Mindjet MindManager Voted #1 Mind Mapping Software by Biggerplate Global Report for Second Year Running

Mindjet, the global leader in mind mapping software and SaaS solutions for enterprise innovation, has been voted the #1 User's Choice for mind mapping software in Biggerplate's 2015 Global Mind Map Survey. This marks the second year running that Mindjet has earned this endorsement from the Biggerplate mind mapping community.

With over 85,000 members globally, Biggerplate advocates mind mapping software as the missing link and must-have tool for modern workers. This survey solicits feedback from mind mappers worldwide, unearthing a wealth of information about the current state of mind mapping, understanding who is using mind maps, what they're able to accomplish, and what benefits they get from using a visual approach for organizing ideas, information, and projects. Results demonstrated that participants primarily use mapping software for project management, brainstorming, and research in several industries, typically at the management level or higher.

"Last year was an exciting one for MindManager, with the release of MindManager Enterprise and MindManager 15 for Windows," said Felicity Wohltman, VP of Product Marketing at Mindjet. "The new features in these releases were developed as a direct result of feedback from our dedicated community of users, and we're very pleased to be recognized by the Biggerplate membership."

Liam Hughes, founder of Biggerplate, offered his insights. "Mindjet continues to set the pace in the eyes of the mind mapping community," said Hughes. "This year is going to be a big one for mind mapping software."

You can download the full report at Biggerplate.com.

Mind Mapping is more about Collaborative Work Management: Mindjet

Mind mapping is in the midst of a shift away from its traditional roots and is increasingly focused on being more about collaborative work management, a vendor has claimed.


Mindjet’s general manager of the Asia Pacific Australia Japan (APAJ) region, Cameron Ackbury, said the information overload caused by the rise of the internet has forced enterprises to seek out new ways to cut through the chaos.


“The problem we’re trying to solve is that there is a lot of information out there and there are people trying to work out where their documents are,” he said. “There are websites that they get information from, and people are overloaded with information.”


Running the APAJ operations for the visual collaboration software business, Ackbury said this information overload has caused a shift in priorities for enterprises, with the future of mapping set to be focused on making employees more productive.


“I do believe that mapping as a concept will not be particularly strong,” he said. “But if you look at the way mapping is going and moving more towards collaborative work management, it is going to be making teams of people more effective.”


While he didn't want to speculate on what mind mapping will look like in the next five years, Ackbury said using software to drive revenue may be at the top of the minds of IT managers.


“It could be anything from helping sales teams improve revenue, by driving sales processes,” he said.


“It could be through helping reduce expenditures of an organisation, [or] it could be about creating more compliance through having rapid and repeated processes to follow.”


Video: MindManager Version 9 for Windows

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CS Odessa Breaks Boundaries in Mind Mapping and Project Management With New ConceptDraw Mind Map Exchange Solution

ConceptDraw Solution Park has a new solution that dramatically improves productivity in project management and mind mapping. Users can now exchange data freely between ConceptDraw MINDMAP and numerous other project management and mind mapping applications.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov 29, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- CS Odessa announces today the availability of the new Mind Map Exchange Solution, extending the collaboration capabilities of ConceptDraw MINDMAP v7. The new Mind Map Exchange solution offers the ability to exchange data between Microsoft Project, ConceptDraw MINDMAP, ConceptDraw PROJECT, Mindjet MindManager, XMind, FreeMind, Microsoft Office, and many other project management and mind mapping applications. ConceptDraw MINDMAP supports all major office documents including project charts and reports, mind maps, outlines and presentation materials.


Tight integration of the Mind Map Exchange Solution with the ConceptDraw MindTweet solution provides users with the ability to publish images of mind maps to social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Mind maps can now be sourced from a variety of applications, including MindManager, XMind, FreeMind, and other mind mapping applications.


The Mind Map Exchange Solution allows for single-point access to many popular document formats used in mind mapping applications. It extends the current knowledge-exchange capabilities of ConceptDraw MINDMAP and assists individuals who organize projects and mind maps. The Mind Map Exchange solution is a step towards a universal graphic format for mind mapping documents. This common format will be a major assistance to individuals involved in business communication.


ConceptDraw Solution Park


ConceptDraw Solution Park is an online collection of plug-in solutions for ConceptDraw products that provide productivity-increasing options for knowledge workers. ConceptDraw Solution Park delivers solutions in diverse areas such as Project Management, Business Productivity, Universal Diagramming and Collaboration.

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Essential Features of Good Mind Mapping Software

In general, mind mapping software is comprised of many different features designed to help increase efficiency in the creation and documentation of certain writing or business projects. It has the intention of helping you become more organized in finding ways on how to accomplish your ultimate goals for a certain project on time and within the available budget. Several mind mapping software companies are presently available for those who need it and they can choose from among the whole lot of them. However despite the many available companies, the overall features are almost the same.


A mind mapping software is usually characterized by a colorful and open interface with tool bars that can be easily navigated. Through this, you can instantly create thoughts, ideas and sub-topics and organize these the way you want it to be. You may include in this your priorities, URL links to any of the topics you have created and the task completion time. As new topics or sub-topics are created, new colors, pictures or categories may be assigned to help in the visualization of the task.


When you want to add new topics, you have to know that it can be quickly done in the main interface. Through this, you are free to place in each new topic additional descriptions and notes. You are given the freedom to make changes with respect to the size of each created topic so you gain control over how the project will be viewed in its entirety. Most of the needed actions for the software can be automatically activated. For instance, when the mouse is moved to certain topics, possible options or notes on what you will perform next will be displayed through pop up boxes.


Most of the time, mind mapping software tools give you a few options when it comes to the selection of maps. You can choose from among a whole lot of different maps like logical diagrams, cause and effect, logical diagrams, traditional balloon style and the organizational chart mind map. All of these have different features so you can easily move things to different branches and various categories of the project.


Other mind mapping software applications have the feature of allowing audio clips to be added. Naturally, these audio clips are intended for the further enhancement of topics or in giving examples with audio commands that are direct to employees. Audio clips coming from outside sources may be utilized in educating ways for the enhancement of a certain stage for a proposed or an existing project. This helps in reducing chances of confusion when undergoing a certain project.


It is undeniable that mind mapping software can be a useful tool in allowing work to be done in an efficient manner and in promoting and displaying projects. Works done may be saved through PDF files and instantly emailed or uploaded to a website. Projects may be presented in any format that you choose which allows you to specialize it in accordance to your choice. You can also do a lot of things for it aside from just describing a new concept like allowing your audience to visually take your idea in an innovative manner instead of just letting them hear you talk.

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Effective way to always stay organized with mind map

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Image via Wikipedia

This is a tip to help you: remember things better, solve problems faster.
First thing I want to mention here is the methology to accomplish thing and self-disciplined. It’s about how to use mindmap effectively. For the beginners, mind map is a note-taking method that different from tradition methods. Mind mapping utilizes the full range of left and right human cortical skills to tap into the unused mental potential. Benefits of mind map:

1. Learning: Reduce those 'tons of work'. Feel good about study, revision and exams. Have confidence in your learning abilities.
2. Overviewing: See the whole picture, the global view, at once. Understand the links and connections.
3. Concentrating: Focus on the task for better results. Using all of your cortical skills attracts your attention.
4. Memorizing: Easy recall. 'See' the information in your mind's eye.
5. Organizing: Be on top of all of the details for parties, holidays, projects or any other subject.
6. Communicating: In all forms with clarity and conciseness.
7. Planning: Orchestrate all details and aspects ? from beginning to end ? on one piece of paper.
8. Meetings: From planning to agenda, to chairing, to taking the minutes the jobs are completed with speed and efficiency.
9. Training: From preparation to presentation they make the job easier and much faster .
10. Thinking: Having a method to analyze thoughts ? almost a way-station' for them.
11. Brainstorming: Random thoughts are generated and appropriately assessed in real time.

Now we need a way to use mindmapping technique effectively. A variety of tools avaible for desktop computer could help you is MindManager, Freemind, Novamind or lots of alternatives. But it isn’t always convenient, because you just can’t take the laptop with you everytime. The only thing you always bring with you is your phone, and you need a mindmapping application running on your phone.

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Why the Mind Map Technique is Essential for Success

A Mind map is a diagram that is used to express ideas, tasks or words. The words are arranged round a keyword. This is used for decision making and solving problems as this structures help to visualize, generate and classify ideas. Mind maps help to prompt mind to generate memories to help come up with a solution. Mind maps are very effective during brainstorming sessions as different people will be able to come up with at least one idea broadening the diagram.


When creating mind maps there are some guidelines you need to follow and they include:


Start with an image related to the topic in at least three colors. Write the subject that is related to what you need to come up with. Color helps to build ideas as it is easy to remember colors or even simple images. Use codes, images throughout the whole session each standing on its own line. Select keywords and print them out. Try to use simple words that will help members involved in the mind map be able to have a free flow of ideas. Complex words or meaningless phrases just cluster the mind map making it unreadable or just plain waste of time. Connect all lines and use emphasis this will help you to see the connection of all the ideas that have been brought forward and then you can formulate them into solid strategies.


Mind maps are an excellent idea for building morale and creative environment. It helps increase teamwork and creates good work relationships. At the end of these sessions most people feel like they are part of a team that has produced the ideas and increases staff motivation. It helps to create bonds and most staff will get to know each other better knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses. Using of mind maps is very effective mainly for:
Summarizing information you come up with Consolidating information that has been acquired from different sources. Thinking through very difficult problems an organization may be facing. Used in presentation to show how a particular project will be handled.


Mind maps assist individuals to remember the guidelines to follow when doing a particular task as it is easy to remember by just imagining the images you saw. They engage the mind more as compared to using normal notes that may take really long to recall what exactly was contained in them.


Mind maps have main topic lines coming from the centre where it starts and has subtitles and branches that radiate from the titles like branches in a tree. There is no particular way how the structure will appear just let the lines flow freely in all directions.


A Mind map can be done by hand , but if you need to use it for presentation purposes there are software's that can help give elaborate work, something that looks of high quality. Software's like mind genius help to improve this processes. This makes it easier for the work to be edited, produced, and distributed or even to restructure it.

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Mindjet Announces Next Generation Collaboration Software for Work Management

Mindjet (News - Alert), a provider of collaborative work management solutions, announced the release of Mindjet MindManager 2012 Professional for Windows, the latest version of its visual information software.

The MindManager 2012 is designed “for today's professionals who need to spark ideas and collaborate with their teams for more productive outcomes,” company officials said. It is enhanced with real-time co-editing, enhanced information maps and new desktop interface.
"MindManager 2012 has been designed to meet the needs of today's professionals who are constantly barraged with new opportunities and pressing business challenges," said Blaine Mathieu, chief products officer, Mindjet , in a statement. "The new guided brainstorming feature organizes an outpouring of ideas that can be quickly honed into real solutions for real business needs."


With these features, MindManager 2012 guides users to unleash their team's creativity.  They can utilize predefined challenge questions to promote different ways of thinking about the subject. Leveraging MindManager's powerful visual experience, they can refine concepts and plans. Inspiration cards generate hundreds of fresh ideas.

An important feature of MindManager 2012 is that it integrates with Mindjet Connect, Mindjet's cloud-based service. The integrated product provides open and full sharing of MindManager maps with anyone, anywhere, on any device.


The cloud-based service allows customers to freely collaborate on maps with anyone. "The combination of MindManager 2012 and Connect is nothing short of the future of the collaboration for teams and businesses," said Mathieu.


Back in May, Mindjet announced  a new awards program, the Maps for That! Awards ("Mappies"), to honor creativity, innovation and resourcefulness in the MapsforThat.com community. Maps for That! is an online community for publishing and sharing best practices that improve productivity through visual information maps.


Video: MindManager 2012 Professional

Source: TMCNet.com

MindBerry mind mapping app for the Blackberry platform

MindBerry is a mind-mapping software for BlackBerry smartphones. It's the ideal software for organize your thoughts, manage information overload, increase your productivity and creativity. Capture and organize your ideas at any moment, do it visually with MindBerry. You can export the mindmap to FreeMind format and transfer it to your desktop for continue use. 


Features

MindBerry has some interesting features. The most important thing about MindBerry is it make use of the BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard shortcuts for quick editting. 

• Navigating between topics is easy done using the Trackball/Trackwheel.
• Fast, intuitive navigation, MindBerry using the BlackBerry trackball or the numeric keys to navigate from a node to another node.
• Support Folding/Unfolding with Spacebar key.
• Use shortcut to access all editing features.
• Drag and Drop selected nodes
• Cut'n Paste selected nodes
• Scrolling mindmap using Trackball
• Decorate nodes with icons, colors, fonts, styles.
• Attach note to mindmap.
• Link to web pages, local files or another mindmaps.
• Save and Load mindmaps to/from BlackBerry Media Card or Device Memory
• Send mindmaps via email.
• Import and export both Freemind and MindManager.

The ability to customize topics with icons, colors and fonts (dialogs for each of these options are once again accessed using specific keys, such as C for the color palette and I for icons)
Notes can be attached to maps


MindBerry can also import and export Freemind maps. It would be great to see compatibility with MindManager maps in a future version, since that is the mind mapping program that is most widely utilized in corporate environments. Overall, it looks like the developers have done a great job of creating a highly functional mind mapping application for the Blackberry!


Get MindBerry software (The latest version is 1.2.0) : http://mindberry.net


Video: MindBerry - Mindmapping on the BlackBerry

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Mind Mapping for Project Managers

Sometimes I am asked about the software I use for managing projects. The answer to this is that I use a lot of software! I use different software for different purposes and the software I use may change depending on the project that I'm working on and the sort of project management expectations there are for that project. If someone were to ask me the question 'if you could choose only one software application for project management then what would it be' then I would have no hesitation in saying Mind mapping software.


Mind mapping software is by far the most fun, versatile and simple. I use mind mapping software for many key areas in project management. I have listed some of the applications of mind mapping software for you to consider:


Project Planning - a product breakdown structure diagram is usually one of the first things I create for a project. Providing a graphical representation of the deliverable items in a project is extremely useful. Mind mapping applications allow you to lay out the project deliverables in a hierarchical manner, include project activities or tasks and then export these to create the initial project plan


Project Reporting - reporting to a project committee or project board using a mind map is always well received. Mind maps allow addition of graphical icons and indicators to show status.


Meeting notes - creating a mind map on the fly is fast and easy - which is just perfect in a meeting situation. Better still, you can export your map to a text based format in a flash and there are your meeting minutes completed before you have even left the meeting. What a great time saver!


These are just a few of the uses of mind mapping software that can help you with achieving project management success. There are certainly many more - consider issue management, risk management and recording of quality acceptance criteria for project deliverables.


There are some great commercial packages out there but if you look around on the net you'll find there are some equally great free packages - yes, one of my favourites is a free application! So look around and try out mind mapping if you haven't yet discovered it. It really has changed the way I create project documents.


Video: Premium Quality Project Management with Mind Maps

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