Mind Mapping Tools For Organizing Your Ideas

I was introduced to MindMapping tool by a colleague. I keep my ideas, plans and TODO lists in Google notes and Blackberry. I store articles I find interesting in Google Notes ad tag these appropriately to connect these to the ideas I have.  The promise of a visual organizing tool that promises to encourage non-linear thinking, collaboration, scheduling, prioritization and progress tracking, intrigued me. So I decided to try out two of the MindMapping tools. This is not a review of the tools, that should come in a month or so.

1. MindMeister:  The first think I like is that it is web bases, hosted in the cloud. Its AJAX interfaces provide a nice user experience. It has a free version and a subscription version. It is very easy to get started and start building "Maps".  They provide just one template as example. I am trying out their free version which is still feature rich.
2. MindJet: This is a PC or a MAC application, so you have to download and install. That is a turn-off for me. Why install and upgrade software when you can run it from the cloud and get continuous upgrades?  It does not have a free version but provides a 30 day trial period. MindJet provides more sample templates to start with, which is very useful if you are new to Mind Mapping software. The Maps created with MindJet can be imported into MindMeister.

I plan to try out these two tools over the next 30 days for a variety of use cases.

The other alternative is to use paper and pencil, but it is very difficult to manipulate, store, share, tag and to add attachments.