Mind map

A mind map is a diagram with one topic in the centre and related ideas radiating out from it as branches. Each main branch holds one theme, and the details of that theme sit on smaller branches beneath it, so the whole picture reads from general (the centre) to specific (the edges). The format was popularised by the British writer Tony Buzan in his 1974 BBC series and book Use Your Head, though radial note diagrams are much older.

How a mind map is built

• Central topic: one word or short phrase for the subject. "Q3 launch", not "Things we need to think about for the launch".
• Main branches: the first level of themes, usually four to eight. Each should be distinct; if two branches keep sharing children, merge them.
• Sub-branches: details, questions and actions nested under each theme. Keep each one to a few words, so the map stays scannable.
• Cross-links (optional): a line between two branches that turn out to be related. Use them sparingly. A map full of cross-links is really a concept map.

The rule that makes a mind map useful is the hierarchy: every idea has exactly one parent. That forces you to decide where a thought belongs, which is most of the thinking.

Mind map vs concept map vs fishbone

A fishbone diagram is close to a mind map with fixed main branches (People, Process, Equipment, and so on) and a single direction of meaning: everything on it is a candidate cause. A Mandala Chart is a mind map squeezed into a grid, with the number of branches set to exactly eight at every level.

Where it fits with strategy frameworks

A mind map is not a substitute for a framework. It does not tell you what to look for, the way SWOT forces internal and external, helpful and harmful. What it does well is the step before and after a framework:

• Before: dumping everything you know about a market, customer or failure into one place, then spotting which framework the material actually needs.
• During: running a framework's categories as branches. A SWOT is four main branches; a 5 Whys chain is one branch that keeps going deeper, and branching it is how you handle a "why?" with two real answers.
• After: turning the output into a plan, with each objective or fix as a branch and its owners and actions underneath.

The usual failure is a map that grows wide without getting deeper: forty first-level branches, none with children. If that happens, group the branches into five or six themes and start again from those.

If you want to try one without installing anything, MindmapPal has a free in-browser mind map maker and a set of ready-made templates, including SWOT, OKR planning and root-cause analysis layouts.

Related

• Mandala Chart — the 9×9 grid version, with a fixed quota of eight branches
• Fishbone diagram — a cause map with fixed categories
• 5 Whys — one chain of causes, which becomes a tree when it branches
• Reverse brainstorming — idea generation that a map can capture and cluster