Map Your Mind and Never be Lost in Thought Again
By
Boyd Bryant for www.officer.com
A New Way of Illustrating Thought for Police Agencies
You can’t go to MapQuest and ask for directions to a great project solution.
Thankfully there are systems that will help you relieve stress and get a grasp on the big
picture.
The traditional manager lays out projects, or problematic issues with lists, or outlines.
The issues with the traditional outline-based-linear-approach are in the balancing effects
of Item A on an outline, to Item C sub-section 3. In the project management field, chart
systems like the Gantt system have become routine. Most leadership processes aren’t
strictly linear. Managers and supervisors struggle with the tangents and non-linear
relationships that are integral to project plan overlap. Some meeting participants are
alienated when their input is shoehorned into an outline in ways that the contributor
didn’t intend. With that kind of frustration, we wonder why after 10 or 20 years of
“organizational growth”, smart people fold their arms and sit silently in meetings while
withholding great ideas.
Drawing arrows around various legs of a brainstorming session outline also doesn’t
work. Soon the marker board looks like someone lost their mind or regressed to
childhood. At the next meeting, someone is offended by the fact that their idea is left out
or shoehorned into an outline. How do we illustrate a concern or get a group consensus
into a diagram? How do we evolve the illustration as a project progresses? Mind
Mapping and Concept Mapping are mature tools that have a home in law enforcement.
Mr. Tony Buzan created a sensation in education circles with a concept called mind
mapping. Mr. Buzan invented a process that assists anyone with complex issues to
manage. Students using the approach watched their reading speed rise, and their global
grasp of subject matter increase. The process results in “mindmaps” that cover the entire
landscape of a complex project with a single picture. The method is relatively unknown
in law enforcement circles. The system can be utilized with paper and markers. At the
enterprise level software applications allow the concepts to be used on a grand scale.
A Straightforward Software Application for Brainstorming
I’ve spent about 12 hours learning one such system, CS Odessa’s product ConceptDraw
MINDMAP. The software works well. Not only can you diagram but you can also link to
documents, websites, and export to many commonly used formats including Adobe
Acrobat, PowerPoint, and HTML for websites. You can use the fully functional trial version of
MINDMAP for 30 days free. At the close of this article you’ll find links to all of the testing
output.
Vera Zvereva Product
Manager of ConceptDraw MINDMAP shared with me that the users
of the software find that the method unleashes a great deal of lively discussion that boosts
retention by students.
Ms. Zverva said, “Mind mapping tools are extensively used in educational institutions especially
in the UK and Germany. They allow teachers to involve their audience into interactive
conversation and turn their lectures into brainstorming sessions. Mind Mapping or Concept
Mapping is an ideal tool for increased productivity, improved effectiveness of meetings, quick
problem solving and decision making. A mind-mapping software is indispensable for office
workers both in commercial and government organizations. I believe that soon a mind-mapping
tool will be present on every desktop as more and more people will discover the impact it may
have on their daily results. One might not become genius using mind-map, but the amount of
decisions we will be able to consider and make daily will increase tremendously. On the other
hand we will have huge amount of time and mental power that will be spared for other tasks as
well as our friends, families.”
A Practical Software Test
Imagine diagramming the process of strategic management of a police department. Don’t
forget to show dependencies in relationships, like how the records unit’s work affects the
efficiency of the patrol division. Daunting thought isn’t it? A consulting firm from
Austin Texas MGT of America provides consulting services to police departments
providing planning and strategic project planning. As an expert in strategic planning,
Phil Crocker who is a partner with the firm uses mind mapping with many clients and is
enthusiastic about the process. Phil related that the method can revolutionize some larger
scale planning meetings. More significantly Phil said, “Without exception I’ve found that
mapping projects or decisions using software based mapping has identified risks that I
would have overlooked using a traditional list or outline format. Relational mind
mapping lets you identify relationships, and influential factors that are critical to your
success.”
How the Software Works
The elements of the below illustrations can be viewed through a slide show exported
from the software.
By clicking on the center diagram topic with the right mouse button you may add a subtopic and its associated smart connectors. The outlining feature helps some folks to make
the transition, just remember that the idea is to be able to identify groupings and
relationships that you wouldn’t normally see in an outline.
The easy drag-to-edit and easy export features make the whole process a lot more fluid.
Most of the common Windows shortcuts that you already know work, and most of the
Icons and menus have a familiar feel.
As a diagram grows you can send entire legs of a diagram to additional pages while
maintaining the base view of the larger structure. Click on the end of a diagram leg and
the system navigates to the full leg of that diagram that you exported to a new page.
Clicking on a core of an exported sub-topic page diagram returns you to the home
diagram.
There is a large icon library that allow for numeric ordering and prioritization as well as
consensus polling, showing red flags for areas of concern, smiley faces or red faces for
other opinions.
The diagram appears similar to a family tree. Complex relationships are easily charted
and persistent if you choose to re-arrange a diagram. Group think is not as
straightforward as an outline. These complex relationships and linking tools make the
software shine.
The curved lines show three non-traditional links to show overlap in the strategic
mapping model. To insert this type of link the user clicks on a chart entry chooses “insert
relationship” then click on the item to join. This creates the large curved lines shown
below.
Using the software in a strategy session would require a computer projector, a copy of the
software, and a competent operator. It is fun processes watching a diagram grow,
knowing you contributed to something that looks this good at the end of the work session.
A click on a sub-topic will allow you to collapse and entire leg of the diagram as well.
Another click and the entire leg will reappear. You’ll see that in the above illustration
I’ve collapsed two legs of the diagram. Style changes are infinitely variable and quick to
accomplish.
Conclusions
For simple brainstorming sessions I recommend a chalk board and similar spider like
structure. This software can be invaluable for its ability to continue to scale, revise, and
grow a diagram structure over the course of a long term project. The process of mapping
a personal or professional decision may provide insights that you may have overlooked.
The Mind Map application is available as a stand alone application for $199.00 or as an
entire suite of applications including Mind Map, Leading Project, and ConceptDraw
available on line for $499.00. Based upon the ability to cross-connect the output from the
group of applications makes the extra cost of the business suite seem worthwhile.
I’ve posted a list of links (www.cedarcomm.com/~boydbryant) to experts in the field of
Mind Mapping and Concept Mapping as well as a series of illustrations that illustrate the
versatility of the software. Since I am a novice user, the output isn’t perfect but you’ll get
the idea that complex ideas can be expressed under a larger Mind Map diagram.
Brainstorming and collaboration like most worthwhile endeavors are messy.
If you become intrigued with the topic, and are interested in the thought processes that
are associated with this form of management, I especially recommend reading materials
by Bill Trochim of Cornell University, and the previously mentioned Tony Buzan. Mr.
Buzan has a number of books in print available through Amazon.com.
The opinions I express here aren’t necessarily those of Cygnus Publishing or any of their
employees or affiliates. I remind you that trying any software assumes that you accept all
of the associated risks and rewards connected with your research. Now go map your
mind!
Boyd Bryant
boydbryant@cedarcomm.com