The Mindjet Blog

Archive for April, 2009

Get Productive: Free Issue of Productive Magazine

Apr 30

Posted by MichaelDeutch in Mindjet

The second issue of Productive Magazine has just been released.

I am excited to say that they’ve included an article of my own on page 18 of this latest issue. It extra sweet as this issue is a tribute to long-time MindManager fan and productivity expert Marc Orchant who passed away in December, 2007.

CLICK HERE to download a FREE copy of this issue. Or, check out the site at ProductiveMagazine.com.

You may have seen my article already in the Mindjet Connections newsletter or this blog. If not, check it out and all of these other excellent pieces: 

 

 

Also, hot off the press: Mindjet was just written up in Network World/LinuxWorld.

Solving problems graphically: A new look at old problems will generate solutions!

“The self-acknowledged leader in mind mapping software, Mindjet, has expanded its flagship MindManager product to the Web for better collaboration. The company’s MindManager 8 desktop version sells for $349 for a perpetual license, and works with the Web standalone product available for $10 per user per month (usual volume discounts apply). The company added Mindjet Connect to take interactive mind mapping meetings down the same road WebEx took PowerPoint: multiple people can view the same map at the same time. Even better, mind maps are now as shareable and public as any online collaboration workspace.” 

Click here to read the whole article.

 

About the Author: Michael Deutch is Mindjet’s Chief Evangelist, content contributor for the Mindjet Blog and the Mindjet Connections newsletter. Get more from Michael on Twitter. 

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Guest Post: The Value of Mind Mapping for Students

Apr 29

Posted by MichaelDeutch in Mindjet

The following is a guest post from 11th Grader, Amy Mack:

The Value of Mind Mapping

When it comes to mind mapping, there is no limit to what you can do. I first learned about mind mapping in home school when I was about five. I have been actively mind mapping since I was seven and this is something I have learned over and over again through the years I have used this method. As a high-school student who is constantly working on projects and writing reports, I often need a way to process my thoughts into a plan of action. I have found that mind mapping has allowed me to be far more successful in my projects.

My first encounter with the Mindjet MindManager software came when I was eleven in a unique way. My sister and I had been part of a robotics team for many years and we were disappointed because our team had never won the Champions Award (the highest award possible). We had just received sponsorship from this company called Mindjet who had also given our team several licenses to their software. I have to say that I wasn’t exactly thrilled. I had no idea what this software was about and didn’t think it was important. However, my father (our team coach) convinced us to give it a try. So we all gathered around the computer to begin a mind map that would change our team.

    

We created two maps that day. The first map showed all of the qualifications that needed to be accomplished before a team could win the Champions Award and the second map showed all the things our team needed to do to become a top-award winning team. By the end of that day we had a plan of action (though the team was doubtful if would work).

For the next several months as we got ready for the competitions, we worked off our mind maps and followed our plan to the letter. That year, from the different competitions, we walked away with not one Champions Award but two! For the three years afterwards our team did exceptionally well because we now knew how to be a winning team.

    

Since that time I have used MindManager frequently to help me in my work and projects. It has become a standard item in my “software toolbox.” I have also learned that mind mapping isn’t just for adults or businesses, but also for children as well. I have seen my grades in school rise once I had a structured plan, and I am certain that it will work for other students as well.

I hope you find this information useful and inspiring. If you want to see our robotics blog, visit http://www.icarobotics.com/lego. The site has been retired but there’s a lot of good information there about robotics and how we used mind maps.

    

Here are a couple of examples:

Also, my father’s blog, http://www.EricMackOnLine.com has many articles on mind mapping.

 

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How Do You Spend Your Time?

Apr 28

Posted by MichaelDeutch in MindManager, Mindjet

What Occupies Your Mind?

Periodically, you may step back from your day-to-day responsibilities to review where you’ve been spending your time. Have you been walking the tightrope and balancing both the tactical and the strategic? 

Reading through Small Business Trends, I came across an interesting article by Anita Campbell about a brain map for how small business owners spend their time. The original article in the New York Times took an in-depth look at how HP CEO Mark Hurd looks at his business and allocates his time.

Both articles highlighted the key areas that occupy the mindshare of a CEO. Anita Campbell posed the question whether or not Fortune 500 thinking applies to small to medium sized businesses. Her post has already generated some interesting comments and insights.

Anita put together a conceptual map which I’ve taken from theory and put into a downloadable MindManager template.

As Anita says, maybe this is wishful thinking. Perhaps you’re too busy putting out fires to spend time focused areas of strategic relevance. So, the question stands, what’s on your mind (map)?

 

About the Author: Michael Deutch is Mindjet’s Chief Evangelist, content contributor for the Mindjet Blog and the Mindjet Connections newsletter. Get more from Michael on Twitter. 

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MindManager Web: Spring Update

Apr 27

Posted by MichaelDeutch in MindManager, MindManager Web, Mindjet

MindManager Web: Spring Update

Some of you may have noticed some improvements to MindManager Web. Mindjet launched over the weekend an update packed with over 100+ usability improvements. If you are an existing customer, you will automatically see the new MindManager Web updates without doing a single thing!

The updates have enabled and improved the following:

This update is the first step in many planned improvements for MindManager Web. Expect to see more updates to simplify sharing and collaboration in the coming months.

 

Get started mapping! And, please continue to send us your questions to Customer service or technical support. Also, you can let us know what you think in the comments below!

 

About the Author: Michael Deutch is Mindjet’s Chief Evangelist, content contributor for the Mindjet Blog and the Mindjet Connections newsletter. Get more from Michael on Twitter. 

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Visualize Search Results with Google News Timeline

Apr 23

Posted by MichaelDeutch in Mindjet

Innovative Presentation of Search Results

Google spends a lot of time working on ways to improve how we visualize information. The latest result of their effort is the new Google News Timeline. The Timeline – currently a Google Labs project - presents news and other data sources on a browsable, graphical timeline.

Available data sources at launch included:

  • recent and historical news,
  • scanned newspapers and magazines,
  • blog posts,
  • sports scores,
  • and information about various types of media, like music albums and movies.

Here’s a look at ‘good news’ (quotes) by week:

The concept is great! And, with a little work, it will add a lot of value for those who conduct research online. I can see some immediate applications for writers and history buffs.

But unfortunately, the Timeline falls a bit short on delivery today. Here were some of the issues that I discovered:

  • Confusing navigation. I generally can figure out the essence of an application from clicking around inside it. The timeline’s navigation just wasn’t intuitive enough for me but made much more sense after I found and read instructions. Hint: click on a date to zoom in and double click to zoom out.
  • Biased results. Search results return ‘major stories’ but it’s unclear what constitutes major. Like Search Engine Optimization, will this ultimately lead to another competition to get your news displayed on the Timeline?
  • Confusing results. It looks like the search algorithms haven’t been perfected yet. A recent comment on someone’s blog post from 2008 that referenced another date appeared in the Timeline results for 1999.
  • Limited time results. Timeline returns results for decades, years, months, weeks and days. What about now? Here’s what people are saying about the News Timeline, right now!
  • Single source results. Timeline appears to return results from one source at a time (e.g. news vs. blogs, not news and blog). It would be more useful (to me) if it consolidated results from various searches into the single timeline view. This would merge the capabilities of new social media search engines (e.g. icerocket) with time-based results visualization.

And perhaps most importantly (for effective use with Mindjet):

  • Unshareable results. The URLs are not shareable (e.g. I couldn’t email you a link to my timeline results). This is critical for integration with Mindjet! I’d like to be able to drag a result link and or the entire query right onto my map like I can with other web applications. I was able to figure out how to update existing URLs and change to change parameters but that simply isn’t a usable method yet.

 

Using News Timeline with MindManager

Here’s how I’d leverage the news timeline: I’d love to be able to drag a specific News Timeline directly into my map onto a topic. This is how I add links to many of my maps today. When I return to the map and access the link, I’d see the same results for the original query.

Timeline integration issues:

  • The Timeline’s URL does not change when you create your search. This means the link you add to your map will not contain the correct parameters to recall the specific results when you use the link in the future.
  • The Timeline doesn’t let you "Drag and drop links" into other applications. This functionality (which I use all the time between my browser and MindManager maps) has been disabled to enable the timeline navigation. You can ‘right click’ and

 

Related News:

 

Related Mindjet posts:

 

About the Author: Michael Deutch is Mindjet’s Chief Evangelist, content contributor for the Mindjet Blog and the Mindjet Connections newsletter. Get more from Michael on Twitter. 

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Gartner’s 2009 Cool Vendors list for Project & Program Management

Apr 21

Posted by MichaelDeutch in MindManager, Mindjet

Mindjet selected in Gartner’s 2009 Cool Vendors list for Project & Program Management

Most project team members are overbooked and struggling to keep up with the battle cry to do more with less. Gartner analysts have hand-picked 4 vendors to help companies deliver a set of tools that keeps employees productive and fully engaged on their projects.

Who made the list?

Mindjet: For team collaboration, defining the project, solving problems, capturing requirements, developing plans, and all the other project uses where ‘thinking’ is essential.

Taskline: A powerful time & task management add-in for Microsoft Outlook for team members to ensure their assigned work actually gets completed.

Evernote: An ever-popular organizer for your notes, websites & images. Evernote is popping up everywhere these days. Give it a spin.

AwayFind: A new web application tool meant to save people from themselves by letting people escape from email overload to get stuff done. Use it for free with additional for-fee features available.

Read the full Gartner report.

 

 

About the Author: Michael Deutch is Mindjet’s Chief Evangelist, content contributor for the Mindjet Blog and the Mindjet Connections newsletter. Get more from Michael on Twitter. 

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Mind Mapping News

Apr 20

Posted by MichaelDeutch in Mindjet, Success Stories

Welcome to another action packed week! It’s sunny and beautiful in California and I thought I’d share some sunny posts about mapping, Mindjet and other inspiring news!

How to Tell Your Story Using Mind Mapping Randy Englund, a project management consultant, shares how he leverages mind maps to enhance his communication skills!

The Social Media and Tweet Challenges For a little humor and mind mapping: Larry King vs. Ashton Kutcher with a dash of the Conversation Prism, a visualization created by Brian Solis which he uses to create his own brand’s social media MindManager map.

Where Do You Like to Mind Map? Brett Bumeter asks, where do you likt to map? Oh, I could go on and on with this one but some of my best maps were created on airplanes. Nothing beats unplugging from the day-to-day and letting my mind free to create amazing maps!

6 Human Needs Adam Sicinski’s latest work maps out the influence of our needs on our lives.

Mind Map Galleries Provide Places to Share Your Maps and Get Inspired Chuck Frey lists online sites to share mind maps or view maps for creative inspiration.

Baby Matterz is Using Mindjet Connect Baby Matterz is utilizing Mindjet Connect for real-time collaborative planning of an innovative education program that gets students to learn first-hand about the social, emotional, and physical development of babies and toddlers.

Living Building Challenge Tools: Mind mapping and Integrative Design Process If you’re up in Portland, Oregon this May, check out Mary Davidge as she and others present how they’re using Mindjet Connect to collaboratively research, track, document, and implement the prerequisites for the Living Building Challenge.  

 

About the Author: Michael Deutch is Mindjet’s Chief Evangelist, content contributor for the Mindjet Blog and the Mindjet Connections newsletter. Get more from Michael on Twitter. 

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