We recently had the chance to put a few questions to mind mapping software expert and Biggerplate Partner Chuck Frey of the hugely popular Mind Mapping Software Blog. Here's what Chuck had to say about mind mapping, Biggerplate, and the future...
Q) In 5 words, tell us what you do…
A) I blog about
visual mapping
Q) When and how did you first become
involved in the world of mind mapping?
A) I've always
been very interested in creativity and innovation, so I launched
InnovationTools.com in 2002 as the very first portal website focused on
creativity and innovation.
As mind
mapping software started to grow in popularity, I started to write reviews of
the major programs and posted them to InnovationTools.com, as part of my
covering of creativity tools. As I looked at what was going on in the blogosphere
at that time, I noticed that there were many blogs that talked about mind
mapping software from time to time, but there wasn't a single one dedicated to this
genre of software. So I decided to break that topic off into its own blog. That
was about 5 years ago. That turned out to be a wise decision, because as you
know, the world of mind mapping software has grown tremendously. The software
has certainly evolved far beyond anything I could have expected.
Q) What is the main focus of your work today?
A) Today, my
work is focused on writing one to two blog posts per week for the blog. Plus I
produce one special report per week for my Mind Mapping Insider members.
These reports are aimed at those people who are keenly interested in becoming
better thinkers, planners and visual mappers. This is specialized information
that is not available anywhere else, and includes tutorials and analyses,
designed to teach people not only how to create great mind maps, but to look at
their own work critically and improve their maps. My goal is to help people
create mind maps that are easy for others to understand, and which have the
persuasive power that the map author intended.
I continue to
do product reviews and write about significant news in the world of mind
mapping software. I'm also increasingly talking about topics that are part of
the larger space surrounding mind mapping, including principles, and resources
related to visual thinking, business diagramming, infographics, sketch noting
and other visually-oriented techniques for representing ideas and information.
Q) What is it that excites you about the mind mapping arena?
A) I have a very
strong sense that mind mapping software is the right tool for the today's
business environment. I've been saying for several years now that mind mapping
software is "the savvy executive's secret weapon." By that I mean
that it provides such a big increase in productivity and work efficiency -
somewhere around 20% - that it can literally revolutionize the way you work. It
helps you to reach clarity and make business decisions faster. And it’s a huge
factor in managing information overload, a problem everyone faces today.
No other type
of software enables you to gather, organize, distill and communicate ideas and
information with as much flexibility as mind mapping software does. It is fast
becoming an essential business tool. That’s an exciting set of stories to tell
in my blog. There's also a lot of innovation going on in this space, which is
exciting to me.
I view it as
my mission to educate my readers about the best mind mapping tools and
strategies for utilizing them to get work done. Part of this involves
evangelizing mind mapping software to the larger business world, helping people
who aren't using it today to understand what they're missing.
In addition,
I survey my readers at least once a year to learn how they utilize mind mapping
software in their work, and the benefits it provides to them. The results are
usually very interesting and generate deep insights for me. Most importantly,
the results of these surveys help me to stay very focused on the needs of my readers!
Finally, I
really enjoy asking questions of my readers. Persuading them to share their
perspectives has turned out to be very valuable to me and to other readers of
the blog. There are some incredibly smart people out there. I don’t want the
blog to be a monologue – I view it as more of a community, with many voices. I
see similar benefits when I interview people for my Insider program. Inevitably,
they shed light on some aspect of visual thinking that's new to me, which is
always fascinating.
Q) How can you help Biggerplate
members to do more with mapping?
A) Lots of the
content of my blog is focused on tips and techniques for helping business people
to accomplish specific tasks with their mind mapping software. Just because you
have a canvas and brushes doesn't make you a Picasso. In other words, just having
the tool doesn't give you the insights to use it to create something marvellous.
That's why I publish so many tips and techniques for creating different types
of business mind maps - because you need to step up your game to leverage
extraordinary results with these powerful visual thinking tools.
Biggerplate
members can learn a lot from reading the tutorials and tips I publish on my
blog, and by becoming a member of my Mind Mapping Insider group - where they
can get access to more advanced tutorials, templates, resources and insights.
Q) In your opinion, what are the
merits of a site and community like Biggerplate?
A) One of the
things that my readers always tell me they're looking for when I survey them is
examples of excellent mind maps. A community like Biggerplate.com provides a
huge variety of mind maps, which you can use as inspiration to help you create your
own maps. It helps new users and people thinking about investing in mind
mapping software to understand what’s possible with it. And it gives new users
a sense of what others are doing with it. That’s a very valuable service.
Another big
plus is that you can download and use the maps on Biggerplate.com. All of us
are time-challenged today. Why create a mind map from scratch when you can
download one to use as a starting point or a template for what you need to get
done? That's very valuable!
I also love
the fact that Biggerplate.com has expanded so much in the last year. A year
ago, you only featured MindManager mind maps. Since then, you've added
MindGenius, iMindMap and XMind maps, and I'm sure you plan to expand that
further in the future, to include other file formats. The site is also very
well organized and easy to use. That easily makes Biggerplate.com the best mind
map gallery on the web, in my opinion.
I give you a
lot of credit for not just building this site and then forgetting about it and
letting the community take its own course. If that was the case, Biggerplate.com
would be just like any other mind map community. But it's not. It’s better. You
have a compelling vision for what it can become, and how it can serve the needs
of mind mappers. That means the site is going to continue to get better and
better, and extend its leadership in this arena. It has become an outstanding
resource for visual thinkers.
Thanks for
putting so much passion and effort into it! Mind mappers around the world
thank you!
Q) Anything new and exciting coming up in your world?
A) My big push
lately has been to grow content for my Mind Mapping Insider membership group.
It provides people who are serious about visual mapping with exclusive content:
Tutorials, tips and techniques, templates, interviews and other resources that
you cannot find anywhere else. I publish one report a week. That keeps it
manageable for me, and helps to ensure that my members don’t feel they’re
trying to drink from a firehose! The program has been operational for about a
year and half, so there’s already a substantial collection of resources there,
with more added each week. There’s no obligation: If you join and then decide
it’s not for you, you can cancel at any time. My gut feeling is that you’ll
stay, however, because I’ve invested a lot of time and energy into creating the
best possible collection of resources.
I also have
another project in the wings that I hope to get started on soon: A video-based
e-course that will teach non-users of mind mapping software how to get started with
it. This is part of my larger mission that I told you about, to grow the use of
mind mapping software in business.
Why is this
important? Because there’s a great divide in business today. For the people who
are utilizing my mapping software, it has become an essential productivity and
organizational tool. They literally can’t live without it. I know this to be
true, because I've asked questions in my surveys to find out just how important
this software is to them.
The other
half of the business world contains people who are linear thinkers. They tend
to view mind mapping as frivolous and not worthy of their attention. They need
to better understand what the benefits of it are. Some of them may be
interested in trying it out, but don’t believe they can spare the time to
become proficient with it. They’re afraid they’ll end up down the rabbit hole,
having invested a lot of time with very little to show for it.
I want to
provide them with an easy "on ramp" to help them get started with mind
mapping software. I've come up with a
simple approach that can help them with that "on-boarding" process,
to make it fairly painless to get up to speed with visual thinking. I’ve got
much of the content outlined – in a mind map, of course – and now I just need
to get busy producing it.
In closing,
thanks for the opportunity to be a Biggerplate.com partner, and thanks for all
of your efforts to promote this genre of productivity software!
At the time, what excited us most was the prospect of bringing the talented and enthusiastic iMindMap user community to Biggerplate and seeing their work added to the site. We have not been disappointed! The quality and variety of content shared by iMindMap users has been staggering, and there are now hundreds of iMindMaps available for you to view and download!
