Mind Mapping For Dummies

Me on my own (no groups)

Nowadays Mind Mapping is often described as a creative technique that helps you to come up with new ideas. A creative technique is characterised by the following properties:

It tells the user the directions in which she should think.

For example, there’s a creative technique known as the forced connection whereby a random image forces the user to make a connection with her problem of the moment. The challenge here is to force a connection between the image and problem concerned.

Returning to our example of the author who wants to publish an eye-catching book: she trawls again through the possibilities and see a glass of water in the context of the ‘forced connection’ technique. What ideas can now be derived from a glass of water? It occurs to the author that maybe she could wrap the book in a waterproof rubber cover.

So, in this case the ‘forced connection’ technique involves forcing a connection between the book and a glass of water.

It’s either divergent or convergent – not both at the same time!

Techniques like brainstorming are purely divergent and compel the user to find new solutions by accumulating a multiplicity of ideas.

On the other hand, there are techniques which can be used to select ideas, that is, by using convergent thinking.

Mind Mapping ...