Here’s what to do when your MindManager Expert Tracker starts to look like the above example, and you’re looking for a more efficient way to add, update, and access the influencers in your field (and beyond).
A large Expert Tracker doesn’t mean your mind map is getting “filled up.” It’s just that you may find yourself spending more time expanding and collapsing topics, scrolling for names within the alphabetical divisions, and zooming in and out.
When this happens, it’s time to take advantage of MindManager’s ability to easily subdivide your Expert Tracker into a series of linked mind maps you can navigate and search, as if it were a single map.
Creating linked maps will save you a lot of time adding, updating, and accessing the influencers in your field while providing space for further growth.
How to Turn Topics Into Linked Maps
MindManager makes it easy to convert each of the four primary topics (A-E, F-M, N-S, and T-Z) into a linked map. Start by collapsing each topic, which is more convenient when turning them into linked maps.
Then, right-click each topic, and select Send to followed by New Linked Map.
- When the Send to New Linked Map menu appears, select “Assign selected topic to new central topic,” and hit OK.
- When the Save New Map As dialog box appears, provide an appropriate filename. Note: always save the linked map in the same folder as your Expert Tracker.
You will notice that the original subtopics no longer appear with the topic in the original map. Instead, a hyperlink is now present. In addition, a tab indicating the linked map will appear in the menu area below the map.
Repeat the above process for the remaining Expert Tracker topics.
When you’re through creating linked maps for the remaining topics, tabs will appear at the bottom of the screen for each of the linked maps.
To verify the linked maps, select View, Linked Maps. Thumbnails of the maps will appear at the top of your screen.
Adding New Experts
Adding new experts to large Expert Trackers will now be much easier. There are two ways you can do this from the original Expert Tracker:
- Click the link that corresponds to the appropriate linked map.
- Select the appropriate tab at the bottom of the screen.
After displaying the appropriate map, add the new Expert as you did previously. Remember to use MindManager’s Notes feature to describe the relevance of each Expert and the Map Parts feature as a framework for including each Expert’s social media contacts.
Note. MindManager automatically adds a hyperlink to the Center Topic of each linked map. This makes it easy to immediately return to the original Expert Tracker map from any of the linked maps.
Hint: As you’re adding new experts in the linked maps, it’s always a good idea to frequently save your work as you go. This helps your computer work as efficiently as possible.
Searching for Experts by Name
From any linked map, you can search for experts by name saved on any of the other linked maps. You can search for experts by either their first or last names, the names of their businesses, or by the names of their books.
This flexibility is important; often, after a networking event, you may remember meeting an expert whose first name was Arwen, or a website with analytics in its name, but can’t recall the details.
To search for an individual by their name, or their business name:
- Enter their name in the Search field at the upper right of the screen.
- Click the “binoculars” icon and, in the Search for All Occurrences section, Search in all Open Maps.
As above shows, the search results will display not only the Experts that meet your criteria, but also the map where their information is stored.
Selecting any of the results will take you right to the desired individual so you can update their information. Conveniently, the MindManager Search pane remains open. This makes it easy to explore all of the results without repeating the search.
Hint: Searching before entering a new name is an important habit to get into. It’s an easy way to prevent entering unwanted duplications.
Filtering Experts by Category or Importance
In certain situations, you may want to locate individuals in your Expert Tracker on the basis of their characteristics instead of their names. For example, you might want an overview of experts on the basis of their:
- Fields, or areas of influence
- Products or services they offer
- Ranking, or relative importance in their field
- Relationship to you, i.e., are they competitors or potential partners?
MindManager makes it easy to do this, using MindManager features like markers, tags, and filtering, topics discussed in detail in Mindjet Dashboard Series: 3 Steps to Make Your Expert Tracker more Productive.
Although you can Filter individual maps, as described in the above post, you cannot Filter results from among linked mind maps. There is a way around this, however. After selecting View, Linked Maps, select Combine All and save with an appropriate file name.
Universal Applicability
Although this installment in the Mindjet Dashboard series focuses on splitting large Expert Tracker MindManager maps into linked maps, the basic ideas are adaptable to other types of mind maps in this series, such as the Keeping Track of Testimonials, the 3-step Idea Tracker, the #Hashtag Tracker, or the Competing Books Tracker.
Once you get in the habit of subdividing large mind maps into linked maps, your efficiency and productivity will increase. I’ve often noticed, over the years, that the biggest obstacle to increased productivity is the tendency to put up with inefficiency, rather than investing a little time exploring more efficient working habits. After taking the time to master a new skill, however, I’m usually surprised by the increased productivity.
Share your Expert Tracker comments, experiences, and questions, below!