Mindjet: Connections Newsletter
By Mark Miller
Meet Mark Miller, Founder and Editor of EndUserSharePoint.com. He uses MindManager daily in his business to help plan projects, create and maintain business models, coordinate brainstorming sessions and to create documented site plans for SharePoint implementations.
EndUserSharePoint.com is one of the world’s largest SharePoint communities, featuring articles from a dozen contributing authors and a following of more than 7,000 registered users. Mark uses mind maps to document information to his community of end users through a set of preconfigured templates, built specifically for SharePoint.
The MindManager Templates for SharePoint, as he calls them, are used by SharePoint consultants, information architects and SharePoint site planners. He uses an advanced feature of MindManager, the Custom Properties panel, to layout out a model of various components within a SharePoint site and then saves them as reusable templates that can be used to quickly build site plans in a matter of minutes, as opposed hours or days.
By using predefined templates within the MindManager map parts gallery, it is possible to work with a client, in real time, laying out a hierarchical site plan including the configuration settings for lists, libraries, blogs, wikis and sub-sites. Each template can interact with the other templates within the plan through relationship diagramming and the use of drag-and-drop features for moving parts of a site around.
There is a hidden benefit to creating a site plan in real time, besides the obvious one of time savings; it is a chance to collaborate with a client in real time. By using mind maps as a live documentation process, he can walk away from a client meeting with a documented plan, not just a static list of action items.
Mark gave a 30 minute talk to the MindManager group in New York City and recorded the session. You can view it at: http://www.endusersharepoint.com/?p=1582
For those who would like a copy of the mind map for a team site configuration, register for the Weekly Newsletter at EndUserSharePont.com. To see more about how MindManager can be an effective solution for planning SharePoint site implementations, visit: http://www.endusersharepoint.com.
