Field Marketing Representative, MindManager
If you’re a regular reader of the MindManager Blog, then I’m sure we’ve been acquainted before. But if not, let me introduce myself. My name is Brendan – I’m a Field Marketing Representative with MindManager on the global marketing team.
Recently, one of my colleagues suggested that we should share with our readers how we, at MindManager, use our own product. With such a diversity of roles within our company, we all use the software a little bit differently in our daily work.
In the coming months, you’ll hear from a number of people from within MindManager. We’ll share our absolute most favourite feature, and how it makes a difference in our work.
I thought I’d kick this new series off by interviewing myself and telling you about how I use my favourite MindManager feature.
What is your favourite MindManager feature?
My favourite feature in MindManager is the ability to use Linking and Attachments to create highly useful storage dashboards for projects or daily tasks. This feature allows you to add map links to:
- Files;
- Websites;
- Directories;
- Topics within or between maps;
- Mailto links for email addresses;
- And more.
Most of these links can also be opened using the built-in Browser window within your dashboard, allowing you to browse their contents without ever leaving the map.
Why is it your favourite feature?
The ability to add web links and attachments for virtually any file allows me to create dashboards that can act as a central hub for all relevant information I need to complete my job. I can use these either for a single project or to organize my entire quarter’s worth of work. Rather than having files scattered around my computer, they’re all available to me in a single map.
How does it help in your daily work?
Having a central dashboard containing all the files that I need to complete a project not only saves time, but also allows me to have a very clear and holistic view of what I’ve accomplished and what still needs to be done. Rather than starting each day by having to remind myself what files I need to complete a task and where they are, I’m able to start working immediately.
Additionally, as a marketer, research is a big part of collecting new ideas and inspiring new pieces of creative. The ability to hyperlink to and browse links in a mind mapping dashboard allows me to easily compile all of this information and access it whenever needed. Think of this as being like bookmarking pages in a browser, but much more interactive and hyper specific to your project.
What’s an example of how you use this feature?
Take, for example, a project that requires me to produce five short promotional videos. Each of these videos will require a script, visuals, video files, sound files and possibly links to different reference material. With this volume of files, it’s easy to lose track of where you are in a project, where an important file is located and which files are associated with which video.
By creating a mind mapping dashboard, I’m able to create a Main Topic relating to each video and then link all relevant files as sub-topics. As a result, all of the files I might need during the project are centrally located and visually organized to their corresponding video. This saves time, and ensures that I’m not duplicating work that I’ve already done. It also allows me to easily keep track of my progress, look back on what I did for earlier videos, and duplicate files and information that are relevant for each sub-project, saving me time and keeping me organized.
How do you think other people in your role would benefit from this feature?
As many marketers can attest to, keeping files organized is key to ensuring that projects run smoothly and that quality control is kept high. Version management, team reviews and information sharing are all things that marketers often struggle to make as efficient as possible on a daily basis.
Mind mapping dashboards, by nature, are very effective ways of keeping all that information in one central location. Rather than having documents floating around in emails, Google Docs or shared drives, marketers can use MindManager to link all relevant files to a single map, alleviating the ongoing stress of chasing down the right file or web page.
Any marketer who is used to juggling large numbers of files and web pages while completing a project would benefit greatly from centralizing all of this clutter into a single dashboard. Reducing time and stress associated with finding and managing files frees up valuable brainpower marketers need to be creative and come up with winning ideas.
Want to organize your files with MindManager?
Does creating a centralized MindManager dashboard for your project files sound like a great way to save time and improve creativity? You may be interested in a free, 30-day trial of MindManager!
P.S. Want to learn more about how marketers use MindManager? Check out this post by well-known marketer Ian Cleary on his blog Razor Social.
