Review: MindManager Offers A New Way To Think

Ideas On The Brain
On the other hand, one tool I think anyone would find useful is the Brainstorming feature, which adds a form across the top of your map with which you can add ideas, create groups, and drop each idea into the appropriate group. In other words, you can quickly take notes during a meeting or conversation, and worry later how to fit them into the MindManager structure. If I ever became a MindManager convert, I'd probably get a lot of use out of it.

There are a multitude of other tools available, ranging from something as simple as a timer to the ability to insert a spreadsheet. MindManager's Microsoft leanings are also evident in the fact that it offers integration with both Excel and Outlook, so that you can, for example, create a new Outlook appointment directly from your diagram and have it reflected there.

Would I use MindManager for my own projects? Right now, it's up in the air. As a test case, I created a project in which I was going to interview the residents of a fictional neighborhood. In very short order, I was able to create subtopics representing each home and its residents; using icons, I was able to indicate how willing each individual was to be interviewed. I then started brainstorming on the types of questions I wanted to ask, and found that it was very easy to have a whole range of "if...then" indicators.

It was certainly interesting to create all the relationships within my project, and I have to say that I did find myself coming up with more ideas as to where to go and what to do with that project than I might have had staring at a typical two-dimensional text outline. On the other hand, even my fairly simple map soon started to become unwieldy -- MindManager offers a number of tools for drilling down into complex maps, filtering your information, or collapsing various branches of your diagram, but it's hard to tell whether they would be enough for a really complex and long-term project.

AT $349, MindManager Pro 7 is not an inexpensive product (a slightly less tool-rich version, MindManager Lite 7, is available for $99). And since this is one of those products that either works for you or it doesn't, it might be a good idea to test out the trial version before committing yourself. To me, MindManager looks like a great way to plan a new project, generate off-the-cuff ideas and then organize them into a coherent whole. However, whether it would continue to be a useful tool over the long term is something that only experience, and your individual work habits, could determine.