Mind Maps + Generic Post-Its = Synergy

[moises]

I've been using mindmaps for a couple of years. I like them.

Years before that I took a course from a company called Decker Communications, Inc. on public speaking. They recommended putting key words on post-its. They didn't talk about mindmaps explicitly but that is what they were doing.

I just prepared a little talk I am giving tomorrow. The prior talk I did with a mind map. This time I used 2"x1.5" generic post-its. They are great! You can shuffle them around and recluster with ease.

Try it. You'll be glad you did.

[Anonymous]

An excellent and thorough treatment of distributed cognition with stickies is Rapid Problem Solving with Post-It Notes (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1555611427/qid=1098247928/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-1423522-7460606?v=glance&s=books) by David Straker. Post-Its have the advantage of being quickly repositioned on the board, so its easier to perform operations that require lists, hierarchies and networks to be reorganized over multiple iterations. I don't use Post-Its anymore, but I use Straker's operations with business card-sized index cards on a table (larger index card gobble up too much real estate).

[Instigase]

I found the open source program Freemind to be a really helpful tool for personal and group brainstorming sessions. Best of all, its free.