Fast, flexible, scalable

If the term ‘mind map’ brings to your mind an image of a big sheet of paper, with drawings and colors and artistic expression, maybe with many people involved, please put that image aside now.

My first priorities are speed, flexibility and scalability. The mind maps I talk about are dynamic, they are connected, and they are many. I’ve got thousands of notes and ideas in hundreds of maps that I refer to, change or move around regularly. Even on a daily basis I work with dozens of maps. If that sounds like a lot that’s exactly the point. There’s no way I can handle that using just a pen and paper, let alone just in my mind. Therefore the computer.

I won’t discuss much about mind maps as a presentation tool or a tool for collaboration. I’m not saying you shouldn’t use them for those purposes. I just haven’t had much experience with those, and therefore I am not an expert to say much about it. For me, mind mapping is personal, reflective activity.