An Introduction to Mind Mapping
Although I have used mind maps for several
years now, I recently came across the article from which much of the following
has been extracted. If you wish to follow
up on mind mapping, I recommend the full text of this article as an excellent
starting point.
Please
note that my introductory mind map concerning the British Car Market does not
follow all of the rules
that you will find below. Take the
opportunity to apply the rules in full from this article to the Car Market mind
map.
Some
of what follows comes from
Mind
mapping in executive education: applications and outcomes
Anthony
J. Mento, Patrick Martinelli & Raymond M
The
Journal of Management Development, Vol 18 Issue 4 Date 1999
Developed
by Tony Buzan in 1970, mind mapping is a revolutionary system for capturing
ideas and insights horizontally on a sheet of paper. “It can be used in nearly
every activity where thought, planning, recall or creativity are involved”
(Buzan, 1989).
A
mind map starts with a central image and key words, colors, codes, and symbols,
mind mapping is rapidly replacing the more traditional methods of outlining and
note taking in workplaces around the world (Margulies, 1991). The mind map has four essential
characteristics:
1
The
subject of attention is crystallized in a central image.
2
The
main themes of the subject radiate from the central image as branches.
3
Branches
comprise a key image or key word printed on an associated line.
Topics of lesser importance are also represented
as branches attached to higher level branches.
4
The
branches form a connected nodal structure.
Return
to introduction
Figure 1 shows a basic
Mind Map: this figure is at the end of
the text
Mind
maps can record a great deal of information and can show even complex
relationships among many concepts and ideas: remember, a picture paints a
thousand words; but a thousand words don’t necessarily paint a picture!
On
a mind map, structures of the subject can be seen in a way that is not possible
with linear outlines. Think of the last time you prepared a lecture or wrote a
paper. How difficult was it to get started?
How exactly did the process flow?
Radiant Thinking
The
mind map is an expression of radiant, as opposed to the more usual linear,
thinking and is therefore a function of the human mind. It is a powerful
graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlocking the potential of
the brain.
Applications of mind mapping
Because
of its ability to work with non-linear thinking, the mind map has been used in
many ways. Some of the more popular uses include writing, meeting management,
project management, brainstorming, activity lists, visual aids, memory
improvement, note taking, teaching, studying, personal growth, and
presentations.
One
of the first ways that we used mind mapping with our students was to capture
the essence or key points of an assigned reading in the form of descriptive
mind maps.
Mind mapping with the case analysis process
We
use business case studies on a regular basis and have found mind mapping to be
a powerful analytical tool. For each
class during the semester, we assign three or four articles to augment the case
to be analyzed.
A
second approach frequently involves helping with case discussion by a
pre-assigned team. The team presents their agenda on an overhead [projector
slide] and briefly reviews the key facts in the case using a timeline (if
appropriate).
The
third use for mind maps in case analysis occurs at the end of class … We write
“Today’s lessons learned” in the centre of the mind map and ask students to
think about what they have learned from preparing for class individually,
thinking about the material, and class discussion.
Positive outcomes from the mind mapping process
A
number of our … students have made clear and forceful presentations using only
a [slide] of their mind map and with no fumbling with note cards. After carefully
developing their mind maps, these same [students] are able to handle
challenging and probing questions in a confident and succinct fashion, without
hesitation.
We
use mind maps to develop the agenda and plans for each class, which allow for considerable
flexibility and last-minute improvements.
Mind Mapping Software
If
you would like to explore mind maps further, you might care to visit the
following website http://www.mindman.com
This
site belongs to MindMan and you can download a restricted version of their mind
mapping software. Let me stress that I
have nothing to gain by recommending this software: I recommend it because I
know it and have used it. I have a
restricted version of MindMan (maximum 25 branches, so it’s not enough to draw
the whole of the British Car Market mind map) and find it easy to use. MindMan doesn’t seem to be able to follow
all of the rules of mind mapping that we listed above; but it’s a lot more
flexible than the spreadsheet solution that I used for my version of the
British Car Market mind map.
Interestingly,
however, when I saved and previewed my MindMan drawn mind map as an *.html
file, it was turned into … the list linear format that I started with! To be fair, however, we should see the mind
map that MindMan produced: it is shown in figure
2, below:
Figure 1
Figure 2
Return
to the Segmenting page, if that's where you came from; or go to
the non financial home page of this site if you prefer.
© Duncan Williamson
September, 1999, June 2001
