Webinar: “What’s New in MindManager 8″

Saving time, conquering information overload and becoming more effective is on everyone’s mind these days. Studies conducted internally by Fortune 500 companies show that workers who use MindManager found better clarity of thought, made faster, yet more informed, decisions, and realised an overall increase in time spent on strategic initiatives when incorporating MindManager into their daily routines.  

Here’s another opportunity to attend a Webinar and learn about the innovative new features that make MindManager 8 a “game changer”:

• Mindjet Player Integrated Web Services
• Mindjet Connect Automated Task Management
• Integrated Microsoft Office File Editing
• Embedded Web Browser
• Database Linker

 

 

Title:	What’s New in MindManager 8
Date:	Tuesday, 10th February 2009
Time:	10:00 AM GMT / 11:00 AM CET
Speaker:	Janina Miller

To Register, click on the Mindjet logo:-

Learn to think visually – or else

[Extract from a Q&A Interview by Chuck Frey with Jamie Nast]

Jamie Nast, author of the popular book Idea Mapping and the Idea Mapping Success Blog, is one of the most world’s most prolific trainers and speakers on the topic of visual mapping. In this interview, she explains why it’s critical that executives learn to express their ideas visually, using hand-drawn idea maps and mind mapping software, and the risks of not doing so.

When I prepare for these Q&A interviews, I take great care to craft questions that will be informative to you, the reader, and which highlight the interviewee’s unique strengths and will draw out some interesting insights. When it all comes together, it’s a beautiful thing. This is one of those interviews, where Jamie took the questions I gave her and used them to hit a “home run!”

Chuck Frey: You conduct workshops on idea mapping on a regular basis. What are the most common misconceptions that attendees have about idea mapping?

Jamie Nast: I think there are several:

• Idea Mapping is a right-brain skill.  No, idea mapping is a whole-brain skill that leverages the natural way the brain associates information.

Full Q & A Interview on Chuck Frey’s blog

Jamie is visiting the UK in October to conduct a 2 day Idea Mapping Workshop.  See you there?

Visual Mapping: a Systematic Framework …

… for Business Success

 

(Extract from an article on Mindjet’s website by By Arjen Ter Hoeve, Brian S. Friedlander, and Wallace Tait)

“Today’s businesses are driven by ideas, processes, and information more so than ever before. Take a good look at your company or organization: how are you capturing this important and crucial information? From our perspective, far too many organizations have simply failed to sufficiently develop systems that can clearly identify, track and monitor the “information economy” that resides within one’s own organization. There may be hundreds of documents scattered on network hard drives, but isn’t there a better way to manage these important processes? Ideas and information are the working capital of your company, shouldn’t we systematically access, control and update them?

The key to understanding the working capital of your organization requires that you understand the importance of the information economy, data banking and knowledge governance. Within our international consulting work, we realize the power of graphic frameworks for creating, managing, expressing and exchanging the essential information processes that make up corporate knowledge. And the genesis of effective visual mapping begins at a personal level with MindManager, a visual mapping software application, to help solve and communicate ideas more effectively and naturally.”

Full article available on Mindjet’s Website

Brian S. Friedlander (Assistive Technology) has organised a 2 day conference Intelligent Visual Mapping on 2 & 3 October 2008 in New Jersey, USA. 

Full details available

Think Like a Genius … The Mind’s Eye …

I have recently read “Overcoming Information Overload” by Tina Konstant & Morris Taylor, which is part of the Instant Manager series from the Chartered Management Institute.

I particularly enjoyed the section on “Think Like a Genius“…

“Geniuses like Newton or Archimedes didn’t simply sit under trees or in a bush until they became enlightened.  They used some very powerful and practical tools to create order out of their thoughts and to find answers to problems that few people ever thought existed, let alone considered solving.

Some factors common to the world’s greatest thinkers:

- Idea generation is in pictures and images rather than words. 

- Einstein and da Vinci drew diagrams instead of writing words and sentences.

- Their thinking is unrestrained; nothing is rejected until it has been fully investigated.

- Ideas are explored using association.

- They fuel their imaginations with knowledge.

- They never give up”

Tools for generating genius thinking

Mapping  … it is worth talking about information mapping.  ‘Mind Mapping’ was formalised and labelled by Tony Buzan in the 1970s.  Great thinkers have used similar techniques for centuries.  Leonard da Vinci, Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison, like other geniuses, represented their ideas through diagrams and ‘maps’.

You might know them as spider-graphs or thinking maps, but whatever you call them, they all have the same features:

- pictures instead of words

- links between relationships

- main concept in the middle, gradually becoming more detailed towards the end of branches

- single words or ideas per line

- colour”

The reference to da Vinci reminded me of some of the fantastic drawings and sketches that I saw many, many years ago in the National Gallery – until then, I hadn’t realised that he was an inventor (I was completely shocked that he had invented a flying machine that we’d recognise as a helicopter!), a sculptor, a mathematician, a botanist, an architect …

… I had thought he was an artist, famous for the Mona Lisa. 

The extent to which he had drawn images to represent thoughts and details really surprised me.  The picture below is a study of perpetual motion.

The V&A Museum has some excellent articles about his work on their website, including:-

The Mind’s Eye – The Measure of All Things

“For Leonardo, sight was the noblest and most certain sense. It provided access to “experience”, which shows us how nature works according to mathematical rules. Any knowledge that could not be certified by the eye was unreliable.

He investigated the relationship of the eye to the brain. He proposed a system in which visual information was transmitted to the intellect via the receptor of impressions and the “common sense”, an area where all sensory inputs were coordinated.”

 

I now realise that visual imagery is the best place for thinking things through … but it took me quite a while to make the connection.  For that, I will always be grateful to Jamie Nast, author of Idea Mapping who will be visiting the UK on 6th & 7th October. 

It was Jamie who helped me realise that colour and images help the brain to think better, quicker, clearer and to remember better. 

Visual Thinking & Project Management is a topic close to my heart (the combination of VISION and DETAIL) but I really hadn’t realised that Leonardo da Vinci had investigated the relationship between visual information and intellect. 

If it was good enough for da Vinci … I’ll continue to explore the tools at my disposal …

Mindjet’s MindManager 7 + Mindjet’s JCVGantt + Microsoft Office + Jamie Nast’s Idea Mapping

Download a free Trial copy of MindManager and start thinking creatively.

Visual Thinking & Project Management

 

 

The combination of Visual Thinking and Project Management really interests me and I’d probably go as far as to say that it excites me.

Mindjet’s website says:-

You’ve already discovered how fast and easy it is to plan and manage day-to-day projects visually by using MindManager. Wouldn’t it be even better to move from visual planning to disciplined project management?

That’s why we’ve combined MindManager Pro 7 with Mindjet JCVGantt to create a single, affordable, easy-to-use visual solution that drives dramatic improvements in project productivity.

JCVGantt Pro 3 software provides an easy to use, yet powerful solution to track projects and tasks. It enables executives, project managers and event organizers to improve the accuracy of their time and cost estimating while decreasing the time it takes to plan a new project.

Even beginner Project Managers can now track and report upon key project issues.

- Instantly identify the project’s critical path

- Automatically calculate the total project cost when changes are made to tasks and assigned resources

- Analyze budgetary risks before they become problems by using baseline snapshots of the project

http://www.jcvgantt.mindjet.com/promotions/jcvgantt/demo.aspx

I will be using JCVGanttPro 3 over the next few days to see just how easy (yet just how powerful) it is and would love to hear from anyone who has already used it in conjunction with MindManager Pro 7 and/or Microsoft Office.

I’ll update you with my thoughts soon.

Brilliant Networking

Brilliant Networking by Steven D’Souza – “What the best networkers know, do and say”

ISBN 978-0-273-71494-2

 I recently read this paperback and can highly recommend it.  I consider myself a competent networker and found that I was instinctively already doing many of the things mentioned.  However, there were some valuable resources mentioned and I also benefitted from the interactive nature of the book where I had to reflect on where I am and where I want to be.  Well worth purchasing (just £5.99 from Amazon).  One of the areas of mutual interest is Steven D’Souza’s reference to having an appropriate “follow-up” system which is a topic I cover in my workshop entitled  ”What to do with all those business cards” which I shall be delivering from April 2008.

Here are some of the quotes which I highlighted:-

“Networking is more than just the exchange of business cards.  Networking is developing relationships which can support you, and in which you can provide support to others, in every area of life.”

“Networking is the art of building reciprocal relationships that help individuals and the community as a whole to achieve their goals.”

“Brilliant networkers realise that the more diverse reciprocal relationships they have the more they can benefit from potential options and opportunties.”

“Brilliant networkers know trust is built on reciprosity – simply giving and receiving.  By being genuinely attentive to the needs of others, they build win/win relationships that are the basis of success.”

“Brilliant networkers … have a clear idea of what they want to gain from the activities they do.”

“People are drawn to others who have a clear mission, purpose or vision. … It is the ’cause’ that engages people and captivates them.”

“Brilliant networkers are generally curious people. While some are experts in their field they often have a wide range of interests and friends, and are well read.  This enables them to start and maintain conversations on a wide range of topics.”

“One of the key qualities of brilliant networkers is that they have an ‘abundance mentality’.  They give of themselves and this giving then attracts a form of repayment, or reciprocity. … successful networkers …. give knowing that sometimes they will not get, but they still enjoy the feeling of giving and do it anyway.  Their generosity of spirit encourages others to be generous also.”

Lord Bilimoria CBE DL, Founder and Chief Executive, Cobra Beer

“We all know the old saying “knowledge if power” – but what is too often forgotten is that who you know is every bit as important as what you know.  Contacts and relationships can be crucial, and developing your network is among the most important aspects of business”

“This is the essence of networking and the importance of connecting with people: it isn’t about having a drawer full of business cards or meeting that one-off contact who can get you something.  It’s about building strong, long-lasting friendships and relationships.”

Mapping your Networks

I was pleased to see that Steven D’Souza advocates the use of Mindjet’s MindManager to create maps of networking contacts because this is exactly how I have been keeping track of my networks since August 2007. 

 

“MindManager is rich in features that allow you to add text notes, hyperlinks, colour, visual effects and relationship links. You can then also search by filter, colour, icon, etc. This is very powerful and allows you to interrogate and navigate complex networks with relative ease and, most importantly, it is customised for you.  You can also export your map to Microsoft Office software … at the click of a button.  The possibilities are virtually limitless.”

Download a free 21-day trial copy of MindManager Pro 7

I read another interesting book, back in October 2007, called Brilliant Business Connections … for a review of which see the following Post:- http://kayenightingale.wordpress.com/2007/10/09/brialliant-business-connections/

Further details of “Brilliant Networking” is available via the author’s website: http://brilliantnetworking.net/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Visual Project Maps for PRINCE2

Visual Project Maps™ for PRINCE2™ has been developed by Visual Technology Solutions Limited to help address the need for a more user-friendly and flexible way to manage the documentation and control of PRINCE2™ Projects, whether they are small, one day projects or larger projects that run into months or even years.

NOW AVAILABLE WITH OR WITHOUT OGC CONTENT

By creating an environment where the project team are effectively working within the PRINCE2™ method, project members have easy access and visibility of project information, while they are subconsciously reinforcing their knowledge of the method.

With the ability to easily edit or change project properties as well as produce project data in various formats, Visual Project Maps™ for PRINCE2 can turn managing your PRINCE2™ projects into a more enjoyable and rewarding activity.

Visual Project Maps™ for PRINCE2™ is available in two editions; one with OGC content and one without OGC content.

The edition with OGC content has over 85% of the official content from the “Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2″ handbook re-produced under licence from the Office of Government Commerce.

For full details visit their website:- 

http://www.vtsdirect.com/index.html

Mindjet® MindManager® Pro 7 is software that helps to engage and align people to work smarter, think creatively and save time by visually capturing, organizing and communicating ideas and information effectively. Now with a simple graphical user interface designed for rapid documentation of ideas and information, users can easily capture ideas generated in planning and brainstorming sessions and enhance them with information stored across the enterprise.
 

Click here to download a FREE trial copy of MindManager Pro 7

Harness Your Visual Creativity

With kind permission of both Mindjet and Jamie Nast herewith an extremely interesting Personal Interview with Jamie Nast, Author of “Idea Mapping”

 

Mindjet : Maps use both verbal and numerical information, and combine these with the power of creative intelligence; how do maps specifically allow one to think creatively?

Jamie Nast : Maps tap into all of the cortical skills, which are housed in the right and left sides of the brain. The concept of right brain/ left brain thinking developed from the research of American psychologist Roger Sperry in the late 1960s. The right brain is dominantly represented by color, imagination, daydreaming, rhythm, and spatial skills, while the left brain by verbal, mathematical, lines, sequence, lists, logic, and analytical skills. It’s a myth that creativity rests on the right side alone– it’s right combined with left that maximizes creativity, and nothing does that better than an idea map. A map reflects the natural way our brain associates information.

Maps pull information together onto a single sheet of paper in a way that leverages one more area of dominance found on the right side of the cerebral cortex. It’s called gestalt (German for the whole picture) where one sees each topic, each branch, and how the various pieces of data interrelate and connect. A map is a visual picture that enables people to see the relationships between data points, see everything in one place, and now be able to step back and think, clarify, analyze, prioritize, (re)organize, or innovate– and then take action. A map is a tool that provides a framework that fosters and can lead to new ways of thinking. Now that’s creativity!

MJ : What do you do to think creatively?

JN : I can get overwhelmed and immobilized by the large amount of tasks that I need to juggle. The only way I can function is to put everything in a map. It may not be the most creative example in the world, but for me it is a creative solution. The outcome and benefit to me is that my mind is now free to think rather than worrying about trying to manage all the plates that are spinning.

Another example is when I write a book or an article. Right now I’m considering two different book angles, and using MindManager in both scenarios to generate 100% of my creative thinking. The maps are used for gathering research, tracking potential contributors, determining possible endorsements, and outlining chapter headings. The process itself can be creative, but it’s the ability to step back and look at the gestalt— that’s where the creative process takes action.

MJ : What’s a coaching or teaching example of thinking creatively?

JN : Every single time I teach I use MindManager. There was a time in 1996, when I was supposed to teach a 4-day workshop on Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I wasn’t at all prepared, and it had been 9-12 months since I’d been certified. We were teaching the first day to two different groups on back-to-back days. So I struck a deal with my teaching partner. She taught the first day, during which I took detailed notes in a map so I could teach the same material to the second group on the following day. I didn’t have the software at the time, so for me it was a creative alternative to spending two weeks absorbing information from a four-inch thick manual.

I taught the entire day from a single 11”x17” map. The participants didn’t know that this was my first class, and were extremely receptive to the use of the map. If I hadn’t had the map, I literally would have had to read from the book in order to teach the class. Now I use them all the time. Maps capture the big picture and provide creative flexibility in terms of having options on content. If there’s extra time, I have a branch for what I may add, or what to take out if there’s not enough time. In preparing for the June 5th webinar, I went through the creative process with a map to determine what I wanted the audience to walk away with and how to maximize that hour. 

 

MJ : Your June 5th webinar The Memorability Factor showed attendees how the visual aspect of mapping increases their own memories and those viewing their maps; how is this thinking creatively?

JN : The simple act of creating a map can be creative – it’s colorful and full of imagery. An image can portray a thought in a way that’s beyond words— and it makes the whole process more enjoyable. If something is fun, it’s more memorable. Even something as simple as using different colors for the various branches can enhance one’s ability to make associations and promote a greater level of creativity. A key client who took my class about ten years ago created two different maps on a topic— both had the same content, but one had images and the other didn’t. She conducted a comparison and found that most people preferred the one with images because it was much more interesting. Images break up the monotony of words and thus stimulate one to think and make connections that might otherwise go unnoticed.

When I think about utilizing MindManager for creativity, I think, what an amazing tool!

For more information on idea mapping, sample maps, workshops, Jamie Nast or to buy her book, visit her website at www.ideamappingsuccess.com, or blog at http://ideamapping.blogspot.com.

To use MindManager like Jamie Nast does, download a free trial here

MindManager Office Productivity Pack

… and it’s free to existing Users until 31st October 2007 !

I use Microsoft Office extensively and have done so since 1989 (or thereabouts) but I know that there will always be something to learn … or something to see from someone else’s perspective.  When I first looked at MindManager’s Office Productivity Pack earlier this month (see 17 October), I was looking at it solely from my point of view.  Today I want to re-look at it to see who else it would be useful for…

Do you use Microsoft Office software?

If so, MindManager 7.0 Pro could really assist you by making it the “hub” of your interactions with various Microsoft packages.  The Productivity Pack contains a useful, straightforward Map outlining the various applications that MindManager 7.0 Pro integrates with and the benefits that it can help you achieve.  For anyone who believes that MindManager would be useful for others in their company but is struggling to convey the message to colleagues, this and other Maps could help.  It focuses on the benefits of the integration with each of the various packages rather than the features themselves, making it a useful tool for anyone trying to explain why they want to introduce “mapping” software more widely in their company.

White Paper

The Pack also contains a well written White Paper, entitled, “Simplify the Way You Work” which opens by saying…

“This white paper explores the benefits of integrating Mindjet MindManager Pro 7 with Microsoft Office.

MindManager Pro 7 integrates with Microsoft Office in three ways—it shares Office 2007’s new user interface, it supports attaching or linking Office documents to maps, and it can import and export data between MindManager and Office applications.

Because MindManager can pull in and exchange data from Office, it simplifies your work and serves as your Microsoft Office productivity hub.”

It then includes very useful step-by-step How To sections for each of the following applications:-

The How To’s are clear and straightforward and would benefit very many Users.   However, what I liked the most was the narrative text supporting each How To … many of the paragraphs could be used to explain the benefits of MindManager as a “Hub” for Microsoft Office.

“MindManager’s integration with Microsoft Office transforms the world’s most popular business toolset into much more than the sum of its parts, and Mindjet MindManager helps you and your organization reap all benefits the integration creates.

Because of the integration of MindManager and Microsoft Office, you will work smarter, think creatively, and save time, everyday…”

 Maps to visually show you HOW TO

Well you’d expect nothing else, would you?  In addition to the White Paper, the Productivity Pack contains a separate Map of HOW TO integrate with each of the Microsoft Applications.  This alone is worth getting the Pack for because it will either generate ideas or it will enable you to discuss the possiblities with colleagues.

 

Would I buy the Productivity Pack?

Yes, because it contains a good all round overview of how you can gain extra benefit from your existing Microsoft Office applications by using MindManager 7.0 Pro as a “knowledge hub”, in a way that will help you explain the concept to others plus it contains straightforward, easy to follow, HOW TO instructions for each application.  So, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy it.

Mind you, seeing as it’s free to existing users until 31st October, I’d recommend that you do as I did – get it FREE! 

Download a 21-day free trial of MindManager 7.0 Pro - and then buy it before 31st October so that you can download your FREE Productivity Pack

Mindjet say “Because of the integration of MindManager and Microsoft Office, you will work smarter, think creatively, and save time, everyday…” and I truly believe that to be the case.  I am a Microsoft Master Instructor and consider myself to be a Productivity Specialist and I know that by integrating the two M’s together (Microsoft & Mindjet) it truly is a case of the sum being greater than the two parts.  Mind you, anyone who has been reading this blog will know, I won’t ever create a map again without remembering the words of wisdom in Jamie Nast’s book “Idea Mapping” … I consider her ideas to be the key …

Seeing a clearer way to project success

 

MindManager™ & Microsoft Office Project™  & Prince2 ™
 

Anyone who has ever worked in project management (whether beginner or expert) knows that Prince2™  is a methodology and, to the beginner, it seems “difficult” and “daunting”.  I was therefore extremely pleased to discover this free event being hosted by Visual Technology Solutions and am really looking forward to it.  Anything which can assist people running projects to be able to “see a clearer way to project success” must be worth taking a good look at and it is yet another reason why I am enjoying the journey of learning MindManager 7.0 Pro™  from Mindjet.  To be able to see the VISION whilst controlling the DETAIL is a common theme with me … people need to be able to “see the wood from the trees” whilst keeping accurate and timely records.  Looks like this event should be a perfect demonstration of that in action.

The details from VTS are as follows:

Location: University of Westminster, New Cavendish Street, London, United Kingdom
Date: 31st October 2007
Time: 9:30am – 1:00 pm  

The availability of Project Management applications in today’s market place are plentiful, but what about the age old problem of project Inception, Planning and Brainstorming activities?  These very necessary precursors to any major project are often managed using the more traditional tools of white boards, flip charts and sticky notes. 

This morning event is aimed at providing anyone with an interest in  project management methodology a short but thorough clearer picture of the processes involved.

Agenda

9:30am           Registration Tea & Coffee
10:00am        Introduction to Mapping
10:40am        Visualizing PRINCE2™
11:15am         Coffee
11:30am         Implementing New Processes
12:15am         Q&A
1:00pm          Close

Register for the above event or download a free 21-day trial of MindManager 7.0 Pro

I’ll post an update after the event on 31st October and am now about to take a closer look at VTS’s Visual Bubble Ribbon … sounds very interesting …