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| Name: Santa, Father Christmas, Père Noël in France or Mos Craciun in Romania | |
| Title: Head of Present Delivery Logistics, North Pole | |
| Started using Mindjet: 2011 | |
| Social links: Twitter | |
When did you start using Mindjet?
In 2009 I noticed my ‘Nice List’ had grown by 25 per cent and the elves were really struggling to make and deliver all the presents by Christmas Eve. I decided to restructure our departments – introducing several new ones – and take on more elves. My next problem was even with Mrs Claus’ help I just couldn’t keep track of everything. We had a rather unfortunate incident where little Drew from Marseille got a Barbie Princess Popstar rather than a Hot Wheels Turbo Garage Playset.
I knew something had to change so in the run up to Christmas 2010 I drew a very elaborate map with some crayons on some spare wrapping paper to show who was doing what, where and when. It wasn’t easy to update in that form – when I came across Mindjet I knew it was just what I needed. Since then has had a huge influence on the way I think about and manage my personal and professional life.
How did you hear about Mindjet?
An elf that runs a toy factory for me was using Mindjet for HR purposes. In mapping out the company org chart it was easy for any new employee to quickly understand who reports to who. The next day I signed up for the free trial and haven’t looked back since.
What do you primarily use it for?
We use it for nearly every aspect of Christmas present delivery. After a well-deserved week break after Christmas it’s straight back to work on January 1. Having to start all over again and plan for such a big event that’s a year away is a very daunting task! I can sit down with my chief elves and Rudolf and plan out what needs to be done – bearing in mind any learnings from the year before – and assign tasks to the right departments
There’s one central map but each department has their own map linked to that as well, which captures all the details. All the elves feed in to it regularly and I can keep track of developments at any point.
From my perspective, Mindjet keeps me and my elves in order – missing Christmas isn’t an option! I used to have to roam around the halls demanding updates and now I can sit back and watch it all happen before my eyes. I think everyone’s much more relaxed – or so Mrs Claus tells me.
What is your favourite feature and why?
Very generally the ability to be able to visualise such a huge amount of information is great, we’ve never been such an efficient festive machine! Second to that is the task management functionality – I’m particularly pleased that Mindjet Task app has been launched this side of Christmas. It does take a little while to get around the whole world in one night and I can keep everyone updated on the move!
Is there anything Mindjet helps with that was unexpected?
I thought Mindjet would improve the way we do things down here but for the first time in quite some years Mrs Claus and I managed to get away for a few days over the summer. I can highly recommend Barbados although I can see why beards are less popular there.
Tell me about the map you’ve attached here.
This is the basic map I use for planning Christmas each year. All of my elves are able to access this through the Cloud so everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing.
