Using Tool Maps

Using Tool Maps: A New Feature of Mind Mapping Software

Start
I would like to present a new feature of mind mapping software.
This feature provides help right in the mind map you are working with. You can take single items or entire
templates from help and use them in your map.
These help items come from a second background mind map called tool map.
This new feature does not yet exist, and I want to point out its many applications and advantages.
For shorter reference, let’s call this yet nonexistent software MiHX, the Mi standing for Mind Mapping Software
and the HX suggesting ‘heuristic expansion‘.

And now:

Imagine
Imagine you are dealing with the task of constructing a car.
You have already developed ideas on the motor and the bodywork (not shown in the example), and your next
topic is passenger safety.

Passenger
Bodywork safety

Car construction

Motor

You feel you could do with some help, so you mark the branch ‘Passenger safety‘ and press ALT + help.
This is what you get:

Passenger Analysis
Bodywork safety Help Assessment
Creativity

Car construction

Motor

The help branches fold and unfold like a menu as you are navigating them by mouseclicks or arrow keys. They
are highlighted to indicate that they are not a part of the original map.

1
 Using Tool Maps

Analysis
Assessment

Brainstorming

Osborn's checklist
Passenger
Help Analogies
Bodywork safety
from nature
Creativity Look for

analogies Analogies
from art
Analogies from
Car construction technology

Motor

The book symbols on some branches indicate that additional information about a technique can be found in the
textnotes attached to that branch.

You decide that looking for analogies from nature is a promising approach. After a doubleclick on that branch,
two things happen:
1. The chosen branch is attached to the branch ‘Passenger safety‘ from where you started help. The initial
highlighting for this help item vanishes.
2. The other help items disappear automatically.

Passenger
Bodywork safety Analogies
from nature

Car construction

Motor

You start thinking about analogies from nature and do some conventional mind mapping without noticing the
help function. Here comes a rather, well, imaginative example:
Fill car
with
Eggs water
Passenger Analogies Hard material
Bodywork safety from nature for bodywork

Kangaroo
babies Safety pocket
for passengers
Car construction

Motor

After a while, you want to examine one of your courageous ideas more closely.
You mark the relevant branch, press ALT + help a second time and start navigating the help branches.

2
 Using Tool Maps

Analysis
Strength
Fill car Weakness

SWOT
with Opportunity
Help Assessment
water
Threat
Eggs
Passenger Analogies Pros & Cons
Bodywork safety from nature
Creativity

Hard material
for bodywork
Car construction Kangaroo
babies Safety pocket
for passengers

Motor

In many cases, getting inspiration from the help branches will be sufficient. But in this case, you will again
implant help items in your map: With a doubleclick on SWOT, you take over that template to your map.
(Remark: The textnotes to SWOT have been removed automatically.)

Fill car Strength

with Weakness
water SWOT
Opportunity
Eggs
Threat
Passenger Analogies
Bodywork safety from nature
Hard material
for bodywork

Kangaroo
babies Safety pocket
Car construction for passengers

Motor

The support information comes from a second mind map, which will be called help map.

3
 Using Tool Maps

In the above example, it looks like this:

Key questions
Analysis
Main elements

Divide into parts
Strengths
Weakness

SWOT
Opportunity
Assessment Threat

Pros
Pros & Cons
Cons

Help
Brainstorming
Make it larger
Make it smaller

Osborn's checklist
Use other materials
Problem solving tools ...
Creativity
Analogies
from nature
Look for

analogies Analogies
from art
Analogies from
technology

(Using only one branch should simplify the process of copying branches from the help map and pasting them
into your principal map.)

One of the central ideas of the concept is that users can create and adapt their own help maps.
For example, you could add planning procedures to your help map:

Key questions
Analysis
Main elements

Divide into parts
Strengths
Weakness

SWOT
Opportunity
Assessment Threat

Pros
Pros & Cons
Cons

Brainstorming
Make it larger
Make it smaller
Help
Osborn's checklist
Use other materials
...
Creativity
Analogies
Problem solving tools from nature
Look for
Analogies

analogies
from art
Analogies from
technology

Collect aims
Aims
Choose aim
Planning
Collect procedures
Procedures
Choose procedure

4
 Using Tool Maps

Next time you press ALT + help, this is what you get:

Fill car Strength

with Weakness
water SWOT
Opportunity
Eggs
Threat

Passenger Analogies Hard material

Bodywork safety from nature for bodywork
Analysis
Kangaroo Safety pocket Assessment
for passengers Help
babies Creativity
Car construction Planning

Motor

Creating and adapting help maps makes MiHX an outstandingly versatile tool.

5
 Using Tool Maps

Applications
Imagine tool maps about the following topics:

• Project planning tools

• Consulting, with tools for analyzing business situations
• Analyzing marketing strategies, with questions about market situation, competitor analysis and tools for
improving own marketing success
• Examining lawsuits
• Studying, with questions supporting critical thinking
• Scientific work, with advice on information retrieval, argumentation and methodology
• Specialized creativity tools supporting advertising agencies
• Developing computer programs, with style guides or information on syntax
• Information for job beginners to support rapid learning on the new job
• Information from seminars that should be directly accessible
• Solving math problems, with heuristic strategies, questions, useful mathematical principles and tools for
dealing with mathematical objects (a pet subject of mine)
• Creative writing
• Self-help, with suggestions for analyzing and overcoming personal problems
• Personal growth, with questions about your aims and suggestions for change in your life

On most of these topics there are numerous excellent books. Condensing information from these books into tool
maps is simple.
Tool maps allow you to transform dormant information from books into working knowledge.

Advantages

• User-friendly tutoring:
Tool maps provide large amounts of support information at a keystroke. You do not have to use another
program or another file.
Help is simply there where you need it.
• Reminder function:
Tool maps remind you of tools you might otherwise have overlooked.
• Flexibility:
You can adapt the tool maps to any kind of problem and any kind of expertise.
• Working knowledge:
With tool maps, information from books, seminars or talks with your collegues quickly becomes part of
your working knowledge: First, you do some active work on that information by integrating it into a tool
map. After that, you can access this information most easily.
It is quite easy to extract the essential information from a book. In contrast to merely reading a book, its
content can become part of your work by using help maps.
• Knowledge management:
By sharing tool maps, information and working knowledge can be circulated quickly. This is of prime
importance for companies, schools and universities.
• Self-improving:
The tool map concept encourages you to improve your ‘toolbox‘ for mental work.
This improves not only your set of tool maps, but at the same time your working habits.

Miscellaneous ideas

• Tool maps should be searchable from the principal map. Otherwise it might be difficult to find relevant
information in large tool maps.
• It might be useful to edit the tool map directly in your principal map.
• The help branches could be adapted to the principal map (with regard to size, font etc.).
• If the tool map is large, the distance between the branch from which you started help and the help branch
you have chosen by doubleclicking may be considerable. Animations could help avoid confusion.

6
 Using Tool Maps

Literature
I have used ideas from the following books.

De Bono, Edward: de Bonos neue Denkschule. Mvg Verlag, Landsberg 2002

Buzan, Tony: The Mind Map Book. BBC Books, London 1995
Buzan, Tony: Business Mind Mapping. Ueberreuter, Frankfurt 1999
Dörner, Dietrich: Problemlösen als Informationsverarbeitung. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1987
Dörner, Dietrich: Die Logik des Misslingens. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1989
Dörner, Dietrich: Bauplan für eine Seele. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1998
Engel, Arthur: Problem-Solving Strategies. Springer, New York 1998
Funke, Joachim: Problemlösendes Denken. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2003
Higgins, James M.: 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques. The New Management Publish Company,
Winter Park 1994
Hoenig, Christopher: The Problem Solving Journey. Perseus Publishing 2000
Jones, Morgan D.: 14 Powerful Techniques for Problem Solving. Three Rivers Press, New York 1998
Mason, John: Hexeneinmaleins. Oldenbourg, München 1985
Michalko, Michael: Cracking Creativity. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley 2001
Nelson-Jones, Richard: Using Your Mind. Cassell, London 1997
North, Klaus: Wissensorientierte Unternehmensführung. Gabler, Wiesbaden 2002
Von der Oelsnitz, Dietrich; Hahmann, Martin: Wissensmanagement. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2003
Polya, George: How to Solve it. Princeton 1957
Pricken, Mario: Kribbeln im Kopf. Schmidt, Mainz 2001
Robertson, S. Ian: Problem Solving. Psychology Press 2001
Sell, Robert; Schimweg, Ralf: Probleme lösen. Springer, Berlin 2002
Zeitz: The Art and Craft of Problem Solving. Wiley, New York 1999

5. December 2003, slightly revised 13. November 2008

© Dr. Thomas Teepe

Alosenweg 37
70329 Stuttgart
Germany
E-mail: thomasteepe@web.de