"A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. It is used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing." read the rest here
This methodology/technique might turn out to be really beneficial to especially all the IT folk who have to deal with ever increasing complexity, information and the need for better organization, memorization and retention of that info. But is has also been beneficial for other tasks like book writing, simply organizing your daily activities, etc. Other professionals like pastors, educators, engineers, psychologists seem to be using it for learning, brainstorming, memorizing, visual thinking, and problem solving.
This is not a new concept and lot of people use it and it has a huge market, So there are a lot of expensive commercial products out there. I have used the open source 'freemind' and found it to be extremely helpful and I think it will be helpful for you too.
Its really easy to use and getting used to.. it seems like a lot of work to use it, but it is not! cause all you have to do to make a for eg: a 3 node tree.. is copy paste a hierarchy text.
Title
Sub-title
Sub-Sub-title
and the application makes a tree for you.
After a while the concept becomes automatic and you should be able to start using just the indented text (just like the hierarchical formatting used in programming and scripting) in place of the graphical/pictorial maps.
I found this methodology to be especially useful in troubleshooting issues and to find fixes. As a lot of times the chain of error messages have to be followed to depth of at least 5 plus levels to get to the root cause. Laying it out graphically is very helpful in keeping track of several items at the same time as a visual map instead of just trying to just 'think it through' in your mind.
Now for those who can think through simpler to medium level issues in their mind, this technique should allow them to solve even more complex problems that would usually involve keeping track of more variables/ facts simultaneously in your mind, to be able to get to the root of the problem. Thus this should be beneficial for all users regardless of what their level of memory, analytic or problem solving capabilities are.
Here's the windows installer link..just install an try it. Even the usual read-me documentation is in 'mind map' form
Here's a short video for a quick intro of the concept of mindmapping.
Recently I've switched to MindManager from mindjet that has better integration with MS office and more features, and I simply love it. It is not free but affordable and a I feel the 'lite' version is a good investment if you find the free-trial version useful.
Here's a demo.
