Making It All Work and Mind Mapping

Why MindManager 8?

I hope I'm not getting too gear specific here--in the non-gear forum--but since y'all seem to be using the newest flavor of MindManger I wonder if you can enlighten my on what of any real substance I'm missing by not upgrading my 6 Pro version of MindManager. I downloaded a trial of 8 to a laptop a few weeks ago to see if MindManager has incorporated any of the features I've long wanted to see in it. It hasn't. There is, of course, the pretty little Microsoft-style ribbon which no doubt will make it easier for newcomers to learn how to navigate around the program. But the underlying menus appear to be the same. Apparently there are some collaboration tools too, but I would not use those. Otherwise, I can't see that version 8 would give me any real functionality that I don't already have with 6. And if I were to upgrade to 8, I apparently would have to upgrade my copy of JVC Gantt Pro too, since the version I have presumably won't work with version 8.

Is there something I'm missing?
 
Why MindManager 8?

Great question.

What are the features that you were looking for? I'd be happy to pass them along to product management. Or, you could submit them here.

Here are my thoughts on what's useful about MindManager 8 for me :

  • Mindjet Player: This is a great way to share maps with anyone who is not using MindManager. Maps can be shared in Adobe format or embedded into websites or blogs. I've used mostly the PDF version of the player to date but will soon be creating blog posts with interactive maps embedded in them.
  • Embedded Browser: I use this often to quickly open web pages and files linked to my maps. Sometimes I edit Microsoft Office docs within the browser so I can work on a file with the view of the map in context. Other times I open it outside the browser which is the way earlier versions work.
  • Desktop Search: I have a ton of maps so I was excited to be able to use a desktop search engine like Google Search to quickly find maps when I need them.
  • Web Services: Overall, I'm excited about the potential for Web Services. The initial release has a few services but I expect to see additional, more useful services available in the future. Companies will be able to create their own as well so you could map out internal resources via web services.
  • Task Automation: This has been an extremely popular feature request and is most valuable to users that do not have JCVGantt.
  • Mindjet Connect enhancements: If you are building maps as teams, Mindjet Connect enables multiple people to edit the map simultaneously. Enhancements enable greater search capabilities into Connect workspaces and improved usability with the Connect ribbon.
  • Database Linker: I haven't had much use for this yet since I do not work with many databases.

MindManager 7 had many smaller enhancements as well. There are some that I don't find valuable but customers find extremely valuable. For instance, you can split a topic into multiple topics. I never really do that but a lawyer I spoke with on Friday absolutely loves that feature. If you're interested in more information about MindManager 7 updates, I can post that as well next week.

Regarding JCVGantt, if you are on version 3, there is no cost to move forward. If you are on version 2 then an upgrade is required to work with MindManager 8.

I hope this helps.
 
MichaelDeutch;64007 said:
Great question.

[*]Task Automation: This has been an extremely popular feature request and is most valuable to users that do not have JCVGantt.
Click to expand...

Michael, can you explain this one feature a bit?
 
MindManager 9? A worthy upgrade.

Thank you, Mr. Deutch, for your prompt and insightful responce to my inquiry about MindManager 8. And thank you for the invitation.

Here are the 3 things I would like most in a future MindManager:

1. Better task handling with Outlook.
I tend to use MindManager for planning (as I suspect most folks do) and often feed tasks from MindManager to my task lists in Outlook. It's almost always a one-way task export to Outlook. Nevertheless, any time I export a task to Outlook, the computer has to grind away through the entire list of several hundred "tasks" that are on my Outlook lists. And it seems to insist that I put Start and End dates in task information before exporting anything at all. It's a clunky process.

Microsoft's OneNote has shown us that there is a much better and more elegant way. OneNote has a toolbar (and drop-down menu) with the same Outlook 2007 Task Flags that Outlook uses in the To-Do list. I can use either the toolbar or the menu to tag an item in OneNote as an Outlook task. The appropriate Outlook flag then appears in front of the item and the item is exported to Outlook as a task. I usually save myself a couple of steps by using the "custom" flag to open up an Outlook task window. That allows me to assign the task to the appropriate category and context and project lists in Outlook (and more often than not select no start or due date). OneNote has already populated the notes section of the Outlook Task with a OneNote icon which links back to the task item in OneNote. The entire process of creating an Outlook task is much faster and simpler in OneNote than in MindManager. Then, once the task has been completed and checked off in Outlook, the flag in OneNote becomes a check indicating that the task was completed.

If MindManager were to use the same procedure, we could see at a glance which topics had become actionable tasks and exported to Outlook task lists (because they had a flag in front of them) and which of those topics/tasks had been completed (because they would have a check mark in front of them). And presumably without having to whir and grind through all of the Outlook task lists whenever a MindManager topic has been converted to a task and sent off to Outlook.

2. Better Integration with OneNote
Speaking of OneNote: It's a wonderfully simple-to-use, flexible, customizable and powerful application and--due to some changes we see in Outlook 2007 over Outlook 2003--it seems clear that Microsoft is looking at OneNote being the preferred collection bucket for all kinds of information that users may have kept in Outlook in the past. I've always wanted better linking and synchronization between MindManager and OneNote. I can create a link from a MindManager topic to a notebook section in OneNote but not to a specific page (since I can't browse to it). I can use the MindManager widget within OneNote to go back the other way, and create a link to a specific page, but I don't use this. The MindManager widget creates a new topic below the selected topic with a thumbnail of the page. The thumbnail is far too small to be readable, yet takes up too much space in the map. What I would prefer to see is a OneNote icon at the end of a topic that links to a specific page in OneNote.

3. Better Outlining
The ouline view of MindManager has always been the weak second sister to the map view; so much so that I almost never use it. There are some nice outlining programs out there that display a wysiwyg outline in whatever collection of fonts we choose to use and with the ability to drag and drop topics around. That would be nice to have in MindManager too.

There are times when the linearity of an outline is better than a mindmap, especially after all of the hierarchies and relationships are worked out in a mindmap. There's a finite limit, for example, to how much information can be placed on a single mindmap and make it readable on a printed sheet. An outline can extend that information over several printed pages and retain the hierarchy. And if the outline could optionally pick up all the links between mindmaps, so much the better.
 
Making It All Work and MindMapping

Great feedback. I passed it on directly to the product team and added it into our feature request database.

Barb,
In MindManager 7 and earlier you could make any topic a task. You could also set a relationship which was honored as a dependency in Microsoft Outlook. Relationships were 'finish to start' and were set 1 at a time which was very time consuming.

In MindManager 8:
  • You can mark the parent topic of a branch as a 'roll up' topic. MindManager reads the branch and calculates summary data for the parent topic.
  • Relationships can be set by highlighting a series of topics and then applying the relationship from the task info pane.
  • Four relationship types are allowed, 'finish to start', 'finish to finish', 'start to start' and 'start to finish'
  • Topics are automatically flagged as past-due or late. I believe the help documentation will explain how this is calculated.
  • You set work calendar days too.

I think that more or less summarizes the task enhancements.

You can see it in action in this short video created by a MindManager blogger & fan, Dr. Brian Friedlander.

Let me know if you have other questions
 
MichaelDeutch;64110 said:
Great feedback. I passed it on directly to the product team and added it into our feature request database.

Barb,
In MindManager 7 and earlier you could make any topic a task. You could also set a relationship which was honored as a dependency in Microsoft Outlook. Relationships were 'finish to start' and were set 1 at a time which was very time consuming.

In MindManager 8:
  • You can mark the parent topic of a branch as a 'roll up' topic. MindManager reads the branch and calculates summary data for the parent topic.
  • Relationships can be set by highlighting a series of topics and then applying the relationship from the task info pane.
  • Four relationship types are allowed, 'finish to start', 'finish to finish', 'start to start' and 'start to finish'
  • Topics are automatically flagged as past-due or late. I believe the help documentation will explain how this is calculated.
  • You set work calendar days too.

I think that more or less summarizes the task enhancements.

You can see it in action in this short video created by a MindManager blogger & fan, Dr. Brian Friedlander.

Let me know if you have other questions
Click to expand...

I have MindManager 7 now. I'll take a look at this again tomorrow. I'm feeling baffled "-}
 
Webinar

MichaelDeutch;64110 said:
Great feedback. I passed it on directly to the product team and added it into our feature request database.

Let me know if you have other questions
Click to expand...

I signed up for the Webinar demo on 3/3. One more question: I use Windows XP still. Will MM8 work with that? I put off moving to Vista and now it looks like that might have been a smart move. Hope I don't have to buy a new computer before the next version of Windows comes out!
 
MM8 & GTD pg91

When I lost my job Nov1, (Online Marketing Manager), I decided to take on GTD fully. This included upgrading my MindMgr to 8.

I came here today, because I need an E-Gen. Ref. Filing System ("of interesting or useful data that may have some potential value")....

articles... tools... resources... URLs.... tutorials...
FOR
Web Design .... Web Dev.... Web Marketing.... eLearning...

....whose info can be easily gotten to when needed.

NOT have this e-filing cabinet, has brought my PROCESSing to a halt.

While I was hoping to use MM8 as my "front end" to this e-genernal reference filing system, I'm worried that it would get too muddled.

Maybe it's not good way to use MM8?

Raph

PS. Even if it isn't, I'm downloading these GTD .mmap's RIGHT NOW.
 
Using MindManager 8 to manage the information in your life!

Raphaela,

I've spoken to several Mindjet customers that use MindManager to manage exactly the same type of information that you want to get a handle around.

One person, a week or two ago, showed up to the Mindjet office and we spent a half hour in my office discussing how he maps out every conversation, idea, interesting URL, articles, files, etc... for each year. He then links to topics or branches in his master reference map from other maps.

MindManager is very flexible and can be adapted to many different styles of work.

I like to drag important URLs directly from the browser right into my maps. I also often use the map markers & text markers in my maps to add tags. These tags make it easy to filter and find relevant information.

Here's an approach you may want to take:

Make a separate map for:
  • Web Design ....
  • Web Dev....
  • Web Marketing....
  • eLearning...

Within each map, create a text marker for:
  • Articles
  • Tools
  • Resources
  • URLs
  • Tutorials
  • Etc...

After dragging a resource into your map, tag it with the marker. You can build (and save) filters for each marker or a combination of markers to quickly show or hide that content.

You can also build a master map that links to the different topics of interest (e.g. web design, marketing).

You may not even need to go thru the effort of tagging if you create the central topic as "Web Design" for instance and then add main topics for each type of resource. Or alternatively, you could use sub-themes (e.g. Usability, Localization, Best Practices, etc...) and add resources within each sub-theme. The beauty is that it is very easy to reorganize information within MindManager. You can try one method and if it doesn't work, it will not take long to reorganize into a different method that works better for you. Very flexible, very powerful.

Give it a shot, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to collect and manage information. And feel free to ask more questions.

Also, you may be interested in this little vignette: my co-worker Jag had been using MindManager to manage his job search before he landed his job here at Mindjet. He mapped out his search process and for each company the whole interview process. He had a map built for each interview which captured what he learned about the job and company. As the process continued, he was able to demonstrate a solid understanding of the company's challenges and opportunities.

Good luck,
Michael
 
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