by Hugh Cameron & Roger Voight
Find Out How to Turn Brainstorming Sessions Into Acrion Plans
Covers MindManager X5 Pro
 |
| MindManager For Dummies |
Hugh Cameron began his seemingly random career with a degree in clinical
electrical engineering from Purdue University. In an attempt to satisfy his entrepreneurial
urges, Hugh started Camtech, Inc., a clinical engineering company
that soon extended its reach to incorporate a diverse group of projects —
from impedance cardiography and patient data acquisition (in the healthcare
world) to computerized evidence analysis workstations (for use in the law
enforcement arena). After earning his MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University,
Hugh took a consulting position with a Fortune 100 company where he organized
and set up the company’s national and international service groups. He
also initiated and received a National Institutes of Health, Small Business
Innovation Research grant.
Throughout his career, Hugh has played the role of instructor at every opportunity.
He is certified as a Myers-Briggs trainer, Law Enforcement instructor,
and Project Management Professional (PMP). Hugh applied his project management
expertise and PMP certification to the role of technical editor on the
recently published PMP Certification For Dummies. Currently, Hugh travels all
over the world (well, to 40 countries, at least) to provide instruction in project
management, leadership, systems integration, and requirements management
to industry-leading companies such as BP, IBM, Hewlett-Packard,
Abbott Laboratories, and Novartis.
Roger Voight, PhD, is a certified project manager with over 30 years of experience
in software architecture, design, development and software project
management, as well as training and business consulting in each of these
areas. His experience includes many diverse industries such as travel, public
accounting, wholesale and retail merchandising, medical, legal, insurance,
education, and government. He has provided project management training
and consulting on a world-wide basis to many of the Fortune 100 corporations
such as IBM, AT&T, Nortel, Motorola, Eli Lilly, and Hewlett-Packard. With his
experience as both an executive level manager as well as a business consultant,
he understands very well the time pressures on managers and the desperate
need for effective and pragmatic solutions to business problems.
He is a certified trainer for Microsoft Project and for Mindjet and has extensive
experience customizing and integrating the Microsoft Office Suite for
customer applications using VBA. He has developed numerous softwarebased
tools which together facilitate the gathering of detailed and accurate
user requirements and the development of reliable time and cost estimates
in project management. Over the last 15 years he has developed many applications,
some of which won national awards, based on the Pick operating
system family of application development tools.
He has been a speaker at numerous national and regional meetings on effective
tools for management of software projects and for software development.
He was a contributing writer for more than a year to a national magazine
devoted to the application development tool called Advanced Revelation and
contributed to the recently published book, PMP Certification For Dummies.
Authors’ Acknowledgments
Hugh Cameron: I want to thank our Acquisitions Editor Steve Hayes, Project
Editor Andrea Boucher, and the other special person at Wiley Publishing for
their help in making this book a reality.
Thanks also go out to Hobie, Don, and the others at Mindjet. Their continued
cooperation as MindManager Pro came to life is greatly appreciated.
Nick, the technical editor, is much more than his title infers. His expertise
with MindManager is fantastic. He helped us over hurdles and kept us honest.
My co-author, Roger Voight, made this book possible. His focus on completion
and detail kept the book going. Thank you, Roger, for being a true friend.
Roger Voight: Many people have made it possible for me to contribute to this
book. They certainly include all of those who have participated in my training
classes over the years and have helped me to understand just how challenging
it can be to learn to use a rich software package. Our project editor, Andrea
Boucher, was unbelievably patient and helpful in getting me started in the
right way and was always there with hints and help whenever asked. Dagmar
Herzog provided early inspiration with her passion for MindManager and her
writing about the software that was genuinely fun to read. My sisters read parts
of some of the chapters, laughed at the right places, and encouraged me to
press on. Nick Duffill of MindManuals contributed advice, help, and encouragement,
as well as much of the material for Appendix C, with a generosity
that was awe-inspiring.
None of this could have happened without my very good friend and co-author,
Hugh Cameron, who first introduced me to MindManager and then to the possibilities
of this book project. It has been a blast, good buddy, and I’m looking
forward to whatever our next project might be.
Lastly, but really first and foremost, I must acknowledge my dear wife, Susan,
who helped me find the courage to undertake this project, read many of the
first drafts, and guided me in so many ways to finding my writer’s voice.
Sweetie, you have been my help — and soulmate for all of these years, and I love you!
Introduction
Welcome to MindManager For Dummies, your portal to levels of productivity
and creativity that you have only dreamt about! You’ve heard of
thinking outside of the box? MindManager doesn’t even know where the box
is. Open this book to any page and you will find ideas and examples that will
open your mind and stimulate you to see new solutions in your world. This is
a down-to-earth, practical book based on real ways to use the program. We
remain astounded at the richness of MindManager: even as we were writing
the last sentences in this book we continued to discover new ideas, new connections, and new possibilities.
We discovered MindManager by word of mouth. Most of the 300,000 plus users
did, too. You can’t walk into the local computer store and pick up a box with
MindManager marketing hype. Go to www.minjet.com where a free download
of MindManager Pro awaits you. The download is a fully functioning program
that gives you a full three weeks to explore every facet of the software. You
are not going to be bombarded with Mindjet extras and advertising. You’ll get
an e-mail thanking you for downloading the program and one inviting you to
purchase and register the program. The program and this book get you going at warp speed.
You are going to find that the number of uses for MindManager grows each
day you use the program. Imagine sitting in a large room. Innumerable things
you have to solve, organize, or communicate surround you. There are doors
on the opposite side of the room marked Web Interface, Document Publishing,
Professional Presentations, and Task Tools, but they are all locked. A computer
screen rises in front of you. MindManager is running. External information
links are active. You look at each problem and solve it. One of the previously
locked doors opens, easily, effortlessly. You take the tasks and organize them.
Another door springs open. You structure and data mine seemingly unrelated
bits of information. Now all the doors are open. You link stakeholder needs
to activities. The mountain of tasks disappears, handled brilliantly. The sun
shines, the birds sing, and work has become joyful and fulfilling.
MindManager is fun to use. You are going to see that simplicity and fun can
bring big benefits. Enjoy yourself, and use the program in ways unimagined.
Share your discovery with others.
About This Book
Take a look at the table of contents. The folks at Wiley Publishing look at the
table of contents like a businessperson looks at a business plan. You should
be able to see the flow of the book. Find a few chapters that stimulate your
interest and dive in. Don’t expect to read this book straight through. We didn’t
write it with that in mind. Pick the book up and put it down as the need arises.
Strategically placed throughout the book in the margin are cool little icons.
Browse through and see what jewels you can find. Power users of MindManager
may want to start your discovery by specifically seeking out the icons.
The stories used in this book are designed to stimulate your thinking. We use
MindManager for a multitude of activities in our real world. Benefit from our
experiences and make the solutions yours.
We hope you appreciate our humor. Good things happen when you laugh and smile.
We created this book using MindManager, in case you were wondering.
How to Use This Book
Get started with the first three chapters. You are going to find the book’s
overview and a few key definitions and basics. MindManager Pro Version 5.0
is significantly different than past versions of MindManager. You may want to
start at the beginning even if you are a power user.
We don’t assume you have MindManager running in front of you. The examples
should be clear enough without the program. Mark interesting places in
the book and try the examples when you are in front of your computer.
You can also approach this book from your current use of Windows software.
Microsoft PowerPoint, Outlook, Word, and Project each have separate chapters.
Check out these chapters if you use these products. You’ll see how
MindManager works together with some of your favorite programs.
Dig in and get both halves of your brain working.
Who Are You?
We made some assumptions about you as we wrote this book. You may be anywhere
in the world. MindManager is an international program. You’re adept at
using your computer and aren’t afraid to press the buttons. You know your way
around some of the Microsoft programs like Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, and
Word. You may not have ever heard of MindManager, but the name is pretty
cool, and who doesn’t want to get a little better at mind-managing? You could
be a power user. There are a bunch of folks currently using MindManager. You
might be a project manager, a banker, a lawyer, a pilot, an administrator, an
artist, a police officer, an engineer, a student, or a software developer. We know
people using MindManager in these professions and many more.
We wrote the book as though we were talking to you. We are excited to be
working with you and we sincerely appreciate you taking the time to work with us
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Product details
Price
|
|
|---|---|
File Size
| 13,654 KB |
Pages
|
411 p |
File Type
|
PDF format |
ISBN
| 0-7645-5653-3 |
Copyright
| 2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc |
Contents at a Glance
Introduction
Part I: Discovering Visual Organization
Chapter 1: Getting Organized — Visually
Chapter 2: Making Your First Map
Chapter 3: Exploring the Neighborhood
Part II: The Path Takes You There
Chapter 4: Icons and Colors
Chapter 5: Images: Graphic Ideas
Chapter 6: Grouping and Relating Topics
Chapter 7: Getting Wordy
Chapter 8: Catapulting Your Creativity
Part III: Maps and Buried Treasure
Chapter 9: Putting Plans in Place
Chapter 10: Big Maps for Big Ideas or Projects
Chapter 11: Adding Supplemental Information
Chapter 12: Putting the World at Your Mouse Click
Chapter 13: Finding and Filtering the Information You Need
Chapter 14: Getting a Fast Start with Templates and Styles
Chapter 15: Letting a Wonderful Wizard Guide You
Chapter 16: Recombining the Building Blocks with Scripting
Part IV: Maps through Webs and Windows
Chapter 17: Mining and Managing Information
Chapter 18: To the Host with It: Creating Web Pages
Chapter 19: Presenting Your Maps with PowerPoint
Chapter 20: Word Wonders
Chapter 21: Out to Outlook
Chapter 22: Linking with Microsoft Project
Part V: The Part of Tens
Chapter 23: Ten Helpful Add-Ins and User Groups
Chapter 24: Ten (Or So) Shortcuts
Chapter 25: Ten Useful Things You Won’t Need Every Day
Part VI: Appendixes
Appendix A: Differences in MindManager Editions
Appendix B: Using Tablets and PDAs
Appendix C: Useful Scripts
Index
Table of Contents
Introduction ......................
About This Book ....................
How to Use This Book ..............
Who Are You? ....................................
How This Book Is Organized ................
Part I: Discovering Visual Organization ..............
Part II: The Path Takes You There ....................
Part III: Maps and Buried Treasure ......
Part IV: Maps through Webs and Windows......
Part V: The Part of Tens...............................
Icons Used in This Book ....................
Feedback, Please ...................
Part I: Discovering Visual Organization ..........................7
Chapter 1: Getting Organized — Visually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
MindManager: An Organized Beginning .....................................................10
Visual organization ..............................................................................10
Recording your brainstorms ..............................................................11
Analyzing problems .............................................................................11
Taking meeting notes ..........................................................................12
Setting up project tasks ......................................................................12
Chain Linking .................................................................................................13
Linking map to map .............................................................................13
Linking to the URL world ....................................................................13
Linking to other programs .................................................................13
Linking to documents .........................................................................14
Information Inclusion ...................................................................................14
News feeds ...........................................................................................14
Searching ..............................................................................................14
Building on the Strengths of Other Programs ...........................................15
Microsoft Outlook ...............................................................................15
Microsoft Project or other MPX project tools .................................16
Presenting MindManager Map Information to Others .............................17
MindManager presentation mode .....................................................17
Export to Microsoft Word ...................................................................17
PowerPoint presentations ..................................................................17
Chapter 2: Making Your First Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Switching on MindManager .........................................................................19
Scoping Out the Workspace .........................................................................21
Finding your home on the pane .........................................................21
Gliding through the menus .................................................................22
Toolin’ around the toolbars ...............................................................23
Objects and Things .............................................................................26
Creating Your First Map ...............................................................................27
Exploring on Your Own ................................................................................29
Setting up a document ........................................................................30
Adding topics .......................................................................................31
Rearranging topics ..............................................................................33
Adding text notes to a topic ...............................................................34
Managing your maps ...........................................................................35
Chapter 3: Exploring the Neighborhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
Moving In ........................................................................................................37
Making yourself at home ....................................................................38
Rearranging the furniture ...................................................................40
Day to Day Living ..........................................................................................41
Your map, your way ............................................................................41
It’s all in how you look at it ................................................................43
Getting Out .....................................................................................................45
Working with others ............................................................................46
Getting it on paper ..............................................................................48
Exporting ..............................................................................................50
The Plumbing and Heating ...........................................................................50
Part II: The Path Takes You There ................................53
Chapter 4: Icons and Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Inserting Icons ...............................................................................................55
Icons in the Map Marker menu ..........................................................56
Switch to another Map Marker set ....................................................59
Brains up ..............................................................................................60
Color Inside the Lines ...................................................................................62
Color the Text and Give It a Name ..............................................................64
Topical Application of Color ........................................................................65
Chapter 5: Images: Graphic Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
Opening the Door of the Library .................................................................70
Installing Images into a Map ........................................................................72
Subliminal Background Images ...................................................................75
Searching Images by Keyword .....................................................................77
Looking at Images in a Different Way ..........................................................78
Chapter 6: Grouping and Relating Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
Corralling Topics with Borders ...................................................................82
Pointing the Way to Other Topics ...............................................................84
Creating and adjusting a pointer .......................................................84
Adding words to the pointer ..............................................................85
Making fancy pointers ........................................................................86
Chapter 7: Getting Wordy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
When the Topic Just Doesn’t Say It All .......................................................90
Getting Off the Topic Path ............................................................................91
Transforming Topics into Paragraphs ........................................................93
The Topic Notes toolbar .....................................................................93
Tables instead of tabs .........................................................................95
Tables your way ...................................................................................96
A picture is worth a thousand words ...............................................98
Chapter 8: Catapulting Your Creativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Filling the Idea Pipeline ..............................................................................100
Organizing Your Ideas .................................................................................102
Part III: Maps and Buried Treasure ............................105
Chapter 9: Putting Plans in Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
The Task Info Pane ......................................................................................108
Defining Map Markers .................................................................................110
Working with Assignments .........................................................................115
Chapter 10: Big Maps for Big Ideas or Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
Fixing Maps That Are Too Big for the Screen ..........................................120
Using Map Overview .........................................................................120
Cheap indexing with bookmarks .....................................................122
Breaking Up a Big Map ................................................................................124
A topic here, a topic there ................................................................124
Breaking the branch ..........................................................................126
Making the Most of the Multimap Workspace .........................................128
Entering the multimap workspace ..................................................128
Working in the multimap workspace ..............................................129
Chapter 11: Adding Supplemental Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
Topics Floating in Space .............................................................................132
Informing with Callout Topics ...................................................................134
Becoming Legendary ..................................................................................135
Reviewing the Map ......................................................................................137
Chapter 12: Putting the World at Your Mouse Click . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Putting Pointers to Information on Your Map .........................................142
It’s on my map ...................................................................................144
It’s on another map ...........................................................................146
I want something besides a map .....................................................150
Starting Other Things from Your Map ......................................................151
Keeping Your Links Fit and Healthy ..........................................................153
Chapter 13: Finding and Filtering the Information You Need . . . . . .155
Selecting Topics to be Filtered ..................................................................156
Understanding selection criteria .....................................................156
Filtering the Selected Topics .....................................................................159
Getting the Most Out of Filtering ..............................................................160
Chapter 14: Getting a Fast Start with Templates and Styles . . . . . . .163
Making It Look the Way You Want .............................................................164
Fonts ....................................................................................................164
Shape and color .................................................................................165
I want my own shape! .......................................................................166
Layout .................................................................................................168
Reusing Styles ..............................................................................................174
Changing styles in your current map ..............................................174
Making a place for my stuff ..............................................................176
Creating a style sheet master ..........................................................178
Using style sheet masters ................................................................180
Managing your style library .............................................................180
Subject Templates .......................................................................................182
Once organized, keep going .............................................................182
Using and changing the default template .......................................185
Creating flexibility using map parts ................................................186
Chapter 15: Letting a Wonderful Wizard Guide You . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189
Creating a Wizard ........................................................................................190
Adding multiple subtopics to an anchor topic ..............................193
Adding repeating variable subtopics ..............................................195
Adding fixed subtopics from a list ..................................................196
Changing a Wizard ......................................................................................197
Using a Wizard .............................................................................................198
Adding Pizzazz with Smart Map Parts ......................................................203
File Explorer SMPs .............................................................................204
Outlook Linker SMPs .........................................................................206
Chapter 16: Recombining the Building Blocks with Scripting . . . .211
What on Earth is an “Object”? ...................................................................212
Getting Started with Scripts .......................................................................216
Part IV: Maps through Webs and Windows .................221
Chapter 17: Mining and Managing Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223
Packaging Everything Together ................................................................224
Sending It Off ...............................................................................................227
Knowledge Management Themes .............................................................228
Finding the needle in the haystack .................................................229
Archive reference ..............................................................................230
Mail management ..............................................................................232
Lessons learned .................................................................................233
Knowledge structuring .....................................................................234
Chapter 18: To the Host with It: Creating Web Pages . . . . . . . . . .237
Going from Map to Web Page in Seconds .................................................238
Making Template Choices and Taking Credit for Great Web Pages .....241
Dishing Up a Web Template .......................................................................244
Creating a presentation style Web page .........................................244
Creating a one page Web page with the One Page template ........246
Using the Tag Team of Multimap Workspace and Dynamic Outline .....248
Performing Web Page Template Surgery ..................................................251
Chapter 19: Presenting Your Maps with PowerPoint . . . . . . . . . . . .255
Introducing Your Map to PowerPoint Transformation ...........................256
Creating a Presentation Using the Default Settings ................................257
Sending your map to PowerPoint ....................................................257
Reviewing your presentation ...........................................................258
Adjusting the Global and Topic Settings in Your Presentation .............259
Going to PowerPoint to View the Templates ...........................................261
Setting the Topic Defaults in PowerPoint ................................................262
Choosing a Slide Layout in PowerPoint ...................................................263
Engaging with PowerPoint .........................................................................264
Chapter 20: Word Wonders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269
Getting Ready for the Export to Word ......................................................270
Exporting Your Map to Word .....................................................................274
Importing Your Word Document to a Map ...............................................276
Chapter 21: Out to Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .279
Getting a New Outlook on Life with Tasks ...............................................280
Combining Topics with Tasks on Your MindManager Map ...................281
Getting, Sending, and Synching Task Data ...............................................283
Getting Outlook tasks into MindManager ......................................284
Sending MindManager tasks to Outlook .........................................288
Synching MindManager and Outlook ..............................................290
Using the MindManager-Outlook Mind Meld ...........................................292
Chapter 22: Linking with Microsoft Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .297
Sending Your Map to Microsoft Project ...................................................298
Bringing Your Project Back to MindManager ..........................................302
Importing and Exporting Maps with Microsoft Project Exchange,
er MPX .......................................................................................................304
Setting your MPX preferences ........................................................305
Exporting to an MPX file ...................................................................306
Importing from an MPX file ..............................................................306
Part V: The Part of Tens ............................................309
Chapter 23: Ten Helpful Add-Ins and User Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311
Add-Ins ..........................................................................................................311
MindManuals.com, Ltd (Coventry, United Kingdom) ...................311
Gyronix (Kent, United Kingdom) .....................................................312
I and A Research (Saint Sauveur, QC, Canada) ..............................313
Mindsystems/Teamlink (Mt. Eliza, Victoria, Australia) ................315
User Groups .................................................................................................315
Yahoo MindManager user group .....................................................315
MindManager User to User Forum ..................................................316
Chapter 24: Ten (Or So) Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .317
Keyboard Shortcuts: Fast, Fun, and Fastidious .......................................317
MindManager map documents ........................................................318
MindManager screen management .................................................318
MindManager objects .......................................................................319
Editing the MindManager map ........................................................320
Formatting the text ...........................................................................320
Strategic Shortcuts .....................................................................................321
Opening and closing files en masse ................................................321
Naming images ...................................................................................321
Scripting is the shortcut shortcut ...................................................322
Chapter 25: Ten Useful Things You Won’t Need Every Day . . . . . . . .323
Searching for a Map ....................................................................................323
Select Special ...............................................................................................325
Autocorrect ..................................................................................................326
Number Topics ............................................................................................326
Sort Topics ...................................................................................................327
Creating Custom Buttons ...........................................................................328
News Service ................................................................................................330
Google Searching .........................................................................................330
Protecting Your Document .........................................................................331
Add-ins ..........................................................................................................331
Part VI: Appendixes ..................................................333
Appendix A: Differences in MindManager Editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . .335
Changes from MindManager 2002 .............................................................335
Terminology .......................................................................................335
Branches to objects ..........................................................................336
Dropped commands (with replacements) .....................................336
Dropped commands (without replacements) ...............................336
Mouse and keyboard .........................................................................337
Command changes ............................................................................337
Keyboard shortcuts ..........................................................................338
Toolbars, windows, and dialog boxes .............................................338
Wizards ...............................................................................................339
New features ......................................................................................339
X5 Pro Features Not Found in X5 ..............................................................340
Visual elements and formatting options ........................................340
Microsoft Office integration .............................................................341
Miscellaneous ....................................................................................341
Appendix B: Using Tablets and PDAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .343
Using MindManager for Tablet PCs ..........................................................343
Mobile MindManager ..................................................................................344
Appendix C: Useful Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .347
Closing All Open Maps ...............................................................................347
Converting Topics to Callouts (And Back) ..............................................348
Converting Topics to Notes .......................................................................350
Creating a Submap from a Topic ...............................................................352
Adding a Submap to a Topic ......................................................................354
Adding an Action Item ................................................................................356
Aligning Topics ............................................................................................358
Index ........................................................................361
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