Thanks to Larry Hendrick, I had a better chance to look at MindMeister, the online mind mapping software. Now I am not an expert in this space, which I understand has grown considerably in the last few years. Certainly looking at the Mind Mapping Software Blog there are a lot of products out there and they vary widely in quality and usability.
Now as I say I am not an expert at mind mapping software but have been using mind mapping myself for many years, mostly by (gasp) drawing them. But for me the best software is the one that doesn’t get in the way of the process, and allows you to flow quickly without thinking too much, as they gets in the way of the mind mapping process. I am a bit of a purist in this matter too, as I always want my on screen mind maps to match as closely as possible what I would draw, so for me that means words sat actually on the connecting lines, not in blobs at the end of it. The idea is the connection, so it should sit on the line. Some software in my opinion misses the point a bit, and has the idea in a blob at the end of a stick. That is not really a mind map, just a glorified flattened organizational chart! MindMeister however seems to have got that right, and is fairly unobtrusive in use, which fits in with my other requirement.
Would I use mind mapping software on its own? Probably not, as the whole point of mind mapping for me is the immediacy, and reaching for the PC to do it does seem to add an extra process. But MindMeister isn’t bad, and as its still in Beta means that there may be more feature added later. MindMeister is in private beta at the moment, but you can get an invitation if from me if you want one, just let me know.
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