Yes ..this was the question that started ringing in my ears when I first heard of Mind maps while reading or implementing GTD. Then started exploring few software (obviously free / open source). It was interesting.
First I tried out mindmeister which is a web based tool that can be used for real time collaboration. The visuals are cool and its very easy to use. With in couple of mins I could create my first map. It uses lot of other cool concepts like open id, file sharing for collaboration, Google Gears offline library for offline support, browser add-ons, etc. This adds a new flavor to the social networking tools.
Then I tried a stand alone (again a free ware) application – FreeMind written in java! This can be used for creating maps for own use. It has all the features for creating a multi layered maps and also link multiple maps to create a nice flow. Many times the app was slowing down while loading the saved maps. (but may be an issue with my laptop)
But still it was not convincing enough. Wanted to know what is that can be achieved by these tools that can not be done with powerpoint, visio or excell (to list and track tasks) ???
Here are some things that I realized after spending some time:
- Simplicity: yeah it is very easy to draw what ever you visualize.
- Information rich: We can put in lot of information in to one simple map
- al flow: We can give a al flow to our thoughts
- Layered view: We can collapse or expand at any node level helping us in having a desired level of abstraction of data.
I’m convinced now to use it!