7Breaths

Introduction

I'v been using MindManager 7 (with Results Manager) for a few months now and have been using them more and more to organise, plan and track my projects. A couple of days ago MindManager 8 was released and I decided to download it and give it a try. Thought I would post a few initial impressions of the new features.

New Capabilities in MindManager 8
MindManager 8 certainly comes with some pretty neat features.

Mindjet Player
I just love this.
One of the big issues I've had in the past was sharing my maps with those who don't have MindManager. Well with the Mindjet player you can convert your maps into fully interactive Adobe PDF or Flash .SWF files. This means they can now be shared with anyone with Adobe reader installed or published on the web. I've already used this and the people I have shared with have been very impressed.


Automated Task Management
I've been using results manager to help manage my projects. Unfortunately Gyronix have yet to release a version compatible with the MM8 release. MM8 does have some capabilities to help manage projects, set due dates and dependencies, calculate when tasks are due and colour code where you need to focus - all very handy when running a bigger project.

Staying in MindManager
MM8 comes with an intergrated web browser, map parts which allow real time searches for example in google with the results mapped and editable, the ability to view and edit attached Microsoft Word, Excel, Project and PowerPoint files.
All these features mean you can stay focused on the job in hand, keeping in your map rather than switching between multiple applications. This has certainly speeded up my workflow when comppared to MM7.


Searchable Maps
One of my biggest annoyances with MM7 was that I could not search within maps using windows desktop search. It certainly made me less likely to use MM as a knowledge store, konwing that once things wnet in it might be difficult to find again (compare this to OneNote which is my current Knowledge base). This hwever has been rectified in this release making maps fully searchable by many popular desktop search applications.

Database Linker
This is another really useful addition. You can now link to various databases and extract real time information. As I have a lot of information stored in Access I am finding this of great benefit to get information out and then work on it in a whole new way.

Conclusion
MindManager 8 has certainly made some great strides from version 7. The intergration of the web browser and the ablitly to view and edit a variety of documents from withing a map has certainly aided my focus and workflow these last few days. Linking to and working with my stored data via a mindmap has created some new insights and ideas. I especially like the Mindjet Player, anything that allows me to share the power of mindmaps with others has to be a good thing.

I'm on day 2 of a 30 day trial so I will post towards the end of it on whether I plan to upgrade or not (thinking yes at present!)