Project Schedule and Cost Management Using Mind Mapping

Harjit Singh 1 Why Mind Mapping?

• Spotlight on the topic at hand • Radiant thinking – Human brain functions in a radiant rather than linear manner – A literally ‘maps’ out your thoughts, using associations, connections and triggers to stimulate further ideas organically • Enhances memorization – The Mind Mapping process involves a unique combination of imagery, color and visual- spatial arrangement which is proven to significantly improve recall when compared to conventional methods of note-taking and learning by rote • Creativity through – Encourages creativity enables the participants to generate new ideas in brainstorming sessions • Teaching – The visibility of Mind Mapping provides an effective approach for promoting better understanding in students – Example: http://www.biggerplate.com/mindmaps/HnaH WQ5X/business-economics-monetary-and- fiscal-policy

Harjit Singh 2 Why Mind Mapping? – Contd.

• Presenting – Enables presenters to present with confidence as they can better recall the information when needed • Planning and Organizing – Sandbox of ideas (Can help you plan and organize your thinking before you start writing or get stuck into a project) • Capturing Notes – Most mind mapping programs enable you to attach notes to the branches of your mind map • Group Collaboration – A Mind Map is an excellent tool for collaborating with others to develop plans or implement key projects. It allows you to harness the input of all members of a group in a dynamic and creative way. • – A Mind Map can help you think with greater clarity to explore relationships between ideas and elements of an argument and to generate solutions to problems. It puts a new perspective on things by allowing you to see all the relevant issues and analyze choices in light of the big picture. • One-Stop-Shop (Hub) – Can be used to create links to web sites, documents, reports, and other project artifacts to which the project team members need fast and easy access

Harjit Singh 3 Task List

• Simplify Task Management – Some mind mapping software programs, such as MindManager and MindGenius, enable you to designate tasks with checkboxes. – Allows you to filter your map’s entire contents to show just the active tasks. • Define/Track Milestones – You can use a mind mapping program to define project milestones and track the progress of key elements of the project. – Some software programs enable you to attach “percentage done” icons to tasks within your map, which enable you to gauge your progress toward these key project milestones at a glance. – https://youtu.be/l8iTj0lwGaE

Harjit Singh 4 Time (Schedule) Management • You can use Gantt charts, exporting project task information to Project and SharePoint, and more. • https://youtu.be/LBU Zj3ceoI0

Harjit Singh 5 Cost Management (Budget and Forecasting) • It makes it easier to understand the impact of budget decisions in your project plans better than spreadsheets. • https://youtu.be/OW fNkS__3Cg

Harjit Singh 6

Leading Mind Mapping Software Tools • Mindjet – Comes with impressive project-planning and information management tools, along with creatively stimulating visual frameworks. – Cost: Free to try for 30-days; $349 to $448 per license to buy. • – Mindomo offers a suite of mind mapping tools designed for businesses and educators. – Cost: Prices range from $36 for six months for one user, to $162 for six months for five team members. You can also create three maps, and manage one project for free just by entering your email address. • XMind – XMind is an open-source application. It is super versatile, and easy to tinker with. Besides mind maps, it comes equipped with numerous other ways to organize and clarify your thoughts, including matrices, and fishbone charts. – Cost: Basic version free to download; purchase the Plus or Pro versions for $79 and $99, respectively. • iMindMap – iMindMap focuses on quick-draw branch editing, so the process of mind mapping doesn’t get in the way of brainstorming ideas. – Cost: $80 for the home and student edition, and $245 for the Ultimate version • MindMeister – MindMeister was designed for collaboration: you and your coworkers can easily alter mind maps together in real time, discuss changes using the MindMeister live chat service, and view previous versions of a given mind map. Because it’s all stored in the cloud–secured by data encryption and monitoring–you don’t need to download any software. – Cost: Personal plan for $5.99 a month, the $9.99-a-month, per user, professional plan, and the business edition for $14.99 a month per user. • MindMap – This mind map software can be a useful extension to add to Google Chrome, especially if you do a lot of brainstorming and project management. MindMap offers cloud support via , DropBox, and Box, and works offline, so you can work on mind maps anywhere, and share them with whoever you want. – Cost: Free • – Sign up for Coggle using your Google account–assuming you have one–and start mapping your mind within seconds, right in your browser. – Cost: Free

Harjit Singh 7 Q&A

That’s all folks

Harjit Singh 8