Ask HN: Do you use Mind Maps?

7 points by terrykohla 13 years ago | 8 comments

If so,

what do you use them for?

how important are they to you? do you use them for personal as much as for work stuff?

Any mind mapping tools you recommend?

nekopa 13 years ago |

I use them a lot, both for work and personal stuff. For work I use them for course and lesson design (I'm a business trainer and a english language teacher) sketching out ideas and business strategies (I do a little business model consulting on the side too). They are also quite good for project management, especially if you use mind mapping software that auto numbers branches, makes it easy to create work breakdown structures. And of course, they're great for capturing brainstorming sessions, and I use them for note taking during meetings.

I like the iOS iThoughts, lots of great options for importing and exporting - I do a fair bit of presentation and document design starting with a mind map, then export it to Word or PowerPoint. Plus ithoughts has auto numbering, (the developer kind of added it at my request, a really nice guy, and actively developing the software) I also send it to xmind on my laptop where I can link ideas to actual files (excel, PDF etc.) I used to use xMind a lot, but I prefer mind-mapping on the iPad, it feels a lot more like working pen and paper.

aks4841 13 years ago |

For people that are visually oriented they are great working tools. Tony Buzan, the "inventor" of mindmapping, has a number of presentations available, see for instance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlabrWv25qQ&list=PLofaHHP7uY.... I especially like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnYVJKxyRPM although it's a bit dated.

There are a number of really good software implementations:

freemind freeplane xmind SciPlore

alok-g 13 years ago |

I use them frequently to organize hierarchical information.

They are helpful because you can hide information under a given topic to momentarily free your mind from those details. Using a mind mapping software is thereby mandatory for this.

Issues come when the information forms a graph and not just a tree. Refactoring the information to keep it maximally a tree now leads to insights and is my key reason to use mind maps.

I use XMind.

usujason 13 years ago |

Yes, I use them all the time for both personal and work related projects. The use of a mind map really help me to provide structure to my projects.

I have recently started using MindNode and have really enjoyed the ease and flexibility that the solution provides.

ksikka 13 years ago |

workflowy is good- but i only use it when my mind is really overcrammed. for me, work stuff is personal stuff, so the answer to that Q is yes.

pen and paper tends to do the job better than any software solution.

bbissoon 13 years ago |

Mindjet Manager before it converted to the SAAS model.

ScottWhigham 13 years ago | |

Same here. I just draw them now, which is nowhere near as productive.

xtraclass 13 years ago |

Yes, great tools for me. I use mindomo