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!).

Most people are afraid to be creative in their work. Afraid of what others may think. Afraid of making a mistake, promoting the wrong idea, being branded as “weird.” Maybe in the past, creatives didn’t get the respect they ought to. But all that’s changed.

Due to the current economic conditions and a host of other forces buffeting your organization today, its leadership needs your ideas like never before. They’re desperate for people who are willing to step forward and present ideas to solve thorny problems, to see opportunities no one else can even perceive and to generate new products, services and business models that will help your organization to rise above the norm, capturing market share and delighting customers.

If this list, excerpted from Michael Michalko’s excellent creativity book, Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative Thinking Techniques, doesn’t kick you in the butt and get you into creative action, nothing will.

I want to be able to do all of these things. Don’t you?

In general, the brainstorming mode of mind mapping software is designed to make it quick and easy to enter a succession of topics or ideas, using only the keyboard (no mouse manipulation required) and without regard to exact placement of each topic. After all, you have complete freedom to move them around later. This ability to enter multiple topics quickly is especially helpful if you’re facilitating a group brainstorming session for your work, and your team mates are shouting out ideas to you one after another. Brainstorming mode lets you capture them quickly, without the program getting in the way.

Several programs also offer a countdown timer, which enables you to set a time limit on individual or group brainstorming. Sometimes, this can be a catalyst, helping you to generate more ideas, faster. In a group setting, however, it has a more practical use: To ensure that a team doesn’t spend too much time on any given challenge they’re trying to solve.

Here’s how the functionality of brainstorming mode compares in the major mind mapping programs that have it:

ConceptDraw MINDMAP inserts each of your ideas as free-floating topics, which gives you a lot of freedom in grouping and arranging them. The program’s brainstorming view (shown above – click image for larger version) also contains a countdown timer, which enables you to set a time limit on your ideation sessions. Ideas can be added using only the keyboard, which makes ConceptDraw MINDMAP an ideal program for group brainstorming sessions, where the meeting facilitator must be able to add a number of ideas quickly, without the program getting in the way.

MindManager contains a brainstorming mode that is ideal for group ideation. You can quickly add ideas in a form field at the top of the brainstorming workspace, using only a keyboard; the program inserts them into your map as floating topics. . This view also contains a countdown timer, so you can set a time limit on your brainstorming sessions. MindManager’s brainstorming panel also enables you to easily create groups – “buckets” into which you want to logically group your ideas. You then drag and you’re your floating ideas to attach them to group topics.

Inspiration: For many years, Inspiration has included a very useful “RapidFire ” brainstorming mode, which enables you to quickly enter items into your map using only the keyboard, using only the “Enter” key. New topics can be linked to the central one, or can be free-floating. This gives you much greater freedom when arranging your map after the brainstorming session. You’ll know when you’re in RapidFire mode, because as soon as you click “Enter,” the program inserts a cool red lightning bolt after your topic, and you can immediately enter another one while Inspiration places the last one in your map.

NovaMind 4 offers a branchstorming mode which you can enable from the context menu on a branch in Windows and from the tool palette on the Mac version. It operates in a way that is very similar to the RapidFire mode of Inspiration. In addition, an optional Suggesterator module can be used to provide you with keyword stimuli during the ideation process. It does this by displaying a list of words that are closely related be selected topic in your map – something like an electronic thesaurus. You can utilize this tool to identify other categories or subjects for inclusion in your mind map, and to provide valuable momentum for your brainstorming session. In NovaMind 5, you can add topics anywhere just by pressing Enter/Return. If you have just added a floating topic, it will add another, so that makes it very easy to create unconnected ideas.

iMindMap has a “speed mapping” mode that enables you navigate your map using your arrow keys to select the branches to which you want to add new ideas, and then add a succession of ideas using only the keyboard. To enter ideas in this mode, you first first select a topic; when you start typing, a text box pops up to capture it, while below it a blank branch is created. When you hit the enter key, your text is added to the branch and another text box appears, ready to capture your next idea.

MindMapper 2009 takes a unique approach to brainstorming: It enables you to create a series of brightly-colored floating topics called “memo notes” that resemble Post-It notes. These can be added to your map workspace using the shift-left mouse button combination. The mouse is still required for this program, but MindMapper gets style points for enabling you to record your ideas in a colorful, playful format. In addition, MindMapper offers a count-down timer, so you can set a time limit on your brainstorming sessions; it also can count upwards, so you can see what your elapsed time is – how long you’ve spent brainstorming ideas.

XMind takes a slightly different approach: Its brainstorming mode removes all of the toolbars from the screen and inserts a countdown timer in the upper right corner of the workspace. All of the program’s keyboard shortcuts still function, along with its right-click, context-sensitive menu. You don’t have to use the mouse if you don’t want to. If you’re in a group brainstorming session, I can see how reducing the amount of visual clutter projected onto the screen in the meeting room may help participants to stay focused on the task at hand – generating ideas to solve a specific business problem.

Other programs, such as MindApp, say they have a brainstorming mode. But actually, what it supports is inserting a floating topics by double-clicking in blank areas of the workspace. Not exactly a specific “mode” for ideation, but still somewhat streamlined.

If capturing ideas on the fly is important to you, then definitely check out these programs. I recommend that you download trial versions of several of them to see what works best for you.

What’s even cooler is when you combine Jott with MindMeister, which enables you (via its Geistesblitz tools) to e-mail topics to your default map. I tried this, and it worked great. Here’s how it works:

1. I first added a new address book entry to my Jott account with the first and last name of “Mind Meister.” For the e-mail address, I looked in my MindMeister account settings (under my account/settings/Geistesblitz e-mail) and copied and pasted the address that MindMeister provides for you to e-mail individual topics to your default map (you can also use a second e-mail address to generate entirely new maps via e-mail).
2. Once that was set up, I called Jott. It asked me “Who do you want to Jott?” I replied, “Mind Meister,” and when prompted, said a brief test message. That’s it.

I checked my MindMeister default map a few minutes later, and there was my topic, with the prefix “Jott from Chuck Frey.” You don’t ever have to lose an idea again!

• The ability to scan all of his opportunities in one place, which helps him to maintain a balanced approach to his business.
• The ability for him to organize his thoughts in any way he wants, at whatever level of detail is most appropriate.
• The ability to maintain a “catch-all” topic for uncategorized opportunities that may be valuable in the future.

It’s a very interesting post – highly recommended!