Ink to Text - What is the best strategy in MindManager?

I tried a new strategy this morning. I have been going through topic by topic using the 5 drop down choices or editing the topics to correct any "anomalies". This works well on the single screen of my Tablet PC.

Yesterday I inked two speeches or presentations. I delayed my ink to text conversion until I was back in the office this morning. In my large extension screen situated above my Tablet PC screen I had the ink map. I saved a copy to a new file e.g. meeting_text.mmap and opened it as another window in MindManager. MindManager is now stretched across both screens and I used Arrange View to split the maps across the MindManager work area. In the Tablet PC screen I automatically converted the ink to text using the Accept All option. I was then able to scan the ink and text comparing good and bad conversions, editing any bad conversions as I went around the map.

I think the new strategy was quicker but may be prone to the occasional missed anomaly.

What do you do?

Brainstorming with Whiteboards, Post-Its, Mind Maps or MindManager

I just saw a Tweet about someone feeling more comfortable about brainstorming with a whiteboard than using software and a friend Rod Sloane - No Bull Business has just poked me about doing more brainstorming with businesses. Some argue that the manual process is more engaging than an automated one but I don't want to stir that comparison up.

I think the real issue is the competency of the facilitator with their tools of choice. It takes practice to become competent with these tools. If you are going to draw freehand and write in front of audience, you need to practice. Your competency needs to be greater than most of the audiences you will interact with. I bet Jamie Nast - Idea Mapping has hours of drawing experience with her tool kit and her audience (including me) likes what she does.

Good facilitators know the short cuts (keys) and restrictions imposed by their tool. They know when to start a new sheet or use a different coloured Post-It or send the topic to a new map. It's also about recognising your limits. Tony Buzan uses some very competent graphic artists in "The Ultimate Book of Mind Maps" Note in the Wikipedia link he is using a computer. ;)

One of my core competencies is being able to use MindManager in front of a live audience either at the keyboard or on the Tablet PC and leaving the audience thinking that was easy and simple.

The manual v software comparison is like saying Jimi Hendrix is better than Julian Bream or vice versa. Both are leading exploiters of their tools and both work well with normally different audiences (well I have albums from both of them but I have only seen Julian live) .

So here are the strengths of brainstorming with me:

• Items can be deleted, moved, copied, grouped and linked very quickly.
• It unusual for the projector screen to fall down or off the wall.
• I don't run out of paper or pens.
• I have access to more than 16 colours.
  
• I have 8 hours of batteries to cover power failures. With small groups I can brainstorm in the dark.
  
• I bring a spare PC, projector and screen.
  
• I can paste images on the map.
• I can add spreadsheet ranges.
• I can add links to web pages, files and folders.
  
• The brainstorm can be published and / or emailed immediately the meeting ends to the participants and others.
  
• I don't stop at brainstorming. It's easy to assign action owners, dates, priority, duration and send filtered maps or lists to the action owner and meeting owner.
• Those actions can be seen as timeline or Gantt chart at the meeting.
• I can organise on-line asynchronous brainstorms accessed via your browser (no need for MindManager desktop license).

Should I be doing something else on a Saturday morning? Perhaps cycle out to see the first steam train built in England for a while smoke past.

You comments please?

Managing and giving access to document sets. Example Prince2

How do you get an overview of a complex document set?

I developed this map back in 2003 when reviewing Prince2 and how it could be used at a Systems Integrator. Click the map and a RTF template document will download.

You will see a few highlighted documents. These did not exist in the Prince2 set in 2003 but were part of our project management system. It was easy to link to either company or client templates such as Permits to Work and live data such as Finance. This map can be on an intranet giving access to all employees to the current document set. With a simple document approval process (one or two people have the rights to post the current templates to the web site) it can be used to ensure that everyone uses the current version of the template.

You might have a set of documents you use for Customer Management or Accident Reporting or Recruitment or ................. MindManager can be used to quickly gather together disparate sources of information and turn them in to a coherent process map. For instance in finance you may wish to show internal, accountancy best practice and HMRC (tax authority) documents in a set.

These documents were obtained from the PRINCE2 On-line Ordering and Downloads part of the Official PRINCE2 website in 2003. They are not the current set. A single zip file of all the documents could be downloaded from there in 2003. This is the current Prince2 web site. Now there are MindManager Add Ins such as Olympic's QP2 which provide a complete management system for Prince2.

Cabre can work with you to create a customised map(s) for your project or company process which links to an existing or new document set. Please contact me to discuss.

First Anniversary Index of Applications of MindManager

Its been bugging me for a few days that I can't see an index of my blogs. I am hoping that someone will point me to a useful Blogger add-in after this posting. In the meantime I have constructed a few with MindManager by dragging and dropping titles and links via a Google search.



You can view the index:

1. As a large clickable image map
   
2. By downloading the Mindjet Player PDF
3. By viewing the Mindjet Player Flash Page
4. As a text linked outline
5. And I only just thought of this, you can download the MindManager map.
   

The clickable image map shows the original map full scale but I replaced the standard jog file with a gif so it loads faster.
The PDF file alters the formatting and produces a very large file.
The Flash is also big which is why I put it on a separate page.
I need to write a version of the outline template so it is fit for the purpose of adding linked text to a blog. The styles and structure make it too complicated at the moment. Use view source to see what I mean.

The easiest way has got to be publishing it as map and letting you download it. It is also bar far the smallest file size.

Who are the potential users of MindManager during the Credit Crunch

This hopefully short period of global financial upheaval has a variety of effects. One aspect is that some people are getting incredibly busy dealing with the fall out and others may be less busy now but need to plan for the future. Some obvious examples of the busy people are Human Resources and Insolvency Practitioners. Other who have been made redundant will be planning their future, perhaps realigning themselves.

Here is my brainstorm about this issue.



Who do you feel needs the extra help MindManager can give them during this period?

I remember when I first used mind mapping 14 years ago it was to map out the business I had just joined. I had moved from the centre of Unilever in The Netherlands to Anchor Foods in Swindon. I had worked for Unilever for 17 years and understood the people, culture and processes. Anchor Foods was at the far end of the New Zealand Dairy Board and I knew nothing about them. I used mind mapping during all my induction meetings to create a picture of how this business worked, what my role as Chief Engineer was, the relationships and the priorities of the business. When you walk into a new situation, you need to quickly assess what is happening and what to do. Creating maps and being able to see a big picture made me much more comfortable with the situation. Have you had a similar experience?

A Compendium of MindManager Tips from Twitter

Occasionally I post a MindManager tip on Twitter when I come across something I have forgotten existed or a fantastic new feature I have never seen before. You can see them along with all the other stuff I tweet about at http://www.twitter.com/ajwilcox. I tend to use Twhirl as my Twitter client.

My MindManager Tips on Twitter:

• Right click the empty space in the Workbook Tab toolbar to get some useful options: Properties, arrange, show in explorer
• MindManager 8: The new built in browser does not have a print button. Right click to get print and several other options.
• Web Export - Testing your templates - Use Filter to hide all but central topic - Export is then very quick!
• When starting a map about a new contact use the Map Part > Outlook Linker > New Contact to create the contact in Outlook
• You can right click a topic and split it. Select text in the topic or let MindManager create a topic for each word.
• If you "lose" files or folders. The Map Part - File Explorer can help you find them http://is.gd/4DaT

I also have many more extensive MindManager tips and tricks in the Cabre Community Forum.