The program Mind Manager Pro is a dandy device for organizing complex bodies of data.
And it creates great little data maps that genuinely help to manage complexity.
I used one at Sesame Street on Tuesday and it makes it vastly easy to cover lots of topics without spinning into incoherence, my usual modus operandi.
The Mindjet website is here.
Business Week calls it one of "the best innovation and design books of 2009"
800 CEO Read holds it as one of the best "Big Ideas" book for 2009
“Building on decades of eye-opening research into the culture of consumption, Grant McCracken demonstrates why many companies get blindsided by cultural factors that were hidden in plain view, and offers a compelling argument for why they need to bring cultural expertise into their executive suite. Here’s hoping more corporate executives hear his call.” — Henry Jenkins, author, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide
“The title of this book is a lie. It's not merely for companies that decide they need a Chief Culture Officer, or even just for those who aspire to that job. It's for you. Right now. If your job involves marketing, inventing, selling or simply investing in companies that make stuff, this book is a must read.” — Seth Godin, author of Tribes & Purple Cow
or subscribe to my NEWSLETTER
7 Comments
April 1st, 2005 at 10:26 am
Sadly it's a Win32 application. Anything comparable for OS X?
No, I'm not being snarky. Anything that promises to nuke PowerPoint is 'ok' in my book.
April 5th, 2005 at 2:50 am
For a free alternative for all platforms there's "Freemind" at sourceforge. Don't know if it has as many features as Mind Manager, though.
freemind.sourceforge.net
April 5th, 2005 at 12:12 pm
I'm always looking for software that will help me, and more importantly, the High School Princess of Dyslexia.
We are also dedicated OS X'ers — I don't have the time or the brainspace to be an IT professional, like you have to be to run a network at home on Microsoft machines.
I'll check out "Freemind", thanks Lorenz.
April 6th, 2005 at 5:11 pm
Thanks, Grant, for the heads-up. I'm hoping to make this baby dance the polka. I told them you sent me, hope that gives you leverage with an update.
Incidentally, folks-at-large, I use both platforms and Windows has a bad rap here and elsewhere. You might want a barebones used PC for certain tasks like this, unless, of course, the whole thing is a matter of kewl and not pragmatic after all; it's a good & privileged life if de gustibus brings home the bacon…
April 6th, 2005 at 5:13 pm
Oops, I forgot and rode off on that high horse. How did you use this at Sesame Street, Grant? Was it the brainstorming tool used by the moderator with a projected computer screen, sort of an interactive recording whiteboard? Or did you prepare or record your own participation on it?
A. the Hunny
April 7th, 2005 at 5:57 pm
Well, no, I'm not wedded to my PowerBook – it's merely a decent tool that gets out of the way and lets me work. Were I to need, say, MindManager I'd happily drag out a Windows desktop and get to work.
April 7th, 2005 at 5:58 pm
Please note that the domain address in my email address was rejected by your spam filter.