly twice the normal size. This is useful for anyone who is facilitating a group brainstorming session or web-based meeting, so that their text can be clearly viewed on screen.

2. Generate ideas

When they adapted theRealizer to MindManager 2012, the developers at Mindjet modified the idea entry form to enable quick entry. When you click on the “enter ideas” button, a dialog box pops up, where you can quickly type your ideas, hit the enter key and immediately type your next idea. I tried it, and it was very fast! This is ideal for group brainstorming sessions, where ideas are often flying fast, and you need to be able to record them just as quickly.

This stage of the brainstorming process contains three types of cards:

Questions: These cards are based on SCAMPER, a brainstorming technique that asks you to perform different actions on your idea – for example, minimize it, put it to other uses or rearrange its parts. SCAMPER is one of the world’s best known and most proven brainstorming techniques, so it’s good to see it here.

Images: Image cards contain a question and an image. They appeal to a different part of the brain, and encourage users to engage in out of the box thinking.

Words: Word cards, as their name implies, contain a single word. They function as random thinking prompts, and should lead your creative problem solving efforts in new directions. MindManager 2012 contains 500 word-based idea cards, substantially more than theRealizer did.

Idea cards follow a similar format to the challenge cards, with the ability to display them in a larger format in a separate window and to designate cards as favorites and then navigate them easily. theRealizer enabled users of this plug-in to edit these cards, but Mindjet decided to eliminate this feature to keep things easier for users.

3. Categorize and refine

By the time you reach this stage, your mind map should now be full of ideas. Your next step is to organize and improve them. MindManager 2012 enables you to create 4 types of branches to categorize your ideas: Do it!, Investigate, Save, Trash. The idea behind this scheme is that you add these smart topics to your map and then drag and drop the ideas you’ve generated to them.
MindManager 2012′s brainstorming tool also contains four different tools for further refining and classifying ideas:

• Idea refinement terms
• Opportunities
• SWOT analysis (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats)
• Time management

Selecting one of these evaluation tools adds all of its associated keywords to your mind map as a group. An edit button opens up a dialog box that enables you to modify the five existing idea improvement methods or add your own. This could be very useful if your firm has a standard procedure or set of criteria-based screens for evaluating ideas. You could include them in this toolset, or eliminate the pre-installed ones and just present your organization’s proprietary method.

Conclusion

Mindjet has made impressive improvements to this brainstorming tool, and has integrated it tightly into MindManager 2012. In the past, a lot of people made claims that mind mapping was an excellent creative tool. Now that’s true in spades, thanks to this refined and expanded toolset in the latest version of MindManager.

Why have I spent so much time analyzing this brainstorming tool? Because creative ideas are more important than ever today. There are many brainstorming tools and techniques available to you today, but most of them only do one thing – serve as a catalyst to help you generate ideas. What I like about this tool is the fact that it wraps an entire process around the act of brainstorming – from clearly defining your challenge to refining and evaluating your ideas, so you can quickly identify the best ones for implementation (and which then can be managed as projects within the same software program!).

One of the problems with the way we think is that it tends to be based heavily upon problems and challenges we have faced in the past. We tend to focus on something that has worked before for us, and settle on the first seemingly good idea that pops into our minds. As a result, we tend to grab at a narrow range of ideas, and stick with them until they’re proven wrong – not a very good survival skill for today’s climate of discontinuous, accelerating change.

A Lotus Blossom map can help you to brainstorm and think about a much broader collection of ideas and potential solutions to your challenges. It’s an excellent lateral thinking tool!

In this latest Mind Mapping Insider report, I explain how to brainstorm using this unique visual format, which is very similar to mind mapping. I even provide a full-color template for this exercise, along with a filled-out example to help you get started exploring your unique possibilities, opportunities and ideas. I created these diagrams from scratch just for my members, because I couldn’t find good enough examples online, and improved upon a diagram I found in a creativity book to make it easier to use.

The special report that accompanies these diagrams explains, step by step, how to use this brainstorming technique – illustrated visually, of course. Please click on the links below to expand your thinking today.

This report is only visible to members of the Mind Mapping Insider program; if you’re a member, please be sure you’re logged in, so you can see the link to the video and its associated resources.

To sign up for the Mind Mapping Insider program, please click here. You’ll open yourself up to a wealth of advanced strategies and techniques that will help you to become a better visual thinker, problem solver and project manager – all for the cost of a premium coffee per week. Why not make an investment in yourself today?

In this excerpt, you’ll learn why Griffiths believes we’re at a global inflection point. We all have access to an incredible amount of information today, thanks to the web. But access to knowledge isn’t a solution in itself. We need to be able to think about our challenges imaginatively to solve problems, deliver new value to our businesses and cultivate a more successful future.

“In this new creative era, the power is going to inevitably shift to people who can look at things differently, who can think imaginatively and objectively to deliver new values and ideals. The leaders of the next decade will be those who can deliberately and systematically make fresh connections and disoveries, generate original ideas, solve problems creatively not just logically, and break the rules to overcome sameness. They will be whole brain thinkers, harnessing both their left (analytical) and right (creative) cortical skills to make optimal decisions,” Griffiths explains.

GRASP the Solution discusses how mind mapping fits into the creative process, but this book is about a much broader and vital subject: How to equip yourself with strategies and tools to cultivate your thinking and add more value to your organization.

If you don’t see a download link, that’s because this book excerpt is only accessible to Mind Mapping Insider members. Why not make a commitment to be more creative and 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.

Divergent thinking: “By radiating branches from the center outwards, a mind map encourages your thoughts to behave in the same way so you can explore many possible solutions without limitation or restriction. Entering new ideas or building up existing ones is as easy as connecting another branch to either the central theme or main branch. The key elements of mind mapping, such as key words, colors and images, aid in drawing out novel ideas and perspectives that wouldn’t necessarily be revealed using more conventional note-taking techniques.”

Structured thinking: “Contrary to what some people believe, mind map is not ‘unstructured thinking.’ In fact, it’s one of the most structured forms of thinking possible, employing a number of organizing principles such as a central theme, basic ordering ideas, secondary and tertiary ideas, and so on. The central theme, in particular, keeps you focused on your main goal while still allowing you to think freely and expansively as you work around it. What this means is that you can be as generative as you like – letting your thoughts range far and wide – but can refer back to your central theme at any point so that you don’t go astray of your task… the mind map gives you the structure in which to organize and categorize your ideas in ways that are most relevant to what you’re trying to achieve.”

Holistic thinking: “A mind map allows you to get a ‘bigger picture’ view of all of your ideas and options so you can clearly see the relationships among them. Just as the branches in a mind map are all connected, so are all the ideas in relation to each other. This gives a mind map a depth and breadth of scope that a simple list of ideas can’t match. From this perspective it becomes easier to springboard off ideas to create new ones more rapidly and thoroughly.”

I knew that mind mapping supported creative thinking, but I haven’t seen such a clear, in-depth explanation until now. Based on my first look at GRASP the Solution, I can tell this is one of those must-have books for any serious mind mapper. Like the previous book that Griffiths co-wrote with Tony Buzan – Mind Maps for Business -  this one is full of practical advice and clear, and is focused with laser-like precision on the needs of business people today. I highly recommend this book!

GRASP the Solution will be released on October 19, 2011.

During the last several decades, one of the most widely used and successful brainstorming techniques has been SCAMPER. Its name is a mnemonic for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify/Magnify/Minify, Put to other uses, Eliminate and Reverse/Rearrange. The reason it is so popular is because it forces you to look at challenges or problems from a variety of creative perspectives. In so doing, it whacks you out of your usual, rutted mode of thinking and often yields valuable, creative ideas. In short, it’s popular because it delivers results!

The latest addition to the Mind Mapping Insider resources is the world’s largest SCAMPER mind map, with over 200 questions, phrases and words that have been selected to help you with your next creative challenge.

To create this mind map, I compiled SCAMPER questions and words from numerous sources. I captured them in a NovaMind mind map, and then converted them to other popular mind mapping software formats, including MindManager, MindView, iMindMap, MindGenius, XMind and ConceptDraw MINDMAP. Insider members can download this map for your preferred software, and use it as a powerful catalyst any time you need creative solutions. In addition, you can attach your ideas to the SCAMPER words and phrases that triggered them. In other words, this isn’t just an ideation tool, it’s also a template that you can use.

You can download this mind map here:

If you don’t see a set of links above this paragraph, that’s because this mind map is only accessible to Mind Mapping Insider members. Why not make a commitment to be more creative and 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.

Why not sign up today?

I recently came across an article that suggests that to be creative, we must get good at deconstructing challenges and situations into their elements. In so doing, we will reveal the bits and pieces that may be turned to creative advantage. Here’s how the author explains it:

“To get good at creativity, you’re going to have to cultivate the ability to pay attention to details. We talk about ‘close reading’ frequently in literature, art history, and architectural criticism—it’s the process of looking at a single work incredibly carefully. Imagine looking at a few hundred words of a novel and examining it for context, tone, literary references, structure, intent, etc. In a way, for the moment, we treat those few hundred words as more valuable and with more intensity than the entire novel itself. We treat details of problems with the same level of regard and intensity when we’re being creative.”

It’s sort of like peeling away the layers of an onion. And this kind of deconstruction is exactly the kind of thing that mind mapping – by hand or with software – is incredibly good at. One way to do this is by dividing your creative problem or challenge into its attributes and arranging them in a mind map, similar to the one shown above. Once you’ve done this you can think about each one separately, and think of ways to change or improve it. One advantage of utilizing a mind map for listing attributes is its strength in the area of word association. As you record the attributes of your challenge, you’ll discover that your brain is generating other related keywords. Record those, too.

Once you have finished recording and organizing the attributes of your problem or challenge, think about each one separately, and think of ways to change or improve it. Ask yourself questions like these:

• How else can this be accomplished?
• Why does this have to be this way?

The article describes this process of deconstruction as “zooming in” on your challenge, and usually helps you to generate the ideas and insights you need to solve the problem:

“Creativity is hinged on a cultivated ability to examine the components of any problem or information set. A close reading of all the details of a situation is what ultimately yields the creative connection that offers a solution or new insight. Are you dismissing seemingly ho-hum details, those seemingly single strands that are actually made up of thousands of layers, and missing the ultimate creative connection you’re seeking?”

The next time you’re faced with a creative challenge, instead of just jumping into generating potential solutions, why not invest some time deconstructing it – to ensure that you have an accurate understanding of the problem you need to solve, first of all, but also to reveal the elements that will ultimately lead to even better ideas and solutions?

But what you may not know is that this type of productivity software is also useful for generating ideas. What you need, however, are some techniques to help you do that. In this report, I will share with you four techniques for generating ideas, using your mind mapping software. These methods have been adapted from the best book of ideation techniques ever written, in my opinion: Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques by Michael Michalko.

This report is only accessible to Mind Mapping Insider members. Why not make a commitment to be more creative in your life and work? The resources in this program will help you to become a better thinker and creative problem solver. Sign up today to join the growing group of MMI members who have made selected the option to be more creative and influential in their lives. New introductory pricing is available for a limited time: Only $1 for the first 14 days!

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!

Today, personal innovation is more important than ever. Organizations are desperate for creative people who see things differently, who can quickly size up problems and develop creative solutions to them. Or if you’re trying to start or grow the business you’ve always dreamed of, then you already know that ideas are critical to your survival and growth!

Creativity Hacks is a convenient collection of proven tools and strategies that you can use to generate profitable ideas and capitalize on the opportunities that now lie just beyond your reach.

A heavy focus on visual thinking

An entire section of Creativity Hacks focuses on visual thinking and mind mapping. And one of the bonus reports is a brand-new interview with Dave Gray, president of XPLANE and one of the world’s leading experts on infographics (explaining complex systems or processes using easy-to-understand visuals). In this interview, he explains why visual thinking is critical to the success of business executives, today and in the years ahead. Great stuff!

The bonus reports and resources also include:

• Video reviews of 10 of the world’s best brainstorming tools
• Mini-reviews of the 10 best books on creative problem solving ever written, and
• A mind map with links to over 40 of the best creative thinking and problem solving resources and sites on the web, where you can further hone your skills.

I decided to share the news of this product launch with you because the topics of creativity and mind mapping complement each other so well.

Why not check out Creativity Hacks today? Consider it an investment in your future!