Posts Tagged ‘planning’

Newer Entries »

MindManager 8 is released today. What’s new? The flash viewer

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

This is the first of a series of blogs about the new MindManager function. This is the Save As Mindjet Player which creates an SWF (Flash) File which allows the map to be embedded in a web page and lets you interact with it.

This map is a project plan for redecorating a room. All the dates on this map have been calculated using the new MindManager task function but more on that later. I should get my room redecorated just before 2009!



How did I do that?

Save As > Save as type: Mindjet Player Maps – SWF.
Upload the SWF file to my web server.
Use this code to embed the map player in a web page. You may need to remove some of the line returns reduce the empty space around the player.

<object classid=”clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000″ codebase=”https://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,19,0″ id=”pyn2″ width=”610″ height=”460″>
<param name=”movie” value=”http://www.cabre.co.uk/mindmanager_player/Redecorate_Room.swf”>
<param name=”bgcolor” value=”#FFFFFF”>
<param name=”quality” value=”high”>
<param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”samedomain”>
<param name=”wmode” value=”transparent”>
<embed type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” pluginspage=”https://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash” name=”pyn2″ src=”http://www.cabre.co.uk/mindmanager_player/Redecorate_Room.swf” bgcolor=”#FFFFFF” quality=”high” allowscriptaccess=”samedomain” wmode=”transparent” width=”610″ height=”460″></embed>
<noembed>
</noembed>
</object>

What could you use this for?

About Andrew Wilcox

Andrew is an experienced user of MindManager who shares his knowledge and advice for free here. And provides commercial training and consulting on how to exploit MindManager and other mind mapping software applications in business, organisations and for individuals at Cabre For more information about Andrew please visit his Google + profile.

Tags:
Posted in mindmanager, planning, viewer | No Comments »

Using MindMananger and JCVGantt to create project plans

Friday, October 17th, 2008

Last week I ran an afternoon session on using MindManager with JCVGantt to create a project plan. As preparation for that I wrote a 20 page booklet for the attendees but also to make sure I really understood the process. Writing what you think you know, really does reinforce your comprehension.

Creating a project plan that automatically recalculates: the critical path, resources used and cost; requires discipline when setting the model up. The project planning tools have no ability to make assumptions on behalf of the user. 20 years ago I used Pertmaster Advance to estimate project costs and give me a timeline. I remember being asked “Why are you doing this before we have got the job?”. The simple answer is “How could I estimate the job without looking at the plan and considering what could be done in parallel, who could do it, when their and the clients holidays were?” The big advantage is when you have built a robust model and someone asked the really awkward question which throws the spanner in the works, you can make a few alterations to dates or people and the impact is immediately visible.

Outline of the Introduction to JCVGantt

The guide takes you through a process which should create a valid plan. You can see it now as a web site. An Introduction to JCVGantt – Creating a valid project plan in MindManager – Transforming it into a Gantt Chart

MindManager maps morphs into JCVGantt project timeline

About Andrew Wilcox

Andrew is an experienced user of MindManager who shares his knowledge and advice for free here. And provides commercial training and consulting on how to exploit MindManager and other mind mapping software applications in business, organisations and for individuals at Cabre For more information about Andrew please visit his Google + profile.

Tags: ,
Posted in JCVGantt, mindmanager, planning | No Comments »

Using MindManager to track the promotion and the results for an event

Friday, May 9th, 2008

On Tuesday 22 April, I facilitated my first Open Space Technology event. It was attended by 29 people from Ecademy and their theme was “How can we work better together so that we all get more from Ecademy?”. The event was the result of three months of discussion between principally four people. Most of our discussion was on-line using Skype chat and conference calls, and using the Ecademy forums. Two of the people I have never met face to face. One of them attended the event. Apart from the obvious note taking during these on-line meetings, one of the uses for MindManager was to track the promotion of the event and results of that activity.

Use 1 – Monitoring Progress

Initially we had two dates and the map tracked those registering, those who said no or maybe and those that had paid, each linked to their Ecademy profile. I had a MindManager spreadsheet (not Excel range) in the map which noted how these numbers changed on a daily basis. It also showed the home page views for our host Ecademy club for the event.

Each promotional activity was tracked by linking to all the blogs and adverts for the event. Click the image below and you will see the map I shared on line with my colleagues. Each topic with an Ecademy icon clicks through to a page on the Ecademy web site,

MindManager map for monitoring promotions and their results for an event

Some things I learnt I would like to share with you.

- The MindManager spreadsheet does not work beyond column Z. Mindjet are aware and will fix this.
- Regardless of the bug next time I would use an Excel range for a large spreadsheet such as this. This would allow me to show the summary in one topic and the details in another.

I will publish some more ways in which I used MindManager with these events over the next few days.

About Andrew Wilcox

Andrew is an experienced user of MindManager who shares his knowledge and advice for free here. And provides commercial training and consulting on how to exploit MindManager and other mind mapping software applications in business, organisations and for individuals at Cabre For more information about Andrew please visit his Google + profile.

Tags: , ,
Posted in mindmanager, planning | No Comments »

Planning a meal with MindManager

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008

An annual event for the local charity I work with called the Alresford Pigs Association is our progressive or safari supper. This year I offered to do a main course. My speciality is Chinese cooking. Below is the map I used to plan the menu and the shopping. I also used MindManager’s built in spreadsheet to see how I was doing against my budget of £42 including drinks. Providing it does not all get drunk I might make it under budget.

p.s. MindManager does not do the cooking.

Phew! They left me with a bottle of wine (very nice French White – Picpoul de Pinet from The Naked Grape) and a beer! Leaving me £3.50 under budget.

About Andrew Wilcox

Andrew is an experienced user of MindManager who shares his knowledge and advice for free here. And provides commercial training and consulting on how to exploit MindManager and other mind mapping software applications in business, organisations and for individuals at Cabre For more information about Andrew please visit his Google + profile.

Tags: ,
Posted in Menu, mindmanager, planning | No Comments »

Newer Entries »