What Is Mind Mapping Software?

If your teams and key creative workers are getting bogged down by an increasing workload of rote tasks or maybe simply swamped by too much information in this new world of interconnected big data, then mind mapping software might be able to help. These solutions focus on helping workers ideate, innovate, and even eventually execute.

This review roundup focuses on leading mind mapping software solutions in overlapping subcategories. None of the products in this category are name brands but most of them have impressive customer lists. At the low end, applications cost just a few dollars per user, and those costs extend to several hundred dollars for enterprise-worthy versions.

Two products, Bloomfire and Front & Main Honey, emphasize social aspects of traditional knowledge management approaches. Both products have a similar user experience (UX) to those of Facebook and Reddit. You could think of these as social intranets in other words. Their general use involves posting a series of online surveys, questions, or suggestions for colleagues' consideration. Colleagues, in turn, post answers and comments. Anyone can search for past discussion topics, and there's typically a way to "like" and share the most useful threads.

For example, a product engineer could post an early draft of your company's latest widget to get department-wide feedback. A saleswoman could answer negotiation questions posed by junior staff or the entire team could have a discussion about their upcoming holiday party. Traditionally, such activities would happen by email or, at best, by using an intranet message board (if not physical memos). Modern software makes these collaboration tasks easier.

Bloomfire has some integration with Salesforce Chatter. But we think the general opportunity for Bloomfire, Front & Main Honey, or similar products is limited to the extent that tech giants such as Facebook fail to make headway in selling private installations to businesses.

Three other products—Mindjet MindManager 2016 for Windows, Expert Software Applications Mindomo, and XMind—are designed with mind mapping as their main function. Such apps are a mixture of flow charting and project management tools. Among these three, XMind stands out for being based on an open-source platform. Take the same scenarios as stated earlier. Rather than just discussing company ideas in a social environment (perhaps with kludged diagrams), the mind mapping tools let colleagues consider every detail of a plan in a very formal way. They aren't nearly as fun but their structure is more appropriate for conservative corporations—which is to say, most offices, even if the social products are sexier.

Expert Software Applications Mindomo is the Editors' Choice winner in this review roundup. It has all of the same basic features as XMind and Mindjet MindManager 2016 for Windows, but also includes a basic level of social networking. It's pricey but not to an extent that would intimidate many organizations. Plus, it can ease a business into a more social decision-making mindset.

The Mind Mapping Concept

Image credit: tonybuzan.com

Mind mapping is simply a visual way to convey your thoughts and ideas. As a concept, mind mapping is widely attributed to inventor Tony Buzan who believes they are the best way to take notes. Buzan says a mind map "harnesses the full range of cortical skills—word, image, number, logic, rhythm, color and spatial awareness—in a single, uniquely powerful manner." In the book, The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain's Untapped Potential," co-author Buzan describes mind maps as "being constructed in a colorful, tree-like fashion."

And in his article on mind maps, PCMag's Rob Marvin explains mind mapping as a "visual means of organizing information, typically through a web-like diagram," and describes ways in which project managers can use mind maps to visualize every moving part of their project workflow.

Ideas for Improvement

We have a few suggestions for how mind mapping products could be more even more useful; these suggestions center around adding artificial intelligence (AI) and wiki integration and beefing up security. In the social-first services, we think an interesting addition would be AI software that scans users' browsing, customer relationship management (CRM), email, and database activities to automatically suggest when useful information should be captured.

Because these products are all intended to help manage your team members' big ideas, we think they should include tools for integrating with a wiki. Other than the Bloomfire/Salesforce.com partnership, these products don't yet work deeply with CRM software and human resources (HR) products.

And, other than normal cloud service log-ins and a way to password-protect various tidbits here and there, none of the apps focus heavily on security. Some businesses may be leery of buying a product specifically to hold their employees' best ideas unless there are extremely strong security pitches. There should be an option for marking content as only accessible when you touch your device's fingerprint sensor. That way, even if you lose your phone when it's in an unlocked mode, the person who finds it still cannot access your company's best ideas.

Still, any of the mind mapping software solutions in this review roundup will be helpful to your business as they currently stand. Giving employees a structured way to record and share their ideas with each other solves the problem of good ideas being lost to cliques and unproductive meetings or at the proverbial water cooler.

Products such as Front & Main Honey have an extremely low barrier to entry, XMind has impressive developer tools (and can be improved by letting your programmers run wild with its open-source code base), and Expert Software Applications Mindomo represents the beginning of what could be, as the subcategories of social intranets and mind mapping software discover each other. Bloomfire is a powerful cloud app, and Mindjet MindManager 2016 for Windows has strong Microsoft Office integration. The field decidedly lacks an app that does all of these things very well, but it will be interesting to check back in 12 months to see where things stand.