I have been using MindManager for nearly 20 years for document structure analysis, project management, stakeholder analysis, and ideation workshops with mind maps.
J'utilise MindManager depuis près de 20 ans pour l'analyse de structure documentaire, la gestion de projets, l'analyse de parties prenantes et des ateliers d'idéation avec les cartes heuristiques.
Pros
Connecting document structure directories to topics
Identify activity managers
Use of icons and images to make everything visual
Provide a global vision of the context in evaluation
Relationships between subjects easy to create
Topic coating
Connecter des répertoires de structure documentaire à des sujets
Identifier les responsable d'activités
Utilisation des icones et images pour rendre le tout visuel
Donner une vision globale du contexte en évaluation
Relations entre les sujets facile à créer
Enrobage de sujets
Cons
Nothing, perfect for my needs and easy to use
Rien, parfait pour mes besoins et facile d'utilisation
Likelihood to Recommend
Useful in many situations for problem analysis and solution development. Make a visual clear and easy to understand.
Utile dans plein de circonstances d'analyse de problème et élaboration de solutions. Rendre un visuel clair et facile à comprendre.
This review was originally written in French and has been translated into English using a third-party translation tool. While we strive for accuracy, some nuances or meanings may not be perfectly captured.
MindManager helped me manage multiple projects and to be able to collaborate with others to explain what the project is about and what the goals are. Furthermore, it facilitated the construction of projects by having a visual easy to understand. MindManager has a lot of webinars on its website so you are not left alone to discover how it does work and what you can do with it.
Pros
Project management
Time planner
Horizontal management
Cons
GANTT
Likelihood to Recommend
The software MindManager is well suited for project management or mind mapping. It allows to visually see the connections and understand what is missing. The brainstorming is not easy to navigate first, but with some training it becomes something powerful. Collecting some specific direct data from another MindManager map is sadly not implanted or I haven't found a way around it.
VU
Verified User
Engineer in Engineering (Government Administration company, 201-500 employees)
Workflows and staff task management. This includes idea documentation all the way to execution of tasks for clients leading to better client satisfaction.
Pros
Work Flow
Time / Task management
Client Management
Cons
Ai integration
More integration with API's for other platforms
Better Group / Team / Admin management
Likelihood to Recommend
Great for initial project mapping Great for staff / task management Good for Client management
Life and work, shopping, planning, writing a publication, sorting data, MindManager works in all parts of my life. Just please, please give me the bowtie template so I can get rid of the other stupid [software.] How hard can it be? I have already given [MindManager] this feedback. Why send out surveys when [they do] not fix the last to-do list. Just make those bowtie risk assessment templates for me. It [takes] a million [years] and a lunch pack for me in powerpoints.
We use MindManager to diagram cloud networks for customers. MindManager allows us to provide the customer with a high-level overview of their AWS or Azure systems and drill-down into specific services. We also use MindManager to diagram the security components of the systems. Compliance mandates are identified and outlined at a high-level with drill-down or linking to specific policies.
Pros
Excellent big picture overview with easy expansion and contraction of map
Detailed drill-down capability into separate line-items and notes
Publishing capability to share MindManager with other connected or interested parties
Convenient and easy to use hyperlink capability that can be launched within MindManager or in a separate window
Ability to link to and launch another MindManager from within current one
Excellent integration with Outlook
Cons
Drag and drop within the map sometimes is tricky, making placement, or rearrangement of items frustrating. Maybe a "snap to" type feature could help.
Photoshop integration would be great. Specifically, adding a quick insert button to add a Photoshop image and/or a video.
Microsoft Project integration would be very helpful.
Likelihood to Recommend
MindManager is best for an integrated management environment or "IME." I develop code in an IDE, but use MindManager as my single source/pane for project management. My MindManager is architected to provide me with fast, easy access to all my important information. I can also keep track of my Outlook email and calendar and generate reports from my map.
Mind Manager is used by a small group of people, but they're very dedicated to it. Mostly used for brainstorming and/or getting a handle on big-picture ideas in a very simple way. The total product is simple to use and quick to note ideas down on. Although it is a licensed product, there is a free reader version if you need to keep license costs down.
Pros
Different way to note ideas down, but very powerful.
Easy to use.
Easy to read other user's mindmaps.
Cons
Licensed product.
No viewer for all platforms.
New version yearly.
Likelihood to Recommend
Well suited to brainstorming or distilling big problems down to smaller parts to make it more easily manageable. It is actually fairly effective as a project planning tool. A downside is it can be difficult to share these files if users don't have (or know of) a viewer for the product.
VU
Verified User
Professional in Information Technology (Military company, 10,001+ employees)
We use it as a planning tool across our section for managers.
Organizational charting: what if and moving positions around.
Workload discussions: we have several offices across Canada so the equitable distribution of workload is needed.
Brainstorming: scoping out projects. It helps to capture what is in scope and what is out of scope. Ensure that all angles are considered.
Pros
It is easy to shift points/ideas around and to attached somewhere else. Makes organization easy.
Functionality is great. You can customize your map to look professional.
It is intuitive. Using Mindmanager is quick and easy to start. It also has features that allow you to do fancier things as you become more confident with using MindManager.
Every time I ask, "Can it do this?" and after reading some of the help pages, it can be done. There is definitely more power and flexibility under the surface.
Cons
I can't think of any at this time. There is more functionality I need to explore.
Likelihood to Recommend
MindManager is well suited for organizing thoughts, people, and processes. It helps with the "what if" scenarios. Even when the process becomes large and unruly, you can collapse arms to see the bigger picture. If it needs to be organized, use Mindmanager.
MindManager is really good at the project brainstorming and planning stage. Its visual nature is ideal for creating a work breakdown structure and enabling the team to see the entire project at a glance. I use the org chart map layout to design that.
Compare that to a dedicated project management tool like Microsoft Project. I’ve seen project managers open it up and start entering rows of project tasks into the program’s Excel-like spreadsheet. As a result, team members see the tasks but not the context. That’s lost in the endless rows of project data.
That’s one of the real advantages of MindManager: You can see tasks in the context of the overall project – the forest AND the trees, if you will. Once the tasks are defined, information regarding task duration, resources, and dependencies can be added in MindManager. Finally, the project design can be exported to another tool such as Microsoft Project for finalization of the plan.
Pros
Creating a Work Breakdown Structure. It is easy and fast. Then, using the Gantt Pro tool, one can manage the project and assign resources and dates to work packages.
MindManager's drag and drop functionality offers the possibility of combining multiple projects into one program and can even help you perform resource leveling across multiple projects.
Stakeholder Management. MindManager has many built-in templates but one I like to use if the Stakeholder identification template. It makes identifying, classifying, and managing stakeholders as easy as it gets.
Brainstorming. There is nothing as convenient as a mind map tool for simple brainstorming of ideas. Mindmanager excels at this.
Turning a map into a written document. I used MindManager to brainstorm, plan and compose an entire white paper, complete with graphics. Then, all I had to do was export the document to MS Word. Formatting was all taken care of.
Cons
If it had a more comprehensive project management capability that allowed for a complete replacement of MS Project, that would be great.
Better integration with Evernote; my other productivity tool.
Updates to the old cloud-based Mindjet Files feature at vision.mindjet.com that I first purchased in 2012 would be greatly appreciated. If I am using a client's computer without MindManager, I want to be able to access and render newer format files seamlessly. This would involved continued support for Flash Player, but I think it is warranted.
Likelihood to Recommend
MindManager is really good at the project brainstorming and planning stage. Its visual nature is ideal for creating a work breakdown structure and enabling the team to see the entire project at a glance. I use the org chart map layout to design that.
Compare that to a dedicated project management tool like Microsoft Project. I’ve seen project managers open it up and start entering rows of project tasks into the program’s Excel-like spreadsheet. As a result, team members see the tasks but not the context. That’s lost in the endless rows of project data.
That’s one of the real advantages of MindManager: You can see tasks in the context of the overall project – the forest AND the trees, if you will. Once the tasks are defined, information regarding task duration, resources, and dependencies can be added in MindManager. Finally, the project design can be exported to another tool such as Microsoft Project for finalization of the plan.
