Mind Mapping

This tool is ideal for situations where a group needs to understand all the elements in an issue and is a great tool for brainstorming, issues analysis and diagnosis of problem areas.

Mindmapping was developed by Tony Buzan in the 1970's as an aid for note taking in lectures.

Software is available to assist the process enabling you to circulate legible, mindmaps and to work on them with colleagues and advisers. To review Mindmapping software options Click Here

How to develop a Mindmap

1. Make sure that you have a large work area such as a white board or sheet of paper.

2. Draw a small ellipse in the centre of the work area and write in the name of the issue
eg. Promotion

3. Brainstorm any elements of the issue e.g. Advertising, Direct Mail

4. Draw other ellipses off the Promotion ellipse and link with a line as shown below.

5. When all the key elements have been identified repeat the process on the sub elements.

6. Try to cover the whole board. Use different colours for different issues.

The next stage is to do a Pareto Analysis. Determine the 20% of issues that are causing, or will solve, 80% of the problems. In other words, which 20% of issues will produce 80% of the desired outcome.

An example of a typical Mindmap is shown below.