If you are looking for a decent mind mapping application for Mac OS X, MindNode is an application you should definitely consider. I stumbled across MindNode a few days ago while browsing iusethis.com, and after using it since then I have to say I really enjoy it.
In my opinion, there are three key skills that professionals really need:
- Being more effective (doing the right things) and more efficient (doing things the right way); and
- Collecting and managing information effectively and efficiently; and
- Brainstorming and thinking creatively.
In my mind, these three skills are kind of like the legs on a three-legged stool. You need all three to be really solid.
I adopted a “Getting Things Done” (GTD) approach for the first skill listed above, as described first here and then in this follow-up. I think that the use of OmniFocus and the GTD methodology has helped me to improve myself in this key area.
To help address the second key skill, I need to find and start using an information aggregator, like EagleFiler, Yojimbo, or Together. The problem is that I can’t find one that I really like. Each of these has some features that I like. Each of them also has some stuff I don’t like. I know that no application will be an exact fit, but I’m still having a problem getting over the stuff I don’t like. If anyone has any suggestions for other applications of this type that I should evaluate, please let me know.
The addition of MindNode helps me with the brainstorming/creative thinking skill. Until now, I hadn’t really been able to find an application that helped with this. Having settled upon TextMate as my text editor of choice, I can use TextMate for text-based brainstorming, but sometimes a graphical mind map is the best tool. The problem that I have with brainstorming and mind mapping is that I tend to pre-judge the ideas. The real purpose behind brainstorming is just getting all the ideas out of your head and onto the paper or mind map, and not to evaluate them. Evaluating them is supposed to come later. I’m hoping that the more I use mind mapping the better I’ll get about freely listing the ideas.
Anyone else have any other suggestions to helping to improve brainstorming and creative thinking skills?
Tags: Macintosh
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On MacOS, I really like OmniOutliner for doing brainstorms. I tend to think heirarchially, or at least I think I do, and outliners are really great for doing that. On my GNOME desktop, which I’ve been using for quite some time now, Tomboy Notes is the closest thing I’ve come to a usable and keyboard friendly outliner. I’m not interested in the structure so much as the meat, and most outliners I try seem to want me to use the mouse to put that structure together. Tomboy and OmniOutliner both do a really good job of getting out of the way and letting me just type without interruption, but OmniOutliner does a much better job of helping you structure your thoughts.
The closest I get to aggregating information is not deleting my email. Seriously, I just dump it all in one folder after I’ve read it and search it. It works better than you’d think. For 6 months I’ve been using Zimbra, and it’s working very well so far. Probably the best webmail interface out there, and a serverside lucene index for searching mail and attached documents *quickly*. There’s also some stuff there for keyboard oriented types such as myself. They have a desktop version, but it does slightly less than the version we have at work.
I also bought a HUUUGE whiteboard for my office. Love it. Sometimes I jump up in the middle of conversations to explain something visually. My boss, who was a former school teacher, probably finds this patronizing, but I find it helpful.
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I use Yojimbo for storing data in loosely coupled way.
For improved design thinking and mind showering, I use OmniOutliner as a way collating key points and supporting facts, then collapsing the facts so that the points remain. This outlining approach is quite useful for large design and research projects which then move into documentation.
Hope this helps.
Greg
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Hi Scott. Good article. I’ve tried a few mindmapping tools such as Freemind and MindjetManager Pro. Like you, there are things I both like and dislike about them. I recently came across an online minmapping tool at http://www.mindmeister.com/ which brings an element of collaboration to mindmapping.
I have to say that I still enjoy drawing mindmaps by hand in a notebook! I do find it useful for taking notes in meetings these days – I find that I remember far more of the important ideas and concepts discussed if I take notes through mindmapping rather than just writing things down in a serial manner. I like the way mindmapping allows one to visualise ideas and make connections between concepts and ideas.
For brainstorming, I also use a plain old pocket sized notebook which I carry around with me at all times. I often find that the best ideas hit when you are walking up the high street or you’re sat in a bar! Rather than wait until I can get to my PC to start writing, I can record the idea right there and then. I treat the book almost like an “idea bin” – dump out ideas as they occur. I then take some time each week to go through the book, picking out ideas that I feel have merit and I will then explore / brainstorm them some more.
I try to set aside at least 1 hour per week for creative thinking, generating new ideas and coming up with solutions to problems. I have found that it’s really enjoyable and something I look forward to doing. To facilitate this, I may pose myself a question or two a few days beforehand. That way, I find that my subconscious has been working away in the background generating ideas and solutions before I formally sit down to brainstorm.
I enjoy posing questions like “What would be a really innovative way to solve….” “How can I build a solution to x which would far exceed everybody’s expectations” “What if everything I know and accept about Y is wrong?” etc etc. Great fun to do.
Anyway, keep up the good work Scott.
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I’m fighting with the same stuff. I mind-mapped my objectives hoping to narrow them down to the GTD next step. My wife saw the printout and said, “gee, you’ve got quite a lot on your plate!” I used Freemind, a freeware mind-mapping utility written in Java. I’m pretty sure it should be cross platform.
In terms of aggregation tools, a friend of mine told me years ago about Yahoo Pipes. On a whim I set one up. This link aggregates a bunch of feeds from the Roland RSS page (they list them all separately, go figure). This is only a basic stream: http://pipes.yahoo.com/tony/rolandrss
Looking at the interface, I see a ton of uses for this web-based application. There are a lot of proramatic constructs for decision making, that I’m sure you could get pretty complex. Then I would pump the collected feeds into Bloglines and Bob’s your uncle.
I haven’t really looked into any software that does this. Besides, I’m a
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Tony,
I use a couple of different Yahoo Pipes to help aggregate content on virtualization and storage and then feed those into NetNewsWire (Mac RSS aggregator). From there, when I see something that I need to read, I use a Quicksilver trigger to push it into the OmniFocus inbox for review later. That part of the workflow seems to work just fine for me.
The next part is the part that I’m struggling with: I can then bookmark that article using del.icio.us (er, delicious.com now), but what if I wanted a web archive of that site locally, in case the original site goes offline? I don’t have a tool to do that, and that’s where the EagleFiler/Together/Yojimbo stuff comes in. Anyway, I digress…
BTW, it’s funny that you used “Bob’s your uncle”….I haven’t heard that in a few years. It made me think of a group of guys at a customer where I spent quite a bit of time on an Active Directory migration. Those were good times.
Thanks for commenting!
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Hi Scott,
Good article, thanks!
You write: “The problem that I have with brainstorming and mind mapping is that I tend to pre-judge the ideas. ”
This is partly caused by the fact that working in a digital world (say behind a PC) tends to activate our left brain; the rational one. Most people use more of their right brain when brainstorming/mindmapping on paper instead.
The main difficulty, however, is to keep the analog (paper version) synchronized with the digital world. Scanning them and using tools like the ones you mention come in handy at that point.
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