Are you one of those individuals who has planned a project and put in an idea? There is a need for a great effort for managing the collected details in an appropriate manner so that it can be transformed easily into a reality.

There are many occasions where you can find yourself surrounded by a number of questions and confusions in the following circumstances:

• You already have a great piece of information to begin with, but no clear picture about it can fit into an idea.
• You are preparing to execute the plan but find it very tough to tell the co-workers or team members or even to your head.
• There are many obstacles in front of you while tracking and mapping all the discussions and comments with the needs.

It is the right place where mind maps can do the job for you.

Mind Mapping is an incredible and an appropriate project management method that can assist in visualizing the project features, planning it in an effective way and enhancing the creative abilities that can solve the problems.

In simple language, you can consider mind maps an empty canvas where you can draw your ideas in a structured way and center on a single concept.

The whole structure of the project along with all the important relevant information are featured in a perfect mind map. It focuses on setting all the important aspects in a proper manner. Moreover, it can assist in breaking a solid idea in the smaller piece so that it can be planned and managed easily.

Mind maps are commonly utilized for generating, visualizing, organizing and featuring all the things having relation with personal or business works, like travel plan, management processes, sales processes, scoping and other related things.

Important Guidelines of a mind map

• Begin with a single topic
• Every idea should be connected with the central topic.
• These ideas can be further explained in sub ideas in the levels of hierarchy, which is resembled tree having several branches.
• Utilizing symbols, images, and icons to illuminate
• Don’t forget to add associations, dependencies, and connections in your map wherever it is needed.

Important rules of thumb

• Never use any lengthy texts for describing your idea. Instead, focus on the short words or phrases. These things help in making the map more clear and focused. All the information can be easily written in the forms of notes.
• Always write in a simple language that can be understood by everyone easily.
• Avoid adding extra complexities like icons, colors, excessive images, and connections that can make it difficult for others to understand your idea.

Mind maps can be easily explained in on a board or a paper. In addition, there are lots of tools available in the market through which quality maps can be created. Some of the best tools that allow creating quality maps quickly are iMindMap, Mindjet, Bubbl.us, and MindGenius.

Practical applications and advantages

1. Brainstorming

Mind maps can be very useful in brainstorming needs and organizing the ideas. They are an appropriate and efficient method for dividing a big plan into smaller manageable parts.

Important tips

• First of all, you should all your ideas that are centered on this topic with any established connections and relations.
• Go in-depth with every feature individually and then write all the functionalities that can be covered.
• Set out priorities and numbers them.
• Add colors, icons, and images for figuring out the features of each one.

Following the above points will help you in tracking all the needs and preparing for all the obstacles during the project.

2. Planning

An effective and appropriate planning is promoted by the mind mapping that allows you to avoid irritation with the complexities and needs of the project.

Important Tips

• Identifying connections, associations or dependencies between the different features of the project.
• Listing out probable risk factors and assumptions either for the whole project or for all the features.
• Planning the execution or the development of the project in different goals/ iterations by figuring out the complexities, efforts, and priorities. Doing this will allow you to have a bigger picture about the whole prospects and setting details target.
• Outlining all the details, discussions, and revisions as notes in the mind map against every module for keeping a perfect track of all the things.

3. Decision Making

The plans that are laid accurately helps in making more accurate decisions. It is strongly suggested that you should take decisions from a perfectly created plan that are properly visualized. There is no doubt that same kind of decisions can be taken in a traditional form with the help of word documents, excel, and detailed description, but no one can deny that visuals can make much more impact than the plain words.

4. Problem Solving

Mind mapping is one of the perfect methods for promoting creative thinking that can bring a range of benefits to improving the problem-solving skills. We have mentioned some of them in detail:

• Quick reviews are allowed by the mind maps because all the information are visualized that makes it easy to follow.
• Mind mapping can work as mnemonics for helping you in remembering the short words and phrases.

5. Communicating information to your stakeholders

Adding visuals to a plan can assist in offering a perfect explanation and making the thought process clearer. You can share the thoughts that float in your mind easily with the involved stakeholders.

Have a look at the major benefits of mind mapping that are explained below:

• You can save the discussions that can work as the important reference material in the next stages.
• The chances of misunderstanding or lack of clarity are reduced by mind mapping. It can result in saving lots of time and arguments for the future.

6. Team co-ordination and discussion

A great portion of time that is wasted in explanation can be saved with mind maps. The information is well-organized making it easier for the others to get understanding and relating the projects in a better form. It can offer following things:

• Full documentation that can be tracked at a single location.
• Crystal clear representation of all the hierarchies and its dependencies / associations.
• Recorded notes, references, and information across the project life-cycle.

We have explained some of the possible applications of mind maps. You should try mind maps if you are involved in any kind of research and get stuck with the obstacles and looking to brainstorm on any topics. We can guarantee that you will love mind mapping.