3.09.2010

Mind mapping software

In the last couple weeks, I've been looking at a couple different mind mapping software programs.  Today, I've downloaded PersonalBrain.  Its said to compliment David Allen's Getting Things Done personal productivity practices.  I can see potential once I get things set up. 

Things I like:
  • I can tie to-do lists with short-term and long-term goals.
  • Ideas can be linked by relationships, not as a strict hierarchy like some mind maps.  For example, I can have low level tasks linked to several high level goals.
  • Lots of flexibility in how I want to structure the map.  So I can use it for my research projects, for classes, for goals, for home life, etc.  
  • I can tag concepts, label concepts, attached documents, add notes, set due dates, and run reports.
  • This may give me the ability to tie research projects to specific attached articles, along with article authors, and see the relationships between authors, articles, and my research.
  • I could also use it to map concepts used in classes to help ensure a proper hierarchy of knowledge is followed.

Things that may be a problem
  • If I use this for personal productivity, I need a way to quickly develop to-do lists and tie them to goals. While the website claims this can be done, it is not intuitively obvious to me how to set that up.  If I can't figure that out, this software will be largely useless.
  • Lack of portability.  I want the program on my cell phone so that I can add things as soon as I think of them, where ever I am.  This may require some alternative system that I can use to capture thoughts, which I later add to the Brain.
  • Calendar does not sync with Google calendar.
  • The time it will take to enter all my thoughts into the theBrain may be a bit much.  I hate spending hours and hours entering information if I do not get any value out of it, or if the value gained is not worth the effort.
I'll try it for a couple weeks and see how it goes.  If anyone has any experience with this software, I would love to hear your comments.

4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I understand that it has not been a couple of weeks yet, but what is your opinion of this software up to this point?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've been using it to collect my thoughts on a research project of mine. After spending about 5 hours entering concepts and mapping them together, I realized that I wanted to change how I established the relationships. But it was only because I went through the process of organizing my thoughts that I realized my own mental organization was a little fuzzy at times and that I need to clarify things in my own mind first. To that end, the tool has been be great. I haven't worked with it enough to verify its applicability to goal, project, and task organization.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You can find more mind mapping examples and templates drawn with Creately mind mapping software . Its an online diagramming and collaboration software to draw mind maps and other diagrams. You can export diagram as jpeg, png, svg and PDF as well.

    ReplyDelete