The Most Improved Mind Mapping Software of 2009 is (drumroll)… MindManager.

The top 5 most improved programs, based on 215 responses, were:

1. MindManager (26.0%)
2. NovaMind (20.9%)
3. iMindMap (11.2%)
4. PersonalBrain (11.2%)
5. XMind (10.7%)

To view the full results as a stacked bar chart, please click on the image above.

It’s no surprise to me that MindManager was ranked number one. It has tremendous name recognition in this niche, and after some incremental improvements and a mediocre attempt at creating a collaboration tool (Mindjet Connect) in 2008, the company finally got it right in 2009 with Catalyst, a polished, full-featured collaboration environment that is really quite good.

This survey also shows us which programs are coming on strong as innovators. Gideon King and his development team at NovaMind have been relentless in pushing the envelope in terms of what’s possible with mind mapping software. It’s really cool to see that you, the readers of this blog, recognize their efforts, by NovaMind the second most improved mind mapping program in 2009 – and, significantly, only 6% behind MindManager!

iMindMap and XMind are fairly new entrants to the field of mind mapping software, making it very impressive that they came in number 3 and number 5. It appears that users and fans of mind mapping software recognize their developers’ commitment to innovation, too!

Finally, the survey results demonstrate that some of the developers of mind mapping software need to do some work in building name recognition. DropMind Desktop (37.7%), MindView (31.2%), VisualMind (30.7%) and MindGenius (27.9%) led the pack in terms of software programs that respondents weren’t aware of. DropMind is fairly new, and MindView was formerly OpenMind (the name change took place in early 2009), so those relatively high numbers are easy to understand. The other two programs have been around for a while, and I’m not sure why respondents aren’t aware of them.

Thanks to all of you who participated in this interesting survey!

NovaMind Platinum with the optional Suggesterator add-in

NovaMind excels at creating engaging, colorful mind maps. By default, each branch in a NovaMind map has a different color. Although it doesn’t have a specific brainstorming mode, you can enter ideas quickly and easily into a NovaMind map. You simply type your topic name, and then hit the Enter key twice – this adds your new topic to the map and opens another one at the same level. The program also provides excellent support for adding images to increase the visual appeal of your maps.

What makes NovaMind Platinum especially well-suited for brainstorming, however, is an optional Suggesterator module (only available for NovaMind Platinum), which 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. The Suggesterator opens in a separate panel within the NovaMind interface; to add suggested keywords to your map, you simply select them and click on the “add child branches” button.

You can view a video that shows how the Suggesterator works here.

MindManager 8 plus theRealizer 2 add-in

By itself, the MindManager 8 is a fairly good application for capturing and organizing ideas. It 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. This view also contains a countdown timer, so you can set a time limit on your brainstorming sessions. MindManager inserts them into your map as floating topics. When you’re done recording ideas, it’s time to group them. 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.

Another way to brainstorm within the MindManager environment is by installing an add-in program called theRealizer 2. It installs as a separate panel on the right side of the MindManager workspace, and walks you through a simple step-by-step process to define your challenge, generate ideas and prioritize them. The program installs with a set of predefined challenges, to which you can easily add your own. Brainstorming is done via a series of randomly displayed “idea cards, “which help to stimulate your thinking in some fresh new directions. You can also add, edit or delete the program’s collection of idea cards to customize it to your specific needs.

I think theRealizer is an excellent creative catalyst, and I like the fact that you can customize it with your own challenge statements and idea cards. To help you better understand how this program works with MindManager, I recommend that you view this video.

Visual Mind plus theRealizer 2

This marvelous brainstorming program is also available as an add-in for Visual Mind. You can learn more about it here.

iMindMap 4.1

iMindMap, which was developed by the Buzan organization, provides a very organic visual mapping experience, which lends itself well to brainstorming. Like NovaMind, each branch you create in iMindMap is randomly assigned a color, adding visual appeal to your idea maps. There’s also something engaging about dragging new branches out from existing ones, much like the process of hand drawing a mind map. In addition, when you create a new map in iMindMap, the program asks you to select an image for the central topic – which helps to provide greater visual stimulation than a plain text central topic.

ConceptDraw MINDMAP 6

ConceptDraw MINDMAP 6 is a business-focused mind mapping program that offers a terrific brainstorming mode. It 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.

What’s especially nice is that you can continue to add sub-topics to the main topic of your map while in brainstorming mode. This enables you to set up topics and then drag your ideas to attach them to the appropriate ones. 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.

Which mind mapping program do you prefer for brainstorming?

In this installment, Mattis Oveson from Mind Technologies shares with us a list of little-known, under-appreciated but very useful features that can be found within his firm’s powerful, business-focused mind mapping program, Visual Mind.

1. Print-to-Visual Mind: It is possible to use Visual Mind as your “electronic print basket.” In the same way that you send print jobs to physical printers, you can send print jobs to Visual Mind. This results in a PDF document that you can insert in any location within your mind map. How is this useful? One application is when you need to capture a snapshot of a web page in your mind map. To use this feature, activate the print function of your preferred Windows application (Word, Excel, Web browser etc.), and choose the “Visual Mind printer” as the destination printer.

2. Calculation values: If you are working on estimates, cost calculations and other numerical data, Visual Mind has the ability to automatically calculate the totals for complete sub-trees and maps. To insert a calculation value into a branch, do the following: On the Insert tab, in the Insert group, select Calculation Value. This will bring up a dialog that lets you edit the value properties.

3. Insert structure: In some cases, you may need to enter the same type of information several times. Examples of such information could be contact details, task details or days of a week. To free you from entering the same type of information over and over again, Visual Mind can provide you with “structures” – pre-defined branches and sub-branches that can be inserted into a map at any time. Visual Mind comes with a number of pre-defined structures, and you can compose your own structures for the type of information you frequently use. To insert a predefined structure, do the following: On the Insert tab, in the Structures group, click the Insert Structure button. (editor’s note: This is definitely one of those “why didn’t anyone think of this before?” type of features – extremely useful!)

4. Real-time collaboration: Visual Mind comes with built in client/server functionality. This enables multiple users to share Visual Mind content in real time. Any changes made to a shared map will immediately be made available to other users who are working on the map. This way, Visual Mind offers teams and corporations live information sharing and management via the Visual Mind interface. When a map is shared, all files that are included in the map will also be shared. This means that all users will be able to view and edit the file directly from the map. The Visual Mind server controls that only allow one user to edit a file at a time.  If one user has changed the content of a file, the changes will be made available to all other users.

5. Web snapshots: When inserting a web link, Visual Mind can take a snapshot of the actual web page and let the snapshot represent the web link in the map. The snapshot is not much bigger than a standard web icon, but you can resize the snapshot to your preferred size.  This capability gives your maps a more appealing appearance. To insert a web snapshot, make sure “show thumbnail image” is enabled when you insert a web link.

6. Phone integration: Visual Mind allows you to make phone calls directly from the software. Visual Mind supports both internet telephony (VoIP) and analog phone calls. The first only requires software (i.e. Skype). The latter requires that you have the necessary hardware connected to your computer. To insert a phone number, do the following: On the Insert tab, in the Insert group, select Phone.

7. Create new documents from within Visual Mind: The program allows you to create new documents (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, etc.) directly from the software. Visual Mind will do everything for you, create the new file, insert a link to it in your map and open the file for you. Visual Mind comes with templates for some common document types (Empty Microsoft Word, Empty Microsoft Excel, etc.), and you can add your own specialized document templates. (editor’s note: This is a practical, time-saving feature. Do you understand what Mattis is saying here? You don’t have to create a Word or Excel document separately, save it and then manually link it into your map. Visual Mind handles all of these steps for you – cool!)

8. Auto-capitalize: Do your topics often start with a capital letter? If yes, the “auto-capitalize” feature in Visual Mind will be useful. Whenever you type in text for a new branch, Visual Mind can automatically capitalize the first letter for you. This is a small feature, but is very handy for certain needs, and it is possible to enable and disable it on the fly.

• The program now allows the use right-click for inserting floating branches and floating pictures.
• Callouts are drawn in an improved style, to make them stand out more from normal branches

Mind Technologies has also announced the availability of 3 add-ins that are compatiable with Visual Mind 11:

• theRealizer 2: A unique tool that transforms Visual Mind into a powerful, flexible brainstorming tool.
• Mind2Chart: A project planning add-in to Visual Mind.
• Outlook EasyTask: With this add-in you can easily import Outlook tasks into Visual Mind, export branches to Outlook and keep them synchronized.

I have personally used theRealizer 2 and highly recommend it, if you’re looking for a creative catalyst that can help you to generate fresh ideas and insights.

• In-map editing: As of this version, you can add and edit topics directly in the map workspace, rather than into a pop-up dialog box, as in past versions. As in the last version of Visual Mind, you can simply start typing and the program will automatically create a new topic – in place, within your map. A small ABC indicator allows you to toggle between capitalizing the first letter of your topic, or formatting it all lower case, while a small button to the right of the topic enables you to set its style (add icons) or change over to “advanced editing” (which invokes the old style of pop-up menu with tabs for general options, text font and style, child order and boundaries). This new input mode simplifies and speeds the addition of content to your map, while still giving you one-click access to additional options – nice!
• Floating branches: Visual Mind version 11 enables you to add floating branches anywhere within the workspace, giving you greater flexibility when structuring your maps. Unfortunately, this command is buried in a sub-menu under the “add child” command, which took me a few minutes to find. Then a message pops up, instructing you that if you really want to insert a floating topic, you need to select the “root branch” (the map’s central topic). However, when I did so, I was stymied by a big block of text popping up (because when you hover over a topic, a tool tip pops up displaying its attached notes text). I finally got it to work, but it wasn’t as easy as I had hoped. I tried mousing over a blank area of the map and right-clicking, but the right-click menu didn’t offer an “add a floating topic” command. That would be the easiest and most intuitive way to do this, in my opinion.
• Floating pictures: You can now add images and graphics anywhere within your map, but this suffers from the same usability issues as the floating branch implementation. To add a floating picture, you must first click on the central topic of your map. Visual Mind places the image just above the central topic, which you can then drag wherever you want within the workspace. Once again, a right-click command would be very helpful.
• Callouts: You can now annotate your map topics with remarks, which appear just above the topic, attached by a dotted line. It’s a great way to add notes to yourself. However, callouts in Visual Mind 11 have the same rounded rectangle shape as topics do (although in a different color), which may confuse some new users, who may mistake them for additional topics. If these were a different shape, such as a conversation “balloon,” it would be easier to tell them apart from topics.
• Visual relationship lines: This is a nice addition to Visual Mind, but I’m a little surprised that the program didn’t offer them before.
• Boundaries: You can now visually group topics together using boundaries or borders.

In the past, I have given Visual Mind high marks for being a polished, easy to use program that offers a lot of functionality and ease of use – good value for the money. But for some reason, I found several aspects of this version 11 beta to be somewhat clunky to use. Perhaps these are things that will be fixed prior to launch.

For more details and a download link, please visit the Visual Mind 11 beta web page.

Version 1 of theRealizer installed a side panel into MindManager 6 that walks you through a step-by-step process for defining your challenge, generating ideas and prioritizing them. It accomplished this by providing a set of pre-defined challenge statements and an extensive set of “idea cards” that could be used at random to stimulate ideas and solutions.

Version 2 builds upon this foundation by enabling you to edit the pre-defined challenges, add your own, and save them into different sets of challenges. You can also edit, delete and add idea cards.

In addition, the four-quadrant report that theRealizer uses to help you prioritize your ideas can now be customized with different axis names, giving you much greater flexibility in creating reports about your ideas.

Finally, you can now customize the sorting and concept branches – used to classify your ideas when evaluating them.

If you can’t visualize how this works, I strongly recommend that you visit theRealizer website, where you can view a video tutorial that clearly explains how it works, and how it can catalyze your thinking.

theRealizer 2 is compatible with MindManager 7 and 8, and Visual Mind 10.