Are mind maps a part of your planning methodology?

[K.I.L.E.R]

A few years ago a friend of mine steered me into the realm of mind maps, and ever since I've found them invaluable. I find note taking to be laborious, and sometimes even nonconstructive. Mind maps allow simple, but abstract, ideas to span across each other and you end up with very specific tasks.

I use mind maps to take abstract notes on what I read, as opposed to dot points, it helps to keep ideas in the back of my mind for longer, and lets me worry about piecing the greater idea together at a later time. If I'm tired I can come back later without having to read through notes or re-read a book.

The reason I believe mind maps work well for me is that I don't have to read anything. I only need to glance at my ideas through a tree, cutting down details quickly and allowing me to get to what I want. I've always been lazy with my planning in general, mind maps have changed this somewhat, but in the end the bigger advantage is that I am planning instead of just coding.

[george]

I've never called them mind maps, but I pretty much always take notes this way, with the exception of two cases -- very brief notes on a single subject, and when I want to later reproduce a lecture/panel talk, I find more linear notes easier to later transcribe.

For example the notebook next to me on my desk right now is a 11"x14" drawing pad.

[Ex]

I've used them occasionally for other things, but never for roguelikes. For roguelikes, I usually have a Plan.doc file, which is a long collection of to-do lists and game ideas in roughly random order.

[Etinarg]

I don't so I voted "no". But actually this is just that at some point in the past I really wanted to use mind maps, but couldn't find a proper tool. I started to write my own, but that took too much time, so I gave up on it.

Nowadays there are good free mind mapping tools, but I got used to other things and didn't pick up the idea again.

For large projects I like Wikis to keep documentation, for small projects a simple text file does the job.

[mariodonick]

but couldn't find a proper tool. I started to write my own, but that took too much time, so I gave up on it.

Putting a technical tool between "mind" and "mind map" somewhat distracts the advantages of mind maps.

Why not simply use pencil, paper and eraser? This really helps putting all these chaotic thoughts and ideas into a structure.

Of course, once you have it on paper, you might think about converting it into an electronic format, but the process really should start undisturbed of any technical tool.

From these thoughts, however, you'll see that I don't use mind maps for planning something -- I use mind maps to actually find the core elements of a complex topic (such as finding the actual topic of my PhD thesis). When this is done, I use gantt diagrams to plan the way to the topic I found with the mind map.

A roguelike example some days ago was the question: What makes my roguelike unique?


Edit: Actually, I think we use computers way too often for things which could be done without them.

[Etinarg]

Edit: Actually, I think we use computers way too often for things which could be done without them.

From older projects I have a lot of papers with sketches and notes ... at some point I noticed that this works badly for projects where more people are involved, since scans of papers are not so easy to edit, and changed to electronic formats which are easy to share, and work on collaboratively.

My desk is still covered with papers carrying notes, scribbles and simple sketches. I don't archive them anymore though ...

Many words. I just want to say, yes for the initial creative moment paper works better. Electronic media are better for sharing and collaborative work in later stages of a project, I think.

[mariodonick]

Yes, here I agree, of course. (I tend to think of one-man-projects, when thinking of roguelikes)