Introduction to Mind Mapping for Projects

Overview

• Tutorial on building mind maps for business analysis and projects
• Includes:
  • What mind mapping is
  • Uses of mind maps
  • Benefits of mind maps for a project
  • Main components of a mind map
  • Best practices
  • Example project mind map

What is a Mind Map?

• Note-taking technique for organizing and decomposing info visually
• Aids in visual thinking, idea generation, and organization
• Captures info similarly to human brain by breaking down a central topic

Uses of Mind Maps

• Decompose complex topics into smaller ideas
• Determine relationships among concepts
• Explore facets of a problem or issue
• Represent a comprehensive view of a topic
• Think through large issues with various components

Benefits for a Project

• Identify potential stakeholders and relationships
• Explore key aspects of current state
• Develop future state ideas and understand dependencies
• Support brainstorming and organize ideas
• Identify and explore design options
• Generate a consolidated project view
• Employing the 5Ws and an H method: who, what, where, when, why, how

Components of a Mind Map

Main Topic

• Central concept or issue, often represented as a large node
• Images can be used for the main topic, especially when drawn by hand

Topics

• Elaborate on main ideas, high-level components or categories
• Labeled with who, what, where, when, why, how for 5Ws and an H method

Subtopics

• Further elaborate on each topic
• Represents detailed info, can be decomposed as needed

Branches

• Lines connecting main topic, topics, and subtopics
• Different styles for different mind map types, often referred to as node lines

Keywords

• Single words labeling main topic, topics, and subtopics
• Encourage organization and memory retention
• Prefer single keywords or brief phrases over long sentences

Color

• Categorizers for topics, subtopics, and branches
• Easier to visually relate elements

Images

• Convey large amounts of information
• Can be large for main topics, smaller for topics, with keywords for subtopics

Best Practices

• Color code to group related ideas
• Make key concepts visible with clear print and representative images
• Use singular keywords or short text
• One topic or subtopic per branch/node
• Plan spacing ahead of time
• Central image or large text for main topic

Example Project Mind Map (CRM Implementation)

Starting Node

• Main topic: Implement Customer Relationship Management System
• Picture used for representational purposes

Topic Nodes (5Ws and an H method)

• Who: Stakeholders (e.g., customers, customer service reps, vendors)
• What: Business needs (e.g., problem like low customer satisfaction or churn rates)
• Where: Location (e.g., public cloud-based solution)
• When: Timelines (e.g., project kickoff, 90-day timeline)
• Why: Goals (e.g., preferred lender status, reduce churn rate)
• How: Solutions (e.g., commercial off-the-shelf product, vendor assessment)

Conclusion

• Summary of creating mind maps for projects
• Encouraged to give feedback and explore more business analysis resources