I have been writing few posts on troubleshooting. I thought why not a mind map of what I would do when I am stuck with during development. Remember what really means to get stuck is when does not even know what the problem is. Usually when we know a problem we can work on the solutions. But a lot of times during development you know things are not right but you don’t even know what is causing things to go wrong. That’s when someone is really in troubleshooting mode because to fix it one has to find out what the problem is. I quickly drew a mind maps of where I would look for a problem and then document and track the whole process until I find the solution. Hope this mind map helps.

Click this link “Troubleshooting - Mind Map” to view the map. Click on the Original Size link to view the map clear.

Note: - If you are new to Mind Maps look at the series of posts on Mind Maps.

If you are a project manager then you should definitely take a look at these Project Planning guide from Mindjet. The mind maps help you identifying the list of activities to plan and do project management activities.
Note: You need to download Mindjet’s MindManager software trial to view the maps.

If you are new to Mind Maps take a look at my posts on Mind Maps.

Happy Weekend!

Note Talkers and MindJet had announced a competition on Mind Maps using MindManager in March. The following were the topics.

1. A MindManager map about “Note Taking”
2. A MindManager map that describes “What’s on your Mind?”
3. A Screencast demonstrating MindManager

I had participated on topics 1 and 2. The result is out after long waiting and I won the contest on the 2nd topic. I will link to Note Talkers when more details about the entries are published.

Thanks to my friend Vivek who helped in reviewing, giving feedback and sharing his creative thoughts. Thanks to Rajesh Setty and Naveen who have been a source of inspiration to me and thanks to all my friends who supported me.

If you are new to mind maps please refer to my series of posts on Mind Maps.

Mind maps are more about using your visual cortical skill. You have to give importance to visuals that attract your eye brain as much as possible.

So where can we apply mind maps? As such there is no limitation on where a mind map can be used, its limited only by your imagination to where you can apply. The following are some of the areas where you can apply mind maps.

1. Brainstorming - Also called as brain blooming, using mind maps for brainstorming helps you dump your thoughts (can be used in a team) on a particular context. Once you have a mind map of what you have brainstormed, you can look at it as a whole and pick out what is relevant and prioritize.
2. Notes Talking/Meetings - Next time you are in a meeting or a presentation or seminar, try mind mapping instead of trying to write down. You should be able to capture a lot rather than writing down the notes. Mark important key words and also associate them with what your brain brings back on those key words. This is a fantastic exercise that will help you improve on mind mapping and also improve your creative skills.
3. Remembering - The whole concept of mind map is about remembering and bringing it back in your mind whenever you want. The mind map your produce itself is something that your mind maps it to the overall context. So if you practice it regularly you can bring the map whenever the context comes into picture.
4. Preparation for exams - Fantastic use. I have reaped the benefits of it. All you have to do is create mind maps of every chapter or every important topic. Then you revise only the mind map and not the book and you can keep refining your mind map to include images, colors and shades to make it more interesting and thereby helping you to remember it. All you have to do is bring back the mind map in your mind when you are writing the examination and put down in text.
5. Project Activities/Planning - Use a mind map to plan, schedule and fix milestones for any sort of projects. It is a one piece paper that can help you put the entire plan and also mark then and there milestones and the progress.
6. Decision making - Another fantastic area of use. You can draw a mind map when you are confused to decide on a situation. Start listening to your mind and draw a mind map. 99.99% of the time your brain will bring out lot of associations on the decision that you have to take and you will be convinced with what decision you have to take just by looking at it. Try it out, you will be delighted.
7. Training - Are you going to take a training? Prepare a mind map of your presentation and then convert it into presentation slides. You will present everything you have prepared without forgetting anything.

I gave a training on Iterative development couple of years back. Here is the mind map I prepared on it. Dont worry if you do not know anything about iterative development, but just look at the way it is represented and the images associated to the context. Click on the image for a larger view.

Finally a small piece of history, the mind map technique was invented in the late 60’s by Tony Buzan. Here is a good interview article with Tony in management consulting news.

After reading my previous post (Mind maps #5), my friend and ex-colleague from eFunds, Vishnu wrote me a mail on how he and his friends used to learn by association. Here is a snippet of his email that talks about it.

“I am reminded of my one other friend during college, …….. He was a bit different he never followed the way of remembering things as images or mapping them to it. he used to remeber by sound and its sequence…. he was a bit different from me and my room mate. We used to frame some terms and coin some words to remember points to be written in essay but that guy would simply understand those with sound of the words he read…”

I am sure during our school/college days most of us would have tried one way or the other to remember what we learn. The idea is whether you use images or sound or any other technique, everything is a form of context association. Think about it this way, whatever technique it be, it is ultimately your brain trying to associate one conext to another using one of the cortical skills. This also reminds me of mnemonics. Do you remember the mnemonic “How I wish I could calculate pi easily today”? Count the number of letters in each word in that statement and put a decimal after the first word, and you get the value of pi (3.14159265). Read through the section on mnemonic in the wikipedia, you will find interesting statements that students use to remember lists in various subjects.

PS: You can read my blog series on Mind Maps by clicking here and reading bottom up.

Time has come to tell you how to draw Mind Maps. Here are the steps to draw a mind map.

1. Take a blank piece of A4 paper and put it down in landscape mode.
2. Start in the center and draw an oval or a circle (why not square, any shape that you like) and write the topic you are working on.
3. Leave your brain to wander around the topic and see what all it brings. It could be images or any other sensual aspects that might come to your mind. Take an example, say you want to mind map about “Sun”. Close your eyes and think about Sun and what all your mind brings. Coolers, beach, baywatch , sun bath, water melon, ice cream were few that comes to my mind. But if you are mind mapping a topic that you have learnt from a book, grab the relevant pieces that comes to your mind and any important associations. These associations could be part of the context or out of it, doesn’t matter. The idea is to bind that association and make it stronger.
4. If the central topic is like a book name then main topics around the central topic are like chapters of the book. Draw thick lines, which connect to these chapters or sub topics to the central topic. Optioinally write one word associated with each of your sub topics in CAPITALS next to the line.
5. Start to add another level of thought, using thinner lines, linked to each sub topic. These are your associated thoughts.
6. Attach words or images to the sub topics at any level.
7. Be creative and add your personal touch. Make your map artistic, colorful and imaginative.
8. Add humor, exaggeration or absurdity wherever you can. Your brain will delight in getting enjoyment from this process.

Look at the MindTools article for an elaborate explanation on how to draw mind maps. Here is a mind map of the mind map series so far we have discussed about. Click on it for a larger view.

I used a software called MindManager from MindJet. There is a also a freeware tool called FreeMind which you can use to create mind maps. If you are a beginner start practicing by drawing it on a piece of paper rather than using tools.

Think about your kinder garten school days or look at how kids are taught. The textbook used lots of pictures and big letters and colors. This attracted the child’s attention and whatever is taught gets associated to the images and colors in the child’s brain. If you get a chance, take a look at the alphabets book or a kid’s math book. I remember the way math was taught to me. For example additions were taught something like below.

What we started learning in the right way is not what we do as we move along. Ofcourse the contents gradually increase and it becomes difficult to create a book of that type but not impossible. Thats where mind maps are very helpful. You read a topic, understand and try to associate with things that come to your mind naturally and depict them diagrammatically with the topic as the central context in mind. Once you have this mind map in your hand, your revisions are with the mind map rather than the book (but make sure you have all the key points captured. With the mind map you should be able to reproduce the topic in text using your own words).

There are some books which present the contents with good visual information so you can read and remember them easily. As I write this the following books come to my mind.

Beyond Code - Learn to distinguish yourself in 9 simple steps by Rajesh Setty
The Circle of Innovation - You cant shrink your way to greatness by Tom Peters
OReily’s Head First series

So what are the benefits of using a mind map? The following is the list of advantages that mind map provides.

1. As said in the previous post you are going to utilize your cortical abilities that is your intellectual capabilities.
2. It is graphical and so it catches your eye very easily. The brain stores the information you see in the map very easily through association because it contains lot of eye catchy stuff. Ofcourse it depends on how well you depict the mind map and dont worry you dont need to be an artist to do it.
3. Mind maps can be applied through all walks of life. We will see a list of where mind maps can be applied in the coming post.
4. It helps one in planning and taking a route or helps in decision making.
5. Mind maps can be created with humor and can use absurdity. The key point is whatever it takes to make you remember information easily is what matters.
6. Mind map helps in gathering data and putting them in one single picture. It gives a holistic view of the entire problem in scope.
7. It can be used to do a brain dump and thus help in picking out the best options.