Hi MindManager Blog readers! I’m a new face around these parts, but I’m not new to using MindManager. I joined the MindManager team a year and a half ago as the Senior Director of B2B Marketing for our parent company, Corel.
When I started working here, I’ll be honest… I didn’t have a ton of familiarity with mind mapping as a concept, much less using a mind mapping software as part of my daily workflow. But being the organization and order loving person that I am, my actions changed quickly once I realized what I’d been missing all those years before.
What is your favorite MindManager feature?
Tough question. It’s hard to pick just one, because it’s like picking a favorite child! So I need to pick two: Progress feature and Timeline template.
The Progress feature allows you to assign a completion status to any item. Is that item a quarter done, half done, or complete? Complete is my favorite stage because it comes with a satisfying green checkmark!
The Timeline template is one of the pre-set Blank Templates you can choose from when you open a new map in MindManager.
Why is it your favorite feature?
I love these features because they allow me to see both the big picture and smaller details across a period of time. We plan annually and quarterly, so it’s important to be able to see not only what’s happening right now, but how does that fit within the context of the quarter and our entire year from a marketing strategy perspective.
Are we checking off and completing the key initiatives on a monthly basis? Are we executing across our program calendar? Are we making the incremental improvements and measuring our campaigns to see the waterfall effect across the year? These are all important questions to consider as we move through our days, weeks, months and year as a team.
How does it help in your daily work?
In my role, I manage two product-centric Global Field Marketing teams, as well as a Global Marketing Operations team who serves the needs of our Field Marketing teams. My two Field Marketing teams are not only geographically-diverse, but they are diverse across the types of campaigns, target audiences, and content strategies they use to be successful marketers. And my Marketing Operations team is continually creating, executing and measuring the programs our Field Marketing teams run.
Needless to say, it’s a juggling act between several teams with different priorities. So using MindManager, I can keep track of what the priorities and key initiatives are for each of the teams, and see how we are tracking to meet those goals. I use different maps for different teams to help myself help the team, so together we can achieve our targets and be more like the Success Express, instead of the Hot Mess Express!
What is an example of how you use this feature?
I regularly create timeline maps to view the goals, key initiatives, programs and campaigns each of the teams are marching toward and working on. I enjoy seeing what’s going on this month and across the quarter. I know that if something slips, I have a view into what it is, and we can make a plan to ensure that we hold ourselves accountable to complete it. We can’t have anything falling through the cracks when we’re trying to achieve our marketing and revenue targets!
How do you think other people in your role would benefit from this feature?
The tremendous thing about these features, is that they aren’t made for just one type of person or one type of role. They are extremely flexible in the way that you use them. For people like me, being able to easily go from big picture and into the details as needed is invaluable to remaining in touch with the business and your team. But I would also say that these features are for anyone managing a project with multiple inputs across time. Because ultimately, as business people, we all want to make sure we are holding ourselves accountable to making progress toward our goals!
Want to try the Progress and Timeline features for yourself?
Does keeping track of your projects, and quarterly / yearly goals in a central, easy-to-use dashboard sound appealing? Well you’re in luck! MindManager offers a free, 30-day trial to help you get started.
