A good Mind Map has structure

Posted by Faizel Mohidin on Feb 14, 2010 in Mind Mapping | 0 comments

Background

This article was prompted by a conversation I had with a colleague. She said she was going back to linear notes for the minutes of her meetings, as she found the Mind Map minutes to be too unstructured. She felt that the Mind Map rendition of the minutes were ‘all over the place’. When the minutes were reviewed at the next meeting, nobody new what was said or what needed to be done. It was chaos!

I immediately jumped in by responding that it is often a lack of Mind Map theory that causes this to happen, as a good Mind Map has lots of structure.

Before I go into telling you how to get structure into your Mind Maps, let me give you some background information on my work environment. We use Mind Maps extensively at work. There is almost no group session that happens without Mind Maps being used somewhere in the session. We use a commercial software package across the organisation and use a PC with a projector in most meetings. A Mind Map is displayed on the screen and the meeting is often run with the Mind Map as a guide. The chairperson is therefore often the person creating the Mind Map notes as the meeting progresses.

Even our brainstorming sessions often use Mind Maps as the facilitating tool, but this depends on the preference of the person running the session.

Mind Map Theory

During the last few articles, I’ve been criticised for not using a single word per branch, as recommended by Tony Buzan, the inventor of the Mind Map. Well, if these critics were to come to my workplace, they will cringe at the verbose Mind Maps being produced.

Most of the people that use the software don’t have any Mind Map theory. They simply use the tool and get on with the job.

The Mind Map as a tool is amazingly simple to use and results can be outstanding with little or no training. Mind Map Software has made the adoption of Mind Maps by a broader audience much easier. With a little training and understanding of some of the main concepts though, your Mind Maps can be even more effective.

Let’s review the ‘unstructured’ problem

If you are taking notes in a meeting, or during a brainstorming session, the notes are written down in the order that they occur. i.e. chronologically, as a meeting is naturally a chronological event. Often a chronological rendition of the meeting is not the best way to record the essence of the meeting, as people tend to jump from one topic to the next.

While the notes are obviously being recorded chronologically, they don’t have to be structured chronologically.

A lot depends on the skill of the chairperson. The better the chairperson is at structuring and controlling the meeting, the better the notes will be. Often, you may not be the chairperson, but you may be the one taking the notes. What do you do in this situation?

Handling unstructured Mind Maps

Tony Buzan, in the Mind Map Book, mentions the value that his brother Barry added to the development of Mind Maps. One of the principles that Barry added, and I think one of the most important Mind Map Principles, is the concept of Basic Ordering Ideas (BOI’s). A Basic Ordering Idea can be seen simply as a category for your notes. If you categorise your notes according to relevancy, you will immediately have more structure.

Two of the key elements of good memory systems are association and hierarchy. While this aids with memory, it also has an important, sometimes unnoticed, benefit: Clarity!

If you categorise your thoughts and structure them according to levels of importance, you will naturally create a hierarchy associated to the correct Key Ideas. When you then return to a Mind Map that is categorised according to the Basic Ordering Ideas, with important points as the main branches and lesser important, or details, on the sub-branches, you will naturally be able to recall the event.

The recall is often with such clarity that it is scary.

So, how do you bring structure to an unstructured situation?

There are three ways to take down notes.

1. Take them down simply as they occur
2. Take them down and structure them as they occur
3. Take them down with the intention of restructuring later

All of these approaches are much easier if you are using Mind Map Software to take down your notes.

If you are not able to structure your notes during the meeting, you have to visit the notes afterwards and restructure it according to Basic Ordering Ideas. Revisiting the minutes soon after the meeting also serves to refresh your memory and increase your ability to remember and recall it later.

The Next Meeting

By restructuring the Mind Map, you will also provide a good structure for the next meeting. So, when reviewing the minutes at your next meeting, the attendees will be faced with a well structured Mind Map that reflects the outcomes of the previous meeting.

By going over this with them, you will get the whole group on ‘the same page’. You will also have a structure for the current meeting. By simply using this Mind Map to run the current meeting, you will naturally have structure and find that when you visit the minutes after the meeting to restructure it, you will probably have very little to do.

You will also find that your meeting will also be more effective, as you will have clarity.

You would have created structure out of an unstructured situation. If you have never structured your Mind Maps according to Basic Ordering Ideas before, you may be pleasantly surprised by the results. Your Mind Maps should have more clarity and more purpose. They should also be easier to recall and easier to understand.

I’ve used meeting notes, or minutes, to illustrate the value of structuring your notes. The concept of Basic Ordering Ideas, is very important if you are studying, presenting, or writing. By organising your Mind Maps into a structure, you will not only be able to remember the material better, but also convey it better to your audience, whether they be your readers, your examiner, or simply the attendees of your meeting.

Comments on are most welcome on my blog, MindMapTutor.com. I’d like to hear your experiences with Mind Maps. It also allows me to address any issues, or problems you may have with Mind Maps. The chances are good that others will be having the same problems. Your problem could then become the feature of a future article.

While MindMapTutor.com is devoted to tutoring you in the use of Mind Maps and also tutoring you with the use of Mind Maps, I’ve started a more general website on Using Mind Maps. Have a look.