Picking A MindMapping Tool

Over the past few weeks I used Windows version of MindJet and web based MindMeister.
My recommendation is to go with MindMeister.

MindMap for the Book List Idea

This is the mind map I created with the web-based mindmapping tool, MindMeister. The idea is the Public Transit Book List I talked about in a previous post. I like the ease of use and how fast I can flesh out the idea. I wish MindMeister will allow an easy way to publish the images instead of downloading to my Mac and uploading to Blogger. Click on the image for a better view. I have also shared this Mindmap, you can get this here, Public Transit Book List.

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.

When I can't stop to take notes of what I am listening

There has to be a way to "clip" what you are listening in your iPod/iPhone and be able to organize it and retrieve it. I need a way to clip, without stopping the flow, what is being played starting with the past 30, 60 or 90 seconds.

Now if I can have this, then I also need a way to send this clip to a memo taking service like Jott, that will transcribe this for me and send the text as email or post to a blog.

BART Writes Back

I sent BART the suggestion to I made in a previous post on user generated book lists. I used their simple contact form. I was surprised that someone read it and sent in a more than a canned response like " we will consider".

it sounds to me like it's a user-generated BART best seller list of sorts?
it would be cool to tie-in with a local, independent bookstore to keep it
Bay Area. We're actually launching some BART imixes along with another
initiative (but without the social input)

as you probably realize, we often have to make a distinction between "need
to have" and "nice to have" when we consider projects from a time/resource
point of view. This seems like it's more on the "nice to have" part of
that continuum, but we're definitely adding it to our development list for
consideration.

we really appreciate your thoughts -- thanks for contacting us

The message is not fundamentally different from the circular file response but I know that they spent more than few seconds on it, parsed it and understood it. This is refreshingly different.

Ideas Marketplace

Eureka Ranch Technology is launching an ideas marketplace, Planet Eureka for brining together individuals with ideas and small businesses and big corporations looking for ideas. As the WSJ says, it is meant to help "small businesses looking to find a hot idea -- or trying to sell a hot idea to big company"

Their site says, "Research indicates Small Business start-ups are 10 times more successful executing innovations than corporations (SBA, Journal of Mkt. Research, Ranch Research)."

I question the premise and the conclusion they draw from the research. The first point is trivial, correlation does not mean causation. The other main argument is that Eureka is only looking at data on successful ideas. What about the unsuccessful ideas? What proportion of the failures come from small businesses?

They do not provide link to the research and the data they looked at. Even if the claim can be taken at face value, what does it say about the ideas themselves? How is a big corporation going to find the needle in the haystack?

I believe ideas are not that difficult to find, especially for businesses that know how to execute profitably. If the idea is to link the patented ideas with executioners, doesn't the patent database already fill that role?

I found some of the research alluded to in their website at SBA.gov, it is in the 2004 report to the president(PDF), page 183. The article has this important caution:

A few preliminary words must also be said to avoid misunderstanding of just what it is that is to be explained. It is not the hypothesis here that a large percentage of entrepreneurs employ innovation in the new firms they create. On the contrary, the evidence, imperfect though it is, suggests that most new firms are virtual replicas of many firms already in existence, and there is nothing innovative about them. Second, there is no suggestion here that even among that relatively uncommon species, the innovative entrepreneur, the preponderant focus is on anything that can reasonably be deemed breakthrough innovations. Here again, casual empiricism indicates the reverse—that the bulk of the novelties they introduce are only slightly better mousetraps.
...
that among the (rare) innovations that can be considered to be radical, a disproportionate share is provided by independent innovators and their affiliated entrepreneurs.

It does not say anything about successful execution of ideas but does say a lot about the quality of ideas.

Ideas marketplace is not a new idea and an unnecessary execution.