Last fall, I conducted a survey of mind mapping software users, which was the largest research of its kind ever performed in this fast-growing software genre. The results were quite significant: It showed, for example, that mind mapping software increases the productivity of its users by an average of 20 percent! It’s now time for […]

Nick Duffill shares a very cool way to do outcome-based planning — to visualize our relationship with a business event, such as solving a problem, launching a product, delivering a presentation or establishing a new process. Most mind mapping software programs, he points out, tend to cluster topics on the right and left sides of […]

Thanks to many of you, my first mind mapping software survey, conducted last fall, was a great success. I’m now beginning to brainstorm questions for my next survey. And I’d like your help! Please use the comments section of this post to tell me what YOU would like to know about the business use of […]

I just got word from Chris Griffiths, the managing director of Buzan Online, that a new video featuring Tony Buzan (the inventor of mind mapping) has just been released on YouTube.com. In this 5-minute video clip, Tony clearly explains why mind maps have curved branches, the importance of only placing one word on each branch, […]

CS Odessa, the developer of ConceptDraw MINDMAP, has launched an online forum called the ConceptDraw Community that provides a place where users of its entire line of ConceptDraw products can ask questions, get answers, share tips and more. One board within the forum is dedicated to ConceptDraw MINDMAP, and can he accessed here. There’s not […]

Gael Ltd., developers of MindGenius, offer a consulting service that helps companies to capture and organize and catalog its knowledge, as reported in the British publication eStrategiesEurope. Knowledge management starts with knowledge capture, which article author Ralph Clark (CEO of Gael) explains is often the most daunting part of the process: "Capturing the vast amounts […]

How can you make an informed decision on which mind mapping software to purchase? The author of the Knowledge Mapping Blog walks us through his recent evaluation process, in which he looked at MindManager Pro, MindGenius, ConceptDraw MINDMAP Pro, MindMapper and FreeMind. As part of this selection process, he takes a set of performance criteria […]

Phil Chambers recently shared with me his excellent book, 101 Top Tips for Better Mind Maps. Although it’s focused on hand-drawn mind maps, much of its advice is also applicable to software-produced visual maps. Phil, who is a World Champion and International Grandmaster of mind mapping, has obviously put a lot of thought into this […]

Here’s an interesting article from TopicScape on how to utilize mind mapping software to capture the mountain of information gathered during web research projects. This technique promises to help you to stay focused on the task at hand, while also storing all of the “must-see” sites and resources you’ve found in an organized way. As you […]

Jamie Nast, author of the new book, Idea Mapping, has just released a companion tool called the Idea Mapping Kit. It contains a 7-1/16" x 9-1/8" 3-ring binder with velcro closure, a supply of 3-hole punched, high-quality, 67-pound paper for mapping, plus award-winning Staedtler Triplus colored markers in a zippered pouch. The case that the […]