Mind MappingThe “lost art” of Mind Mapping

Liz Sundet◦ MBA, PMP, CBAP, CSM ◦ Musician: Dog Lover:

Percussion Piano

◦ 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-cbap-

csm/17/a36/180/

About Me…

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

About Me…

…not quite a Mind Map

Vulcan Mind Meld

Why is it the lost art:Few people have heard of it, fewer have used it in a business application

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!

Thru our Mind Meld today

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”?

Personal Experience

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 Very easy to use and teach others to use it

and facilitate use during meetings

Mind Mapping 101

Example—IQmatrix.com

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

Origins of Mind Mapping

Concept Map vs Mind Map

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4555745972650188&pid=1.7

Concept Map vs Mind Map

http://etjune.brochure.examtime.com/files/2012/11/How-to-create-a-mind-map-mindmap.jpg

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.

Mind Map Guidelines

Guidelines Mind Map

www.kootation.com/art-mind-maps.html

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!

What I have found

SharePoint is highly hierarchical SharePoint relies on logical relationships It’s a friendly translation from a folder-

driven system

Mind Mapping and SharePoint

Items – Documents, Images, Pages, List items

Lists and Libraries Metadata Content Types Sites

Key Elements of SharePoint IA

350,000 pieces of content Subset of 65,000 600 sites One content type No managed metadata

The Set Up

IA Planning

Highly visual Very specific Easy to update/change Exportable in a variety of formats

Why it worked

Key Questions of Taxonomy Planning 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

The Set Up

Taxonomy Planning

Common ones are ◦ MindMeister◦ MindJet◦ SimpleMind◦ Total Recall◦ MindNode◦ iThoughts◦ iBrainstormer◦ iMindMap (Tony Buzan’s)

Yes…There’s an app for that

Termsets Terms Synonyms Relationships (Reuse?)

Building an Intranet Taxonomy

Questions?