The Mindjet Blog

Posts Tagged Brainstorm

Getting Things Done with Mind Maps

Nov 17

Posted by MichaelDeutch in Mind Map Examples, MindManager, Mindjet, News & Events

11-17-2009 9-08-33 AMLast week, I delivered a webinar presentation to David Allen’s GTD Connect community.

It was great fun to both create and deliver. I mapped out everything that I had wanted to accomplish including the entire content of the presentation. Then, I built my PowerPoint presentation using my map as a guide.

For a full replay of the webinar and to view all the content, sign up for a free trial of GTD Connect or, if you’re already a member, view it here.

I’ve posted (via SlideShare) the highlights of the presentation below… Read the rest of this entry »

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Tips for Team Brainstorming

Apr 16

Posted by MichaelDeutch in Mindjet

I love new ideas!

Ideas, ideas, ideas. They’re fun to think about, expand, and explore. I’ve been brainstorming non-stop since joining Mindjet. Mind mapping and brainstorming make powerful partners.

For instance, I’ve fully incorporated brainstorming into my blogging practices. I’ll never run out of ideas for future posts! Thanks to Problogger’s Darren Rowse, showed me how in his month long series on how to write better blogs.

The secret? Brainstorming with Mind Maps.

 

How can group brainstorming be as effective as individual work?

It’s pretty easy for me to sit down and start mapping something out for myself. As I wrote yesterday, it’s harder to do it with a team. But, it’s worth the effort. There is something magical about the creative process, especially when the dynamics of your team creates positive synergy! 

Here are some rules and tips to help make your next group brainstorming session a success.

 

Five basic rules for team brainstorming

  1. Stress quantity over quality
  2. Encourage wild ideas
  3. Suspend judgment
  4. Ignore seniority
  5. Forbid evaluation of ideas

 

Eight Tips for Effective Team Brainstorming

Robert Sutton, professor at Stanford’s School of Engineering, a co-founder of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford ("The d.school"), offers these tips on group brainstorming.

  1. Use brainstorming to combine and extend ideas, not just to harvest ideas.
  2. Don’t bother if people live in fear. Understand if your organizational culture supports brainstorming or if it is doomed to fail.
  3. Do individual brainstorming before and after group sessions.
  4. Brainstorming sessions are worthless unless they are woven with other work practices like observing users, talking to experts, or building prototype products.
  5. Brainstorming requires skill and experience both to do and, especially, to facilitate.
  6. A good brainstorming session is competitive—in the right way.
  7. Use brainstorming sessions for more than just generating good ideas.
  8. Follow the rules, or don’t call it a brainstorm.

Dig in deeper for a more in-depth review of Robert’s tips.  

 

Did I miss any tips? Please share your tips below!

 

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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Brainstorming, Brainwriting, and Collaborative Mind Mapping

Apr 16

Posted by MichaelDeutch in Mindjet

Ever been to a horrible brainstorming meeting?

Brainstorming is a powerful method for quickly generating lots of ideas about almost any problem or issue that needs an innovative solution. It’s also reported as one of the most common ways individuals use mind mapping.

However, team brainstorming sessions often fail. They’re intended to be free flowing non-judgmental exchanges that spark everyone’s creativity but at times that extremely difficult to achieve in team meetings.

Here are a couple of examples that illustrate why brainstorming is often ineffective. First, it’s easy for members of a group to remain creatively passive while others toss ideas around – this is also referred to as social loafing. It’s also common for group members to worry that their ideas will attract critical and negative comments leading them to withhold contributing their input.

 

Brainwriting reported to be more effective than brainstorming

Brainwriting aims to avoid some of these issues and is designed to encourage all group members to engage with each others’ ideas. The technique, often used in marketing, advertising, design, writing and product development, was originally developed by Professor Bernd Rohrbach in 1968. Brainwriting and brainstorming share the common focus on the quantity of new ideas, not the quality.

Technique 1: Briefly, it involves group members writing down ideas in silence. Group members traditionally pass slips of paper between each other, reading others’ ideas and then inserting their own. When everyone in the group has had a chance to add an idea onto the paper, it is placed in the centre of the table for all to see. The process is then repeated as many times as desired. The next step involves group members individually recalling as many of the ideas generated so far as possible which encourages attention to the ideas generated. The final step involves group members working alone for 15 minutes to individually generate even more ideas.

Technique 2: Another variation of brainwriting is also referred to as Method 635. It involves 6 participants that generate 3 ideas every 5 minutes. Participants are encouraged to draw on others’ ideas for inspiration, thus stimulating the creative process. After 6 rounds in 30 minutes the group has thought up a total of 108 ideas.

Initial research has demonstrated the technique generates more ideas than the more conventional group brainstorming. To learn more, you can check out business psychologist Peter Heslin’s research in the journal Occupational and Organizational Psychology.

 

Reader Questions: 

  • Is brainwriting a viable alternative to brainstorming?
  • Can it be improved with collaborative mind maps (e.g. multiple people editing and updating the idea map at the same time)?

In other words, can six of us, gather together in the same room or on opposite sides of the planet and work our way around a map, expanding upon each other’s ideas within a branch and moving on to the next branch to add yet another idea on a different thread.

Share your ideas and feedback 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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How Do You Use Mindjet?

Mar 17

Posted by MichaelDeutch in Mindjet

Last week at the GTD Summit, David Allen (@GTDGUY) did a quick poll of the audiece to see how many people were using Twitter. At least half the audience raised their hand while the other half were asking, "what the heck is Twitter?" and "why would you waste your time on it?"

Throughtout the conference, people (myself included) were sending real-time ’tweets‘ about the conference, quotes taken from the panelists and published on the web for all to see.

How Do You Use Mindjet?  The Summit isn’t the only thing people are talking about, here are a collection of recent ‘tweets’ about what people are saying and how they’re using Mindjet software: 

  • kerrygallivan: Used Mindmanger to capture the discussion at a large business meeting today and posted the map to the group. Loved it! Thnx!
  • jmarkwallace: Finally installed Mindjet on my Mac. I love this software, great for organizing thoughts and brainstorming. http://bit.ly/ruxLT
  • tomjgray: I love mindjet and mindmapping and @Rogercparker is a great resource for both http://cli.gs/89nJZ3
  • muhanado: @pagalvin you were right about MindManager, it *is* awesome!!
  • ChrisBlatnick: @ec2boy Agreed…the @Mindjet folks rock! Everyone should be using MindManager! :-)
  • mdowney: for ENTPs a great tool to combat a follow through deficiency is to spend more time thinking through ideas. I use @Mindjet MindManager maps.
  • cory_foy: @k0emt I use MindJet and love it. It was worth the investment for me.
  • TeamTechnology: Looking at product development with MindManager. Great product. http://www.mindjet.com
  • DarrenWray: Been using Mindjet for meeting notes on my tablet today. Usually use One Note, but impressed with capabilities of Mindjet on Tablet
  • stefanlubinski: Using MindManager "mind mapping" software to brainstorm a referral program. It helps me visualize all the pieces. http://tinyurl.com/cpdcwk
  • pagalvin: Every time I use MindJet MindManager I’m like, damn this is good. Every. Time.
  • will_alexander: Here’s a cool piece of software, great for organizing your thoughts and brainstorming sessions – www.mindjet.com – Mind Manager 8
  • jeffshuck: @prof_hutchens Walt, still figuring out this Twitter thing — missed your message. I LOVE MindManager — great tool. Wish it did 3-D though.
  • jflucke: @mindjet Thanks for the follow. Your software makes my life a ton easier.
  • chaosmarine: If I didnt’ have mindmanager to run every project, I would collapse under chaos. (hence… my name.. battling the forces and all that…)
  • Almar: Planning projects with Mindmanager and managing them with Basecamp.
  • ElizWellington: Pretty much obsessed with mindjet mindmanager
  • GrahamChastney: Undertaking some personal brainstorming via a set of mind maps – MindManager is great.
  • Buzzmodo: @loosewire I use the presentation mode in MindManager, and when someone gives me an idea during a talk I add it in real time!
  • OllyWhatTalent: I love Mindmanager – Brainstorming how WTCS can help a Watford based summer cultural festival.
  • mgpoole: Back from a few days away. Introduced my daughter to MindManager 8 & expect her use will interest staff & pupils at her school in Antwerp.
  • gtdguy: @estrenuo Sander, I use both MindManager and PersonalBrain. MM for project thinking and linking; PB for right-brain associations, network
  • Kyrsten_Jensen: @celltherapy I use MindJet Mindmanager regularly and LOVE IT! Great for organizing thoughts before writing – I use it to plan my wiki

 

 

Tweet to @Mindjet and tell us in 140 characters or less what are your favorite uses for Mindjet! Let us know on Twitter or add your comment below, we’re listening!

 

 

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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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Is Brainstorming a Waste of Time?

Jan 27

Posted by MichaelDeutch in MindManager, Mindjet

One of the top uses of MindManager has been consistently reported as "Brainstorming". I personally love to see my ideas flow and take shape on maps. Mark McGuinness at Lateral Action posed the question, Is Brainstorming a Waste of Time? in an update to their blog. They’re discussing ‘formal brainstorming’ which is governed by a set of rules that originated with advertising manager Alex Faickney Osborn, in his 1963 book Applied Imagination.

Photo by jurvetson

So, the ‘formal’ rules are basically:

  1. Generate as many ideas as possible – the more ideas you come up with, the better chance you have of coming up with good ones.
  2. Don’t criticize – it will dampen peoples enthusiasm and kill their creativity.
  3. Welcome unusual ideas – it’s important to break out of your usual mindset and consider wild and wacky ideas if you want to be really creative.
  4. Combine and improve ideas – instead of criticizing ideas, look for way to use them in combination and/or make them better.

The critics however state that brainstorming leads to:

  • Not enough good ideas
  • Lack of critical filters
  • Inhibition
  • Freeloading
  • Taking turns
  • Group think

 

I’ve been in some wildly productive brainstorming sessions with clients and with internal teams. We used MindManager projected in meetings or on webcasts and later, Mindjet Connect, which let the whole team, from multiple locations, add ideas simultaneously on the same map. The results:

  • Lots of great ideas
  • Incredible participation
  • Excitement
  • Simultaneous idea generation
  • Team synergy

 

Was there GroupThink? Perhaps a little. Was there Turn Taking? At times, by choice. Inhibition? Not by me :)  Freeloading? Never! Critical filters? Ok, I have to admit it’s sometimes painful to listen to bad ideas or ideas that won’t fly without saying something. 

So, mind managers of the world. How does mapping impact your brainstorming sessions? Add value? Good ideas? Share your comments below.

 

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Brainstorming Blog Content Tutorial from MindManager Customer

Sep 5

Posted by Gaelen O'Connell in MindManager, MindManager for Mac, Mindjet, Tips n' Tricks

We wanted to share with you a great screencast created by a customer who uses MindManager 7 to brainstorm content for his blog. The screencast can be found here and is called "Blogging and Biorhythms, Harnessing Creative Cycles."

Enjoy!

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Brainjamming with MindManager

Dec 5

Posted by Tom Blossom in Mindjet

The BrainJams event this past Saturday was a blast. It combined 2 great interests of mine: “Web 2.0” technologies and MindManager.  The central theme throughout the day was how web technologies can be used and how they should evolve to improve people’s lives.

Chris Heuer did a fantastic job of organizing the day’s events. The morning focused on 5 minute brainstorming sessions. This enabled every attendee to talk with almost every other attendee about what they are passionate about and get feedback and new ideas. The afternoon had 30 minute sessions on topics uncovered in the morning for brainstorming by a larger group. MindManager captured the ideas brought to light in the sessions and will be used as a permanent repository of the knowledge accumulated.

I can’t wait for the next one.  

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