Had the class and a constructive discussion about using MindManager for process definition and discussion. Once you get past the clockwise layout of most maps it gets easier.
I wanted to emphasize a couple of key points:
- Each process has two or more maps. One is meta data about the process. The second and other maps describe the steps of the process.
- The use of color, putting borders around groups of topics, and using callouts help you explain key points.
- Colors and icons can be filtered. I can reduce a complex map to just the topics of interest, i.e. the ones that need attention or elimination.
- Data gathering is a two person task. One person builds the map and the other facilitates the meeting.
- Keep it under 10 steps. A complicated map is probably hard to follow, and probably describe collections of steps that could be their own "process map"
There is a lot of power to using a hierarchy of maps and taaking advantage of hyperlinks to other documents. That becomes second nature after a while. It getting started that is the challenge.
3 comments:
Great advice. Do you have any examples that you can post to demonstrate these points?
Yes, a few. I'm chasing down some email problems this afternoon, so can't get to it now.
I need to upload the maps zipped to my hosting service. The mmap format seems to confuse my browser/host.
Check back later tonight.
Posted two maps. The larger images are on Flickr. Click on the map to get there.
But read the two posts first of course.
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