16 Mind mapping enhances creativity
I find mind maps are very useful tools for the following:
- Exploring and presenting complex concepts.
- Capturing, organizing and combining ideas to generate more and rank the best ones.
- Planning complex projects and tracking their progress.
- Making, organizing and retrieving notes.
I know of a professor that gives his students an assignment to build a mind map illustrating the relationships of all of the principles and concepts of his course. This replaced a typical paper assignment.
The primary benefit that I gain from mind mapping is being able to view the entire map of ideas and concepts from a “birds-eye” view. This makes it easier for me to examine the whole picture and manipulate any part of it by moving items on the map around as needed. From this, I can more easily see relationships, patterns, missing elements, or improvements in the map and my understanding.
There are many tools you can use to create mind maps:
Pencil and paper — or pen if you are brave. Using different colours is nice.
Google Drive Drawing — is free, cloud-based and allows you to collaborate with others.
MindMup — is a free cloud-based tool that also connects with your Google Drive.
Coogle — is a freemium cloud-based tool.
FreePlane software — is a free and open program for Windows or Mac.
Prezi — is a cloud-based presentation tool that does mind maps very well.
SimpleMind for Android or iPhones/iPads.
There are many others, some for free, some for a fee.
Here is a tutorial on how to use MindMup.
Concept maps are similar to mind maps, but typically concept maps do not have a primary idea in the centre that serves as the hub of the map. The image illustrating the Creativity Process described in that chapter would be an example of a concept map.
Watch the following video about how to make mind maps.
The following list illustrates how a mind map tool could be used to work through the creative process:
- A mind map can help you explore a problem by putting every detail about the problem and resources available on the map to examine closer.
- A mind map is also a great way to do a brain dump, where you just try to brainstorm as many related ideas as you can on how to solve a problem. Capture all of the ideas, even the good, bad and ugly ones. Then review them to look for what is missing, patterns, duplicates and any new ideas that can be generated by combining existing ones.
- A mind map can then be used to sort all of the ideas into clusters that could be categorized and ranked based on your selection criteria. This will help you to select the very best ideas to move forward.
- The mind map can then be used to plan the tasks required to implement your solution. You can organize the tasks into timelines, clusters, and other useful details.
- Most mind mapping tools include tools to help you mark tasks as complete, allowing you to use the map to manage the execution of the plan. It is also useful to distribute copies of the map to your collaborators to keep them informed. Some tools will allow collaborating with others on the same mind map.
- Once the implementation is complete, review your mind map, with all of the details and notes that it accumulated, to assess the success of your project and what remains to be done, or redone.
Not everyone uses mind maps to explain complex ideas. One reason may simply be that people are not familiar with this technique. Do you find it easier to understand a complex concept or idea if you see a mind map of it?
Better yet, would it help you to understand that complex concept or idea if you were to create your own mind map illustrating it? I know this really helps me.
Where could you use mind mapping in your workplace to help you be more creative and innovative?
Select one of the tools mentioned above and create yourself a mind map of a complex idea or concept. When complete, share it with a friend and afterwards ask yourself if creating the mind map helped you gain a better understanding of that idea or concept?
Now build a mind map illustrating how the principles in this book relate to each other.
