The “lost art” of Mind Mapping
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Liz Sundet
◦ MBA, PMP, CBAP, CSM
◦ Musician:
 Percussion
 Piano
Dog Lover:
◦ Biker: “Throttles, not pedals”
◦ Email: lsundet@earthlink.net or percusn@earthlink.net
◦ Follow on Twitter: @percusn
◦ Connect with me on LinkedIn
 http://www.linkedin.com/pub/liz-sundet-mba-pmp-cbapcsm/17/a36/180/
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Maggie Swearingen
◦ 10 years building websites
◦ 5 years with SharePoint
◦ Expertise in: IA, UX, Governance Planning, User
Adoption and Taxonomy Planning
◦ Email: maggie.Swearingen@Protiviti.com
◦ Follow on Twitter: @mswearingen
◦ Connect with me on LinkedIn
 http://www.linkedin.com/in/mswearingen
…not quite a Mind Map
Why is it the lost art:
Few people have heard of it, fewer have used it in a
business application
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What is Mind Mapping
What are some guidelines around Mind
Mapping
Create a Mind Map
How to apply Mind Maps to business
Demo – we need an audience guinea pig!
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First learned Mind Mapping during an MBA
class
It fit my learning style by combining a
kinesthetic learning (doing learner) with a
visual learner in a very creative way
I’ve used it in a variety of ways and get asked
often “what are you doing”?
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What is Mind Mapping
◦ Graphic diagram to visually outline information
◦ Created around a single word or text to which
associated ideas, words and concepts are added
◦ Can be drawn by hand or used with software
◦ Also called spider diagrams, spidergrams, webs,
mind webs, webbing or idea sun bursting
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Very easy to use and teach others to use it
and facilitate use during meetings
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First popularized by Tony Buzan, a British
popular psychology author and TV
personality (1970’s series called Use Your
Head)
Version of a concept map, but a mind map
uses one central key word with radiating
concepts
http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.45557
45972650188&pid=1.7
http://etjune.brochure.examtime.com/files/2012/1
1/How-to-create-a-mind-map-mindmap.jpg
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Buzan suggests the following guidelines for creating mind
maps (from Wikipedia)
◦ Start in the center with an image of the topic, using at least 3
colors.
◦ Use images, symbols, codes, and dimensions throughout your
mind map.
◦ Select key words and print using upper or lower case letters.
◦ Each word/image is best alone and sitting on its own line.
◦ The lines should be connected, starting from the central image.
The central lines are thicker, organic and thinner as they radiate
out from the center.
◦ Make the lines the same length as the word/image they support.
◦ Use multiple colors throughout the mind map, for visual
stimulation and also to encode or group.
◦ Develop your own personal style of mind mapping.
◦ Use emphasis and show associations in your mind map.
◦ Keep the mind map clear by using radial hierarchy, numerical
order or outlines to embrace your branches.
www.kootation.com/art-mind-maps.html
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Highly creative—but with a systematic
purpose
When doing Mind Mapping, others will be
very interested in “what are you doing”
Use colors, use shortcuts, use pictures, use
txt wrds and anything else that allows you to
tell the story in the end
Start in center, upper right has 1st idea, then
carry thru clockwise to other ideas
Practice it!
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SharePoint is highly hierarchical
SharePoint relies on logical relationships
It’s a friendly translation from a folder-driven
system
Items – Documents, Images, Pages, List items
 Lists and Libraries
 Metadata
 Content Types
 Sites

350,000 pieces of content
 Subset of 65,000
 600 sites
 One content type
 No managed metadata
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Highly visual
 Very specific
 Easy to update/change
 Exportable in a variety of formats
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How would someone want to search it?
How is it currently organized? What’s the current folder
structure?
How would I want to categorize it?
Who is it for?
Should it be categorized by year or date?
What makes my content special?
◦ Videos
◦ Webinars
◦ Press Releases
◦ White Papers
◦ Products
Mid-sized organization
 Public facing SharePoint Upgrade
 Highly-categorized content
 Site efficiency depended on faceted search
and aggregation
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Common ones are
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MindMeister
MindJet
SimpleMind
Total Recall
MindNode
iThoughts
iBrainstormer
iMindMap (Tony Buzan’s)
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Termsets
Terms
Synonyms
Relationships (Reuse?)