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?
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?
Labels: business, finance, mindmanager, project management
posted by Andrew Wilcox @ 17:28
2 Comments:
At 11 February 2009 at 13:01 ,
product-innov8tor said...
Some years ago I was on a PRINCE2 training course, attempting to rubber stamp my actual project management experience, and the training given was in the form of MindMaps, and I can see the close resemblance.
I didn't make a great connection with the way the authors had laid out the necessary content, and struggled with the course as a result, despite having prior experience and significant success in PM roles.
Is it best to listen carefully to feedback and adjust MindManager maps accordingly ?
At 11 February 2009 at 15:38 ,
Andrew Wilcox said...
Great question. I hope the map above made sense?
Of course it is best to get feedback on your maps and adjust them accordingly (or not). Mind mappers and MindManager users produce maps which are meaningful to them. If they are going to publish them, they need to be understood by the audience. PowerPoint is designed to produce slide shows or presentations. How often do you see people presenting their speakers notes or brainstorm as set of bullet points?!
In most situations there is a need for more than one map or notes. For training you may need maps or a series of maps about
- the audience and their requirements
- your research
- the training process
- the training presentation
- the training course material
They will all look different and will have a different purpose. If they don't serve that purpose you will fail to achieve the training aim.
On the other hand I was recently asked to modify a map to look more like an ordered set of bullet points. I didn't. It would no longer have fitted on a single screen. I just asked the viewer to focus on the centre and go where his eye took him. Mind maps are more overviews than outlines.
It is the responsibility of the publisher to make sure their audience understands how the tool is being used. They may have to introduce and educate them about it first.
Here is a MindManager map on Prince2 I did several years ago.
http://www.ajwilcox.co.uk/Prince2Documents/index.html
Does it work?
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