MindManager in my Blogging Workflow

Yesterday I went into how I love using Evernote in my blogging workflow, well today I’m gonna take a look at using MindManager. Actually I used mind mapping a lot for all kinds of things from planning out my New Years resolutions to projects at work. Unfortunately though the MindJet app for the iPad isn’t as full featured as it’s PC and Mac version so I’ve started to explore alternatives while staying within the mind mapping toolset.

Brainstorming Post Ideas

The main use I have for mind mapping in my blogging workflow is to brainstorm ideas. Mind mapping and the MindManager app on my PC and Mac make it so easy to come up with and flesh out ideas for posts. If you’ve never heard of mind mapping, check out Tony Buzan.

Brainstorming is great with mind maps and with the apps it’s easy to move things around for the next way I use them in my workflow, namely outlining.

Outlining the Structure of Posts

With my thoughts captured from my brainstorm session into a mind map my next step is to rearrange them in a general order for writing. I group similar thoughts together and try to form a narrative that makes a bit more sense than my usual ramble.

Once things are in a reasonable order I throw an introduction and conclusion into the outline and I’ve got a decent structure to work with. I can then either add notes to the ideas in the map or I can pull the structure out of the map and into a tool like Scrivner or back into Evernote to keep the creative juices flowing.

Outlining Notes from Reading

While mind maps are good for post generation they are also a good method for general note taking. Whenever I’m in a meeting I’ll use a mind map to track important parts on paper or on my iPad if I have it available. I also keep a mind map going whenever I read – fiction, non-fiction, current events, or even comics – can easily lend themselves to being mind mapped to gain a better understanding.

Editorial Calendar

I’ve also started using a mind map (in MindManager) for an Editorial Calendar of sorts. MindManager lets me keep track of start and end dates for items in the map and I can flag posts I want to publish on certain days or write about on the weekend.

By finally laying things out over time in a mind map I can start to get a better idea of how and when to work on some of the posts I’ve been meaning to write.

Kanban Board for Tracking To-Dos

Another good workflow that I’ve been using is to let MindManager work as a basic Kanban board (Link to Wikipedia Kanban) for tracking to-dos. I’m using both this and Trello which I’m planning on writing about in a future post for these types of planning activities but I think using both has really helped. Once again, the nature of a mind map really helps me to see the visual nature of my to-dos and how I can move them around in a Kanban fashion is really convenient.

iPad App

Unfortunately while the PC and Mac versions of MindManger are great the iOS version could use an update. While I do use it to transfer stuff from my PC to my iPad I’ve started using iThoughts on my tablet. It has a better interface and I can move things around easier from my experience.

Hopefully MindManager will get their act together and update their iOS app since I think a lot of people want to be using their iPad more than their laptop, but for now iThought is the way to go for me.

Conclusion

So, with Evernote as the main capture tool in my blogging workflow, I’d say MindManager or at least mind maps play a similar key functionality since I have to organize the stuff I’ve captured. If you’ve never tried mind mapping, I’d suggest that you give it a try. It’s really helped me get organized and to focus my workflow to get things accomplished.

Blaugust 2019 Day 2 | MindManager in my Blogging Workflow