7 Step Project Mapping With Mind Manager - Whitepaper.pdf - Ekonomia - Automation_Engineering

7-Step Project Mapping with MindManager ®

White Paper

July 2003

Mindjet LLC

125 E. Sir Francis Drake Blvd

Fourth Floor

Larkspur, CA 93949 USA

415.925.3120

http://www.mindjet.com

their respective owners and are acknowledged.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary 2

Purpose, Purpose, Purpose 3

The Keys to Successful Project Mapping

Creativity, Discipline, Consistency 4

Seeing information in context 5

Step 1: Establish your Visual Vocabulary

Establishing identity with colors and styles 6

Identifying key items with Branch Codes 7

Prioritizing tasks 8

Showing task dependencies with Relationships 9

Creating associations with Resources and Categories 11

Using a Template map for consistency and speed 11

Step 2: Brainstorm your Project

Quick capture of project information 12

Who, What, When, Why, How 12

Step 3: Establish your Main Goals

Managing information 13

Objectives and activities 14

Moving from brainstorming to project planning 14

Step 4: Implement your Visual Vocabulary

Viewing Tasks 16

Inserting codes, colors 16

Step 5: Develop the Detail of your Project Plan 17

Step 6: Create a Workable Project Plan 18

Step 7: Deploy your Project Map

Managing small projects 20

Communicating small projects 21

Managing larger projects 21

Communicating larger projects 22

MindManager and the Project Lifecycle 22

Complementing other Project Management Tools 23

For More Information 24

7-Step Project Mapping with MindManager

Executive Summary

This paper describes a 7-Step Project Mapping Technique for users of Mindjet's MindManager 2002

Business or Enterprise Edition software 1 . The technique is designed for MindManager users working

either alone or in groups on small- to medium-sized projects. The paper will demonstrate how to develop

a MindManager map that represents a workable project plan that can be deployed in a variety of ways,

including export to project scheduling tools or continued use within MindManager.

MindManager is not a tool for continuing to do what you have done in the past. Used well, the

software actually changes the way you think about and communicate the complex relationships that exist

in a project. MindManager's unique contribution to project management is in giving project teams the

ability to:

• Quickly capture and organize team and stakeholder input. MindManager’s strength as a note-

taking tool is particularly useful at the early stages of project planning. Initial activities such as

interviewing stakeholders, gathering user requirements, determining project scope and capturing

insights and ideas from previous projects is accomplished quickly and easily using the map interface.

• Literally see how a project fits together . A picture is worth a thousand words because our minds

are able to derive a great deal of information from relatively few visual cues. MindManager enables

users to build project maps that employ a host of such cues to convey complex information quickly

and clearly.

• Toggle between overview and details. MindManager captures information in a series of cascading

visual “branches.” By selectively opening and closing branches, users can either helicopter up to a

30,000 foot view of a project, or quickly zoom in on details. The Power Select and Power Filter

features further enable users to quickly create customized views of project information.

• Immediately access all supporting project information. The ability of MindManager users to

insert links to any and all background or supporting information means that valuable project

1 NOTE: This is a generalized approach that does not rely on a specific project methodology. If your organization uses a formalized

methodology, you can integrate the appropriate steps of your proprietary process into this technique at any point. This paper

assumes that the reader is reasonably familiar with MindManager software, and does not include detailed instructions. Users will

save time by familiarizing themselves with MindManager's Dynamic Legend and Power Select features. For detailed instructions,

please consult the MindManager HELP menu. The techniques described here apply to MindManager 2002 Business or Enterprise

editions. Other editions of MindManager 2002 do not have all the features necessary for interactive project planning and

integration with other software.

7-Step Project Mapping with MindManager

information is easy to locate. This includes documents, emails and email addresses, applications,

audio/video/graphics files and Web sites. Key information that might otherwise become lost or difficult

to locate in pure scheduling applications is captured by MindManager in an intuitive, easily navigated

visual structure.

• Communicate effectively with all stakeholders. For those not immersed in the world of project

management, Gantt charts and complex project management tables can be confusing. MindManager

presents project information in a readily understood format that speeds understanding and builds

consensus among stakeholders. It also enables project teams to quickly export all project content to

dedicated project management tools including Microsoft ® Project, as well as to Microsoft Word,

Outlook ® and PowerPoint ® , and to HTML to build project web sites.

Users often find that they derive the greatest benefit from MindManager during early stage project

planning, when team members and stakeholders need to be flexible, inclusive and imaginative in their

thinking. Once the project is shaped and initiated, MindManager then helps project teams keep track of

project details, manage change and build concise but complete documentation. It enables project teams

to keep stakeholders informed and on track with the project—without requiring the team to create

additional documentation. And finally, it creates a very concise, complete and clear repository of all

project-related information that can be easily accessed in the course of preparing for future projects.

Visit http://www.mindjet.com/us/guided_tour/success.php for more information on how MindManager

improves project planning and management.

Purpose, Purpose and Purpose!

Real estate agents frequently always say that the three most important attributes of a piece of property

are “Location. Location. Location.” Similarly, the three most important things to remember about

MindManager maps are “Purpose. Purpose. Purpose.” To achieve longer-term benefits, your maps must

be built with a particular goal in mind. The usefulness of the maps is determined by you and your team’s

ability to stay focused on the goal at hand.

Purpose means knowing not just what you want to accomplish, but who will use this map, when, and why.

It doesn't matter whether the purpose is large or small, so long as there is one. Some examples of

purpose include maps designed to:

• Brainstorm ideas and do initial thinking

• Define scope and goals as part of early project planning

7-Step Project Mapping with MindManager

• Communicate and explain project elements to stakeholders

• Explain to participants what their part in the project will be and how their work will tie into the greater

whole

• Prepare the basic project schedule and/or task lists for export to another tool (e.g. Microsoft ® Project)

• Serve as a concise progress report, to be updated as the project proceeds

The Keys to Successful Project Mapping

Creativity, Discipline, Consistency

Successfully achieving the purpose you have established requires creativity, discipline and consistency.

Some believe that discipline and consistency don't belong in the same place as brainstorming and

creativity. Creativity, however, is just one part of a bigger process that leads to results—and results are

the goal of all project management. The best projects start with creative thinking, and then move forward

into communication, decision-making and action, culminating in a desired result. MindManager eliminates

the "boundaries" between these stages.

For experienced MindManager users, the same map that the team uses at the very start of a project to

capture initial brainstorming and planning can evolve into a disciplined project plan, simply through a

process of refinement. Once the project is completed, the map will provide a very detailed account of how

the project was designed and implemented. It can contain everything from initial ideas to changes along

the project trajectory (including who was responsible for changes and when and why the changes were

made). Furthermore, the maps can contain links to everything from purchase orders, legal documents,

key emails and screen shots to a team member’s idea or insight, graphics, images, spread sheets and

Web sites. When it comes time to initiate a similar project, there is no need to struggle to remember who

did what when, or to relocate key documents. All related information is attached to a particular branch of a

particular map. In this way, the maps help create consistency moving forward by providing a clear and

complete artefact of the project that went before.

Unlike more restrictive tools that require users to fit projects into predefined structures such as databases,

MindManager maps are flexible, adaptable repositories of related information. At any point, users can

decide how they want to visualize project information to fulfil the expectations of the project itself, project

stakeholders, senior management, internal departments and outside entities. The key, as with all

7-Step Project Mapping with MindManager

7 Step Project Mapping With Mind Manager - Whitepaper.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: