For a while now, I’ve been using MindMeister to collect and make sense of my ideas.
Have you ever been in a situation where you have a load of ideas but struggle to make sense of it all? Often you need to get everything out of your head and see it in front of you before you can create order among your ideas. That’s where MindMeister is an invaluable tool. It’s a mind mapping tool that’s 100% online, available via your browser (no download required, which makes it really quick and easy to pick up and use) and via native mobile apps for iOS and Android.
A while ago, I was trying to make sense of all the email automation workflows I’d set up in MailChimp. Everything was getting a bit complex and I needed to know how everything worked together. I turned to MindMeister and after literally just a few minutes I’d dumped everything into a mind map where I was able to visualize my ideas. The process instantly made more sense.
Drawing out my @MailChimp automation workflow using @MindMeister was incredibly useful! pic.twitter.com/udDweEV1rO
— Paul Minors (@paulminors) March 9, 2016
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As you can see, I’ve used different colour options to highlight email filters and post-send actions. I’m using the “Organisational Chart” alignment option as I like to show everything flowing down the screen. But you can customise your project to look and flow however you want with different map themes. I also particularly enjoy the keyboard shortcuts, which make it really easy to expand on ideas and brain dump a lot of information very quickly.
MindMeister has a few key features that really make it stand out…
Build “Connections” between ideas
A unique feature of MindMeister that I haven’t seen in other mind mapping tools is the abliity to create “connections”. Often you’ll have an idea that’s related to or linked with something somewhere else on your mind map. Using connections is a great way of linking an idea from one area of your mind map to a new idea, on a completely separate node/topic.
Collapsable nodes
I also really like having the ability to expand or collapse my nodes. This is particuarly useful when your mind map is a lot bigger and you need to collapse a section to make things easier to work with. With collapsable nodes you can brainstorm to your heart’s content and then collapse everything when you’re done and only want to view the higher level thoughts or ideas.
Easily present your ideas
Once you’re done setting up your mind map, you can quickly enter MindMeister’s presentation mode and share your ideas with the rest of the team or a client. MindMeister handles all the transitions for you, so you can easily move from one idea to the next with a quick tap of the spacebar. I’ve been using this on some of my client calls. I’ll brainstorm ideas before a scheduled call and then use the presentation mode to walk through my thoughts with the client.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BEQs0_nCtU?rel=0]
Revert your changes with “Revisions”
Sometimes mind maps get out of control. If you ever need to go back a few steps and undo your changes, you can use the revisions feature to view your work in MindMeister’s history mode. MindMeister takes a snapshot of your mind map each time you open it, so it’s easy to revert back to your mind map as it appeared earlier in the day, week or month.
Turn your mind maps into projects with MeisterTask
Another great feature of MindMeister is it’s integration with MeisterTask. If you think about it, most projects start as a brain dump of ideas and thoughts. You need a tool like MindMeister for this. But when it comes to planning projects, creating structure and organising these ideas, you need a task manager like MeisterTask to turn your plans into action.
MeisterTask is a collaborative task management tool that works as a stand-alone tool while also fully integrating with MindMeister. MeisterTask features Kanban-style ‘Project Boards’, where teams can create project tasks and drag and drop them through different bespoke sections (like upcoming, in progress, done), in order to take tasks from ideation to completion.
With the integration between MindMeister and MeisterTask, it’s easy to begin a project as a mind map, and then convert it until a well built out project.
Turning your mind maps into projects is easy. You can quickly add topics to an existing MeisterTask project (or create a new project) and link topics to tasks, all within MindMeister
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9P0Lq76Tmo?rel=0]
All your task details are still viewable on your mind map and as you assign tasks, add due dates and mark tasks as complete, you’ll see these changes in your mind map. The integration between MindMeister and MeisterTask means you can view your workflow either as a traditional project within MeisterTask, or by tracking task progression within your original mind map. Either way, the workflow enables you (and your team) to turn your ideas into plans, and your plans into reality, visually and collaboratively.
Take advantage of an exclusive 30% discount
If you’d like to take MindMeister or MeisterTask for a test drive, you can sign up to the Basic Plan on either tool for FREE.
However, if you’d like to unlock the real power of MindMeister and MeisterTask, you can take advantage of an exclusive 30% discount when purchasing a Pro subscription to both tools together, via the MeisterBundle offer.
