Yesterday I waxed lyrical about choosing Mind Mapping software and gave you some pretty compelling reasons to choose the current "Weapon of Mass Mind Mapping" - Mind Manager 7.0.

So can they stay on top?

Will they stay on top?

Well that really depends upon who is going to emerge as the leading contender.

There are some established alternatives but a recent addition to the pack chasing the powerful MindJet machine is the software from the Buzan organisation - iMindMap.

This software that has been around for nearly two years now, is the first "officially" endorsed Mind Mapping Software.

If you talk to the Buzan organisation they will tell you that Tony has shunned Mind Mapping software over the years because the efforts presented to him never really reflected the true power of hand drawn Mind Mapping on which he has based his work.

Whilst this may be true, when you look at the impact Mind Manager has made you do wonder whether Mr Buzan has missed a golden opportunity in not being at the forefront of the development of a Mind Mapping Software earlier in the race.

Still better late than never and iMindMap seems to be here to stay so out of curiosity I purchased a copy just recently.

Now I must tell you at this stage that I am sharing with you my thoughts of version 2.5 which has been having a complete overhaul and will be re-released at version 3 sometime this month.

The timing of this post is to let you know that when version 3 is launched it will be priced much higher than version 2.5 BUT you can save £90/$180 if you buy the current version NOW because you will get a FREE upgrade to version 3 when it is released.

Aside from professional curiosity, that was pretty much a major driving force for me getting my wallet out because the promise of what's to come seems so enticing.

So where is it now?

Well here is a screen shot of what an iMindMap Mind Map looks like:

Ok so it does look more like the hand drawn Mind Mapping that the world coped with before these darn computers took over the world.

The Mind Mapping purists must have leapt high, high fived and pooled their coloured pens when this was revealed.

Probably the most exciting part about the software (from a hand drawn perspective) is the ability to add your own sketches to the Mind Map.

This tool is extremely powerful and sets it apart from anything else I have seen (which I will admit does not really extend much beyond Mind Manager and FreeMind).

But is that enough?

This software promises many of the core functions that Mind Manager delivers - export to Microsoft applications, hyperlinking, task management etc and could be seen as a viable alternative to Mind Manager in these core areas.

However, one wonders whether the focus on getting the brilliant sketch pad facility to work has got in the way of its basic graphical interface.

As a hardcore hand drawn Mind Mapper with lots of experience of using Mind Manager, this software sort of fell in between the two extremes but without really challenging either end.

In its current edition it is clunky, far from intuitive and with some dead ends (just try changing the text colour).

It doesn't have the ease of use as a software that Mind Manager has (even if you take into account my fluency with that product) and doesn't really allow true "drawing".

I really want this software to work because I can see where it could go but in its current incarnation it falls far short of its hype.

Now remember this is version 2.5 and I know that alot of work has been put into version 3 which is about to go through its Beta testing phase (which I am scheduled to be a part of if they are not completely miffed by what I have written here!).

My hope is that version 3 is light years from 2.5 because it certainly needs to be if it is ever to challenge MindJet's domination of the market.

Now as I mentioned before Buzan is offering a free upgrade to version 3 if you buy version 2.5 now which will save you $180/£90.

If you are willing to risk that version 3 will be the Bees Knees then save yourself some money by getting in now with version 2.5 (that's what I did).

If you are not then wait around for a while and once it is out, I will let you know what I think.

If you are looking for Mind Mapping Software then how do you know which one to choose? 

At the last count (accoding to Vic Gee at www.mind-mapping.org) there are nearly 300 different forms of software that in some way shape or form could be described as "Mind Map Software".

So how do you choose?

Well I can only tell you from my experience what works for me but even putting that aside, I think it is useful to know a few things about the market leader.

I use Mind Manager software from Mind Jet.

If I remember rightly, over the years I have jumped from version 2, to version 4 and now am on version 7 having spent quite a while using version 6.

I started with them because at the time I first looked at Software for Mind Mapping (going back to 1999), Mind Manager was the only credible solution I had seen.

So partly out of habit, a little bit of customer loyalty and mainly because I have not seen any viable alternative I am a firm advocate and ongoing user of the software.

Therefore it would be safe to say my judgement might be a little biased and slightly narrow (which is why I strongly recommend taking a look at Chuck Frey's site I featured a few weeks ago or indeed Vic Gee's site).

Now I refered to them as the market leader but how do I know that?

Well first of all they told me so.

Here is a screen shot of a graphic sent to me in one of their latest e mail campaigns.

You can probably see the numbers but can't make out what they mean….let me explain.

According to this graphic there are over 1 million Mind Manager licence holders world wide and that 91% of those who upgraded to the recent version 7 are either "satisfied" or "very satisfied" they upgraded.

Now just for the record, I have recently upgraded and I too am very satisfied.

The 85 is the number of Fortune 500 companies with Mindjet customers.

Now this last figure is starting to get a bit "markety" because if just one person at Microsoft uses Mind Manager and they happen to be on the Mindjet database then that adds 1 to this number so we really can't tell much from this figure but I'd imagine that there would be more so we can have a bit of (mildly sceptical) confidence in this figure.

But I suppose the most important figure on this graphic is the 3-5 hours typically saved by Mind Manager 7 users on a weekly basis.

Now is that hype or is there some truth in this?

Well these days we can't always trust what these companies say about themselves so it is useful to take some independent assessment.

I mentioned Chuck Frey again earlier in this post and I now want to bring him out again as my secret "weapon of mass verification".

Chuck knows Mind Mapping software.

Chuck knows what Mind Mapping software users think of Mind Mapping Software…because he asks them.

In a recent survey he polled exactly what software they were using.  The results sort of looked something like this:

It shows in % terms the relative market share of Mind Mapping software of those polled.

Just looking at this, I think it is quite clear to see which is the winner…the biggest one of course

And which software was it… well you are going to have to go and get the report to read it yourself (available from Chuck's excellent blog) but I am sure you can put two and two together…

The leading software at the time of the survey had over 70% of the market, more than 7 times that of the nearest competitor (which was a free software).

Now I think the most interesting statistic to come from Chuck's survey (as far as I am concerned anyway) is that the use of Mind Mapping Software on average increases the productivity of its users by 20%.

That is about a day a week.

Now it is somewhat more than the 3-5 hours reported by Mindjet for version 7 of Mind Manager but it is consistent with Mind Map software adding to personal effectiveness and productivity.

So Mind Manager appears to be the one to choose.

But are there any viable alternatives?

Well there are and tomorrow I will be telling you about one that has the potential, certainly in Mind Mapping functional terms, to challenge Mindjet.

I was reading an article in the glossy magazine of a Sunday paper yesterday and I came across a mention of Mind Mapping in relation to learning languages.

Tony Buzan has had written a series of books looking at using ideas like Mind Mapping and memory techniques to help people learn a language and this was making mention of those.

Of course as a thinking tool, the use of Mind Mapping elevates all aspects of thought but it is especially powerful for learning.

Here are just a suggestion of how you could use Mind Mapping to help you in learning a language:

When you are learning vocabulary in a particular context (eg being in a restaurant) then create an image only Mind Map of what you might encounter in that context. 

For example you might have a branch for meat with sub-branches showing cows (beef), sheep (lamb and mutton) and chickens.

You might also have a branch with pictures of drinks (tea, coffee, water, wine, beer etc).

Another branch might be one with items you would find on the table (knife, spoon fork, plate etc).

And so on.

Once you have created this Mind Map (either by drawing the items yourself or by cutting out pictures from a magazine) then all you have to do is write the translation of the item in your chosen language.

If you are going to learn a number of languages make sure you take a copy of the image only Mind Map to use as a "master" copy.

Just the process of going through this suggestion will help you learn the vocabulary (active learning if you like) but also the application of a very powerful learning tool will add even more chance you will learn and recall the vocabulary.

The combination of the pictures and the spatial orientaion, aligned with the words will help reinforce it in your memory and increase your chances of recalling the vocabulary.

Try it and let me know how you get on.

Ok so you are unlikely to ever get an impartial view about MInd Mapping from me, however hard I try to be objective.

I am a complete convert, I thoroughly recommend it and can't understand why anyone would ignore this amazing tool once it has been properly explained to them about how it works and what the benefits are.

So how do you get an impartial view on what people really think about Mind Mapping and how they are using it?

Well you just ask them.

And that is what Mind Mapping Software Expert Chuck Frey has done over the last few years.

He has surveyed over a thousand people over several surveys over a number of years and so his finger is definitely on the pulse of what people really think about Mind Mapping and how they are actually using it.

Of course being a software expert, his research is biased towards his area of interest, however it does reveal quite a bit about the importance of being able to use both conventional and software generated MInd Maps.

I won't steal his thunder by telling you his key findings but if you go along and peruse these well written reports, you will discover:

• The #1 benefit people are getting from using Mind Mapping that gets nearly 4 times as many votes as the #2 benefit
• The average productivity savings generated by properly using Mind Mapping Software (what would you do with an extra day a week of free time?)
• The extremely wide range of Mind Mapping applications
• Why he thinks the majority of Mind Mapping Software users have never even heard of its inventor, Tony Buzan!

Who needs to read these reports?

Well if you find yourself in one of the following categories, then I would definitely suggest you go along and read his reports (they are well written, have lots of pictures and charts and reveal some very interesting issues with Mind Mapping and the software in particular):

Mind Mappers

• If you are someone who has considered using Mind Mapping but want to find out if it is really worth the effort
• If you have been using hand drawn Mind Maps for a while and want to get into using software
• If you are a Mind Mapping Software user but know there is more you could be doing with it and want to find out more

Corporate Management

• If you are considering bringing in a Mind Mapping trainer at the request of one of your team and want to check out what the fuss is all about
• If you are considering investing in Mind Mapping software and want to know more about the advantages and benefits

Mind Mapping Software Developers

• Of the three categories you really HAVE to go and get these reports because they will tell you exactly what you need to do with your Mind Mapping software to make it user friendly, appropriately functional and more appealing.  Check out the list of applications to find out exactly how Mind Mapping Software is really being used and if yours can't do the top ten, then you have some coding to do!

So to get hold of Chuck's free research reports to help you understand what is really happening in the wonderful world of Mind Mapping, just get yourself over to Chuck Frey's MInd Mapping Research Centre.

There is quite a bit of free Mind Map Software around on the internet these days and just recently I came across this free Text to Mind Map converter that you will find at www.text2mindmap.com.

I have had a quick look at it and tried it out but before I tell you about it, I want to give you my thoughts on the the whole concept of having a software that converts text into a Mind Map.

There is a big debate about the differences between using Mind Map Software and creating them by hand. 

In my mind there is no argument, they are complementary and should be used together because each has its own strengths and weaknesses however the combination of freehand Mind Mapping and those processed by a piece of software can be a potent combination.

Then there is the choice of which is the best Mind Map software to use.

Now I am not going to get into that one because I don't have enough knowledge (yet) of the vast arrray of software out there and so can't comment on which is the best.

I can tell you that I use MInd Manager which does the job perfectly for me and I can highly recommend it.

How it compares to the other software out there, I do not know, but it works for me and I know works for hundreds of thousands of others too.

So then we get onto the issue of a software that takes text and then turns it into a Mind Map.

Ok…..

So how do I say this without upsetting anyone who has put their time and energy into creating such software….

Why would you need such a utility?

Now on the face of it, if you can take a body of text, stick into some software that produces a Mind Map version of it, then Bingo! Job done.

You have saved time, you have created a swift Mind Map and the gods of efficiency and productivity will smile down on you.

However what most people still seem to miss is that the Mind Map itself is not the value and benefit of this powerful thinking tool.

It is the process of Mind Mapping that is the beauty and power of the approach.

Because if you take some text and turn it into a Mind Map, you are THINKING about it in a way that you absolutey HAVE to analyse, categorise, summarise and organise the information.

By doing that process YOURSELF your understanding, retention and recall will be far superior than if you just took conventional notes.

The quality of your thinking has increased immensely because you are having to THINK about it to formulate the Mind Map representation of YOUR perspective of the information instead of just collecting a version of it in your hand writing.

So if you take your body of text and stick it into a piece of software that does that for you, not only are you missing the point, you are also missing the value of the THINKING experience.

So let's get back to the Text2MindMap tool.

They give the example of Months of the Year, but you have to indent the hiearchy of words yourself so you would enter the words like this and then press "Convert to Mind Map" and this is the sort of diagram you would get:

Months of the year

Spring

March

April

May

Summer

June

July

August etc

 So if your outcome was to just take your represented keywords that you have organised in this fashion into a diagram that is similar to a Mind Map then this would work for you.

However, there are a couple of points that might be worth bearing in mind:

1.   If you are going to arrange your words and indent them to show the hierarchy, you would save time and have a better result if you did that directly on either a hand drawn Mind Map or a conventional Mind Map software.

2.   Whilst claiming to be a Mind Map, the diagram produced is really a bubble diagram which is different conceptually (albeit subtlely) from the Mind Mapping tool.

So in essence, whilst the programming efforts are to be applauded, the concept of this tool should really be examined in greater depth before too much time is possibly wasted creating something that pretty much defeats the object of Mind Mapping and essentially bypasses its power.

My concern is not necessarily that these highly intelligent and skilled people will waste their time, but that once the tool is developed further, people may come to use it, think that it is representative of the power of the Mind Map, not get the amazing benefits that Tony Buzan's creation properly applied offers and then dismiss Mind Mapping as something that "just doesn't work".

Now even if the development of Text2MindMap gets to the stage where you can simply cut and paste a body of text and you get a (proper) Mind Map perfectly created, summarising the key words (and maybe even using images too) one thing is still missing…

The individual…

You see if you and I both took a page of text and we Mind Mapped it, our Maps would be completely unique. 

There would be some similarities because we were using the same source content but there would be a lot of differences because of our unique perspectives on the world and therefore our needs from the piece.

You might take a positive slant on the piece, I might take a critical slant on the piece.

You might want to add ideas to make things work, I might want to shoot them down and show them how they can't.

Unfortunately, no matter how good any software is, being able to take different and unique perspectives and interpretations on a body of knowledge is pretty much impossible to do by computer (certainly for the forseeable future anyway).

And then we come back to my original point - why bother doing that automatically and miss all the fun yourself.

So that's my opinion and I am certainly open to hearing yours.

Try it out at www.text2mindmap.com and let me know what you think.

I want to give you as many examples of Mind Maps as I can and so I regularly trawl the internet for really good Mind Mapping so that you can see the different approaches and ways they are used.

A very common question I am asked when I am sharing the benefits of Mind Mapping with people is "How big should a Mind Map be?"

This is an excellent question and the answer really is "as big as it needs to be".

Now to some this might not seem very helpful but it is true - your Mind Map is finished when it has done the job it is intended to do.

Sometimes you might just have a couple of branches and a few key words.

Other times you might create a Mind Map that is full of detail with lots of branches and sub-branches.

Remember it is the process that is crucial, not the Map itself.

The physical size is not really that important as the same Mind Map can be drawn on a piece of 11"x8" paper or it can be drawn on a flip chart sized piece of paper.

"Big" really refers to the complexity and the level of detail.

So with that in mind, I have found a site that has some excellent examples of Mind Maps - really big Mind Maps.

Here is a screen shot of one of the Mind Maps on the site which you will find at the Study Matrix Blog run by fellow Mind Mapping enthusiast Adam Sicinski.

 Now at first glance it is easy to be put off by something as complex as this.

However, remember this is someone else's Mind Map and is an example of some pretty detailed thinking around this topic which happens to be about becoming an outstanding critical thinker.

If you had to explore this topic in some depth and capture your thoughts on a single piece of paper, then this is probably one of the best ways of doing it.

So looking at this for the first time, you are missing the context in which this example of a Mind Map has been created.

All you are seeing is the evidence of the thought process and take it from me that this is a pretty good example.

If you would like to see more Mind Map examples, just like this one, then Adam has more like this one that you can download for FREE!

Topics include 25 Effective Strategies for Weight Loss, Unlocking Your Creative Genius Potential, and the Financial Intelligence Factor and can be downloaded for free from his site at http://www.studymatrixart.com/store/.

So go check them out and do let me know what you think.

What is a Mind Map?

This is a question I keep on forgetting to answer because being so close to the topic it is easy to forget that not everyone knows what a Mind Map is or indeed may never even have heard of it.

So to start with here is a Mind Map:

Quite simply a Mind Map consists of:

• A central image - usually a picture (the Topic)
• Main Branches (the main themes)
• Smaller Sub-Branches (the detail)
• Keywords
• Images
• All of the above drawn in colour

That is it.  So the answer to the question "What is a Mind Map?" is simply that.

But a better question to ask might be "Why bother using a Mind Map?"

Click on the video below and you can watch a video of me waxing lyrical about why I think Mind Mapping is so powerful.

 Do let me know how you feel about Mind Maps.

It is like waiting for a bus…nothing happens for a while and then 3 turn up all at once.

Earlier this week I mentioned in a post I had found a great site that reviews Mind Mapping Software.

Well unbeknown to me there are other sites out there too that provide great information about using Mind Map software.

I think by luck I came across the grand daddy of them all after I wrote that last post.

…mmmm….perhaps I am over stating my contribution to that raised awareness of this other great site.

What actually happened is that the owner of this particular site got in touch with me and informed me of my omission.

It seems I really have been behind the times on keeping up to date about the amount of software for Mind Mapping that is available to the user.

Well I suppose that is of no real surprise as I am a huge advocate of using hand drawn Mind Maps and have been happily using Mind Manager for years. 

So why would I need to look elsewhere?

….How selfish of me to consider only my own needs and not that of the wider public and in particular my customers, clients, subscribers and visitors to this site.

So if you want to find out where some of the best software is to help you with your Mind Mapping then I have already given you that site (see my earlier post).

But if you want to see information about ALL of the available Mind Mapping (and visual thinking) software (which will of course include the best as recommended by Chuck Frey) then you should visit this site:

You will find it at www.mind-mapping.org and it is run by Vic Gee.

He describes his site as "Vic's compendium of software that supports knowledge management and information organisation in graphical form" and is another excellent Mind Mapping resource.

Each entry in his database (and there are nearly 300 separate entries) will tell you the name of the software, where you can find it, when it came online (or certainly when it was added to his database), the operating system, how much it costs, observations about it and what people think of it..

There is a very useful search facility that allows you to search by operating system and/or type of application.

So if you wanted to see if there was a 3D Mind Mapping Software for your PocketPC, then at the click of a mouse you could find out if it exists.

The scope of this site extends far beyond just Mind Mapping and embraces all sorts of visual based thinking tools and is a fabulous resource for seeing just what is available.

You could spend hours looking at all sorts of different packages so my advice to you is this if you want to just check out Mind Mapping Software:

1.   Visit Vic's site at www.mind-mapping.org and do a search for Mind Maps or 3D Mind Maps for your operating system.

2.   Then go over to Chuck Frey's website and narrow down the list to the ones that he recommends.

3.   Alternatively if you don't have the time to do all of this research and you work in an office type scenario (whether for yourself or for someone else), then you won't go far wrong by trying out MindJet's Mind Manager.

I will be checking out some of the software that you will find on the sites run by Vic and Chuck in the future to give you my take on them, but for now at least you have got some ideas on how to make an informed choice of your Mind Mapping Software.

So you want to try out some Mind Mapping Software do you?

A well written blog that covers the topic of Mind Maps should also include guidance on the latest Mind Mapping software.

I mean these days just about everyone uses a computer of some sort (I won't get into the MAC/PC debate here though) and so if you are going to use hand drawn Mind Maps you might as well explore finding out how to use them on your laptop (or PC…or MAC).

I am an advocate of Mind Map software and have been using Mind Manager for nearly 10 years now.

The important thing to realise is that hand drawn Mind Mapping and software generated Mind Maps have different purposes, different benefits, different drawbacks.

In the past there were only a couple of Mind Map Software tools to choose from, but I have noticed that over the last 12 months a new one seems to popping up every month.

I will be checking out the good ones over the next few months and will let you know my findings, but what if you want to know about them NOW!

Well recently I came across an excellent blog dedicated to Mind Mapping Software called (you'll never guess…) The Mind Mapping Software Blog.

According to Tony Buzan's Book of Genius, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is listed number two in his all time top one hundred genius hall of fame.

He cites many reasons for this.

His plays have been translated into at least 50 languages - more than any other playwright.

They are the measuring stick against which all subsequent dramas are judged

And most importantly, in his writing, Shakespeare uses over 25,000 unique words.  This fact is quite staggering because the average person has a recognition vocabulary of about 5000 words.

So I think it can be fair to say that Mr Shakespeare, deserves the label of "genius".

A few years ago, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was reconstructed on the banks of the river Thames in London and has been presenting open air performances of the master's plays ever since.

Well yesterday it had a performance of a different kind…not really a classic Shakespearean performance…but nevertheless a memorable one at least.

I spent the day at the Globe theatre in London working with a group of accountants sharing with them the how to, benefits and application of Mind Mapping.

There were highs (lunch and coffee), lows (my dreadful jokes), passion (I do get quite excited about Mind Mapping), tragedy ("why weren't we taught this at school), romance (I really do love myself sometimes - perhaps a little too much :-), conflict (shall we finish for lunch now or should I really take another question about Mind Maps), intrigue (why did I choose that t-shirt with that jacket) and skullduggery (who did pinch the box with the data projector in it?)

We explored these areas:

• The background to the Mind Map - where it came from and why it works
• The answer to the question "How do I create a Mind Map?"
• Using Mind Mapping to organise your thoughts
• Using Mind Maps to organise the thoughts of others
• How to apply MInd Mapping in business
• Examples of Mind Maps

We had some great questions from a really enthusiastic bunch of accountants and by the end of the day they were merrily Mind Mapping.

…forsooth didst they so verily.

So would Shakespeare have approved?

Who knows. . . but I think he would have endorsed the idea of learning how to use our mind more effectively.