

Ask HN: Do you use Mind Maps? - terrykohla

If so,<p>what do you use them for?<p>how important are they to you? do you use them for personal as much as for work stuff?<p>Any mind mapping tools you recommend?
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nekopa
I use them a lot, both for work and personal stuff. For work I use them for
course and lesson design (I'm a business trainer and a english language
teacher) sketching out ideas and business strategies (I do a little business
model consulting on the side too). They are also quite good for project
management, especially if you use mind mapping software that auto numbers
branches, makes it easy to create work breakdown structures. And of course,
they're great for capturing brainstorming sessions, and I use them for note
taking during meetings.

I like the iOS iThoughts, lots of great options for importing and exporting -
I do a fair bit of presentation and document design starting with a mind map,
then export it to Word or PowerPoint. Plus ithoughts has auto numbering, (the
developer kind of added it at my request, a really nice guy, and actively
developing the software) I also send it to xmind on my laptop where I can link
ideas to actual files (excel, PDF etc.) I used to use xMind a lot, but I
prefer mind-mapping on the iPad, it feels a lot more like working pen and
paper.

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aks4841
For people that are visually oriented they are great working tools. Tony
Buzan, the "inventor" of mindmapping, has a number of presentations available,
see for instance
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlabrWv25qQ&list=PLofaHHP7uY...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlabrWv25qQ&list=PLofaHHP7uYJLIKStmwB_hd1yqpRlnqtkd).
I especially like:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnYVJKxyRPM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnYVJKxyRPM)
although it's a bit dated.

There are a number of really good software implementations:

freemind freeplane xmind SciPlore

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alok-g
I use them frequently to organize hierarchical information.

They are helpful because you can hide information under a given topic to
momentarily free your mind from those details. Using a mind mapping software
is thereby mandatory for this.

Issues come when the information forms a graph and not just a tree.
Refactoring the information to keep it maximally a tree now leads to insights
and is my key reason to use mind maps.

I use XMind.

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usujason
Yes, I use them all the time for both personal and work related projects. The
use of a mind map really help me to provide structure to my projects.

I have recently started using MindNode and have really enjoyed the ease and
flexibility that the solution provides.

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ksikka
workflowy is good- but i only use it when my mind is _really_ overcrammed. for
me, work stuff is personal stuff, so the answer to that Q is yes.

pen and paper tends to do the job better than any software solution.

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bbissoon
Mindjet Manager before it converted to the SAAS model.

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ScottWhigham
Same here. I just draw them now, which is nowhere near as productive.

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xtraclass
Yes, great tools for me. I use mindomo

