Posts Tagged ‘knowledge management’

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Information Mapping Across the Organisation

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

Mindjet have a series of seminars titled “Information Mapping Across the Organisation” running in Europe over the next two weeks.  Scandinavia this week. The Netherlands and UK next week.

I am speaking at Lord’s and Old Trafford (the cricket grounds) in the UK.  I will be showing the audience some Customer Use Cases with MindManager featuring: Brainstorming, Strategy, Projects and Communication.  It would be great to meet you there. The events are free, in the morning from 08:30-12:30 and include breakfast.

In London: Paul Lawrence and John Barber from Mindjet will be speaking  plus Jim McNeil, The Ice Warrior! and me.
In Manchester: Hilary de Rover, John Barber and me.

If you have any special requests, make them below and I will see if I can weave them in to my 45 minutes.

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Importing from Word to MindManager

Monday, November 15th, 2010

I just noticed a comment on someone else’s blog about creating mind maps from documents.  MindManager has been able to open or import Word documents for a decade. You can use either the File > Open and select the Word document type or File > Import > Word. For this import to be effective the Word document must have the following styles in it:

  • Title becomes Central Topic Text
  • Heading Level 1 becomes Main Topic Text
  • Heading Level 2 becomes Sub Topic Text and Levels 3 onwards become Sub Sub Topics etc.
  • Body or Normal becomes Topic Notes

Make sure the Word document uses these styles before importing.

I have used this to import tender and contract documents.  Important elements can be copied from the notes and in to topics or call outs. Relationships between call outs and topics can be added to show where the document has conflicting information. Call outs to highlight sections of concern or where there are major cost implications or  links to related documents, emails and contacts can be added.

This process will increase your understanding of the document and can be shared with the supplier of the document to demonstrate your thoroughness in reading their document.

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Special Offer on On-Line MindManager Training

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

Potential On Line MindManager Training & Coaching Topics

For  several years I have been coaching people on-line to use MindManager more effectively. Some clients have been within 30 miles of Alresford, nr Winchester, Hampshire, England where I am based. Others have been in San Francisco and Sydney!  They all benefit from having a session which is specific to them, takes place at a time to suit them (and me. I have not had a session between midnight and 6am yet!) and, involves no lost time and cost travelling to a training venue.  I recommend a 45 minute session. This is long enough for you to pick up several tasks, some of which may take you a few days to complete or practice.

“This is a really cost-effective, energy efficient and time-saving way to meet and share material, and I can’t recommend the approach highly enough”

The normal process is to book a free fifteen minute technology testing and briefing session. We could be using phone, Skype, RealVNC, Live Meeting, Team Viewer, NetMeeting depending on the requirements of the session.  The briefing is to find out what you want to do in your session or series of sessions. This is so I can be prepared with examples including the ones you send me and think about the structure for your particular requirement.

“It was only today when I had to get a project completed quickly, a project I had no idea how to tackle or even what to do – that I realised the full value of the training.”

During the session I will share my desktop with you and you may be showing me your issues from yours. When the session completes I will provide a map with a summary of the session, links to relevant follow up material and some homework. Hopefully you will come back for further session suitably spaced so we can review progress and I can suggest next steps.

“Sessions are always on time and very concentrated. Andrew has solved most of the problems my work has presented us with, and left me copious notes (in map form) for me to study afterwards.”

Normally I charge £87 plus VAT per 45 minutes including preparation and post session activities.  Until the 31st October I will be charging £67 plus VAT.

You can contact me on 44 1962 73534 or 44 7813 211451 or Skype ajwilcox or Twitter ajwilcox.

If you want to suggest some dates and times, send me 3 proposals including the 15 minute briefing via Meeting Wizard to email andrew@cabre.co.uk.  If I can accept one of your proposed session times I will send an invoice which you can be settled by credit card or electronic bank transfer.  Payment has to cleared before the session.

As a trial until 31st October 2010 I will also offer the option of booking a 30 minute unprepared session for £37 plus VAT.  I will not do any post session work unless we agree terms for this. Use Meeting Wizard to propose some times.

Notes on VAT: In the UK its 17.5%.  If you are resident in the EU and you give me your VAT number I can supply without VAT otherwise its 17.5%.  If you are in the Rest of the World the charge is VAT free.

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Using MindManager to Mock Up Web Sites

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Last night I went to a 80s party orgainised by the Like Minded Companies, a bunch of businesses that jointly sponsor the event and invite their friends, clients and suppliers. They are always very eclectic evenings. Last nights highlight for me was the discussion with the fiancee of someone I met at a VizThink evening several months. I won’t bore you with the details but you might get the gist of the conversation about an information system requirement we discussed from the mock up I prepared with MindManager this morning.

Hot Spots

Two maps

  1. Africa – A map as the background image. With a floating topic for Cairo linked to the second web export. Exported as a clickable image map
  2. Cairo – Map with notes exported using the static outline template.

Will this get beyond this stage, who knows!

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Posted in mindmanager, web site | 2 Comments »

Using MindManager with your bicycle or bike

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

This is one I did earlier and a video I found on YouTube.

First my map of how to programme a two button cycle computer. the sort that tell you how far you have gone and how slow you have been. I average about 12 mph on my road bike. I was getting lost as to how many buttons to push and when. I think the process of mapping it fixed it in mind but I always had the reference on one sheet of A6 when I needed it.

Does that make it clearer?

Here is a video by Paula where she shows how she runs and tracks the maintenance of her Pegasus bike MindManager.

That is definitely getting value out of using MindManager.

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Managing Files and Folders with MindManager

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

MindManager File Explorer Map Part

1 Using the File Explorer Map Part

MindManager comes with a tool for mapping folders and files. You add one of the Map Parts to a map and point it at a folder. Depending on the choice of Map Part you will get the files, folders or files and folders added to your map.

2 Dragging and Dropping from Windows File Explorer

Open Windows File Explorer and select file(s) and folder(s) (hold down the Ctrl Key to do multiple selects) and drag to the map.

 

3 Adding a hyperlink
You can use the Add Hyperlink tool to add files or folders links to the map.

MindManager Hyperlink tool

 

4 What’s the difference?

MindManager File Explorer Map Part4.1 Sub Folders
The Map Part will show one level of subfolder(s). If you right click the Map Part icon on a folder and Refresh you will add the next level down.

Folders added by dragging and dropping are just a link.

4.2 Refreshing
Map parts can be refreshed. Any files or folders added or deleted after the map was edited will be added or deleted.

5 Sharing with Associates

You can share your map of files and folders with others by
• Using Export > Pack and Go or Send > As Attachment
• Export as Web Pages. Use the Clickable Image Map template and then copy the exported folder and the sub-folder called Linked Documents (which contains all the linked files) to your web or network server.

6 Attaching Files

You can attach files in MindManager using the Paper Clip tool. This takes a copy from your disk and embeds it in the map file or allows you to create a new document and embed it in the map. Opening, editing and saving an attachment changes the file in the map not the file stored on the disk drive.
Attachments can only be accessed by MindManager users from the map. Attached files are not exported with the clickable image map web export.

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Using MindManager to create a Financial Information Map

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

The map below is the one I use to get at all the tax and financial information I need to run my business. It contains links to government web sites and documents e.g. HMRC, VAT, PAYE. There are links to my company documents stored on my PC (they all link to a dummy document in this version) templates for dividends & minutes or the actual documents or copies of documents produced by submitting my VAT etc.

There are also topic alerts to remind me complete my next VAT Return or Corporation Tax.

There are links to my on-line banking sites. You will have noticed I blanked out the user names and passwords. The map I use only contains discrete reminders.

There is also a set of topics that maps out how to complete the PAYE processing required once a month. I can never remember where all that stuff is.

What is the benefit of this? One place to go to get at all my financial information and to add knowledge as I find it. If I could discover the way to get direct links in to my accountancy package they would be there to.

Click on the image to see a full size map. All the links to web sites can be clicked. You can download the MindManager map and some of the linked documents as a starter for ten for your financial dashboard.

A MindManager map with links to tax and finance web sites: HMRC, VAT, PAYE, Corporation Tax Includes downloadable documents and and the orginal MindManager map

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Posted in finance, hyperlink | 2 Comments »

MindManager map of the Twitter and Related World

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

This is an example of how MindManager can be used to quickly aggregate knowledge for sharing with others. I started the map at 9:38 this morning and the first version was on the web at 10:46, it was in the Ecademy twitter Club at 10:54 and I Tweeted it at 10:55.

Click for the full screen view. Click the map to go the web page indicated.

For those wondering what this is all about. Twitter is web application which allows you to publish 140 character messages to the web. Sort of SMS on the web but rather than one to one it’s one to many. You follow other peoples Tweets and they follow yours. Click my Twitter link to see what I mean.

What you Tweet about is up to you. It can be social, it can be business, it can be a mix. You can have multiple accounts with different purposes. The search tools above allow you to find people with similar interests and start a conversation. Of course if you publish frequently about your niche knowledge, service or product. You may be found. See what Mark Shaw is doing with respect to ebooks.

My thanks to the members of the Ecademy Twitter club for providing all these references in their threads.

The map above is self explanatory. What follows is for Google to find and was created by exporting the map to Word and removing the links because I want you to interact with the ones in the map :)

CCabre’s Birdworld

1 Twitter

= 140 character messages to the world

1.1 Bird Feeders – Ecademy Twitter Club

1.2 Blog Baths – GottaBeMobile

1.3 twhirl a twitter client

= Managing your twitter

1.4 Twitter4Skype

= So you can call or chat with a Twit about their Tweet with one click

1.5 The Twitter Club

= Share twitter know how

12 Ways Twitter Can Improve Your Efficiency

10 to Follow

Ecademy club posts & comments to Twitter

1.6 Summize Conversational Search

MindManager

1.7 Real-time Twitter Search Tweet Scan

Ecademy

2 Wakoopa

2.1 Ecademy Team

3 Flock

3.1 The Social Web Browser

4 FriendFeed

4.1 Aggregate all your friends guano

5 Twits

ajwilcox, thomaspower, markshaw, clarocada, hensel, mgpoole, simon_morice

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What are your favourite applications of Mind Mapping software and why?

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

I recently posed this question to my friends and to the general membership on LinkedIn.

A friend replied:

I use MindManager for the following:

1) Project management planning: I create templates for projects that are re-usable, this means I save time on subsequent projects. I also like the fact that an incredibly complex project can be managed from one dashboard. With the ability to link every conceivable form of document and media in one source I don’t know how I could plan and manage projects without MM.

2) Client workshops and problem discovery sessions: Clients find MM a great tool when I use it for workshops as it helps us brainstorm but always in a focused framework, it also means that nothing gets lost. I always record brainstorming sessions with a dictaphone and attach the audio file to the MM file for a complete record of the session.

3) Website design & planning: I now run 3 websites so it really helps to design, plan and administer my sites using MM as I can store all my images, pages, content and updates in one place.

4) Presentation planning: MM is fantastic for designing a presentation as you can create a basic template and then build out from that based on the specific requirements. I find it provides a more creative medium than just relying on powerpoint templates. I frequently save time by just using MM as the presentation tool, clients appear to prefer it to PowerPoint etc.

5) Knowledge management: Part of our core service is providing detailed audits and reports to clients. One of the deliverables we now provide is a MM of all the findings. It provides a much richer and simpler way of navigating through all of our results as opposed to a bland, one-dimensional Word document or printed report.

This is from Dylan Jones at IQ Solutions Online and his recently launched Data Migration Pro a global professional community.

You can see other answers at LinkedIn at What are your favourite applications of Mind Mapping software and why?

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