‘Why do mind maps work?‘ from George Johnson of Between Seeing
(link via one of my favorite blogs, the innovation weblog)
They work because the brain operates in circles. A simple way to think about this is to think of millions of bits of information in the brain flowing in circles. When two bits of information intersect an idea is formed. Mind maps facilitate the collection of those bits of information, where as creating linear lists forces the brain to work in a way that is not natural for it and consequently you don’t get all of the information available to you.
Makes perfect sense to me – that is indeed the way everything – processes and tools – we use for thought and communication work – the internet (in its right name the world wide web) is a series of loops of one thought or idea (in the form of a link leading to another). And that is what blog conversations are all about too – picking up one thread and building upon it elsewhere.
This is what I feel about mind maps (and have said so in a comment on this post) – we have been conditioned to think linearly – in lists – whereas the natural way that thought flows is in circles. We all make mind maps every day without realizing it… linear thinking makes ideas unidimensional and restricted whereas “circular thinking” (for want of a better term) opens up new ideas and possibilities.
Yet people hesitate to adopt – or even acknowledge – such thought processes as natural and effective. As Johnson has said in his post, most of us are trained to think ‘straight’ and with our left brains. Anything veering dangerously towards the right brain is suppressed, and even suspect (until of course one is universally recognized as a creative – if eccentric – genius!)
As a creative, circular, nonlinear thinker, this post validates me and my right-brain dominant ways. 🙂
So it kind of means that muddling through an idea is probably a better way of innovation than going about it in a series of logical and predefined steps?
Nicole, absolutely! “creative” is not a bad word 🙂
gawker, that’s just the kind of rude clueless comment I would expect from some people frequenting this blog. but not you. try, as hard as it might be, just try to read through the links to see what it means before shooting off. would appreciate it.
I actually did go through the links. From what I gathered, it appeared to me what the author is saying is that while brainstorming, it is more productive not to focus in on one thread of thought, but on multiple threads of thoughts in order to explore all avenues simultaneously. And I agree with it, if thats in fact what he meant. Thats what I called muddling through an idea. In a good sense. As opposed to going about it in a number of predefined steps. Which is a bad way. So I wasn’t being rude, although I might have expressed myself with inadequate clarity and apparent flippancy. In which case I apologize. I was inquiring if that is actually what the author is suggesting, since my not so nimble brain frequently misunderstands things what people are trying to convey.
“Going around in circles” is more effective :). Interesting!!
Not just brain, but the reality itself is made of circles, but we see straightlines.
Mind Mapping was introduced by Tony Buzan some 30 years back.
In my organisation we use a software tool called Mind Manager from mindjet.com.
We not only think linear, but also think straight.
This kind of linear, piecewise thinking works well when problems are simple.
Complex problems require non-linear, circular andSystems Thinking. Most of the social problems remain where they are just due to lack of Systems Thinking.
yes gawker, which is why I was surprised by the tone of your comment…
Rahul, am sure 🙂
Sumanth, as it happens, most of us dont think straight – we dont think in circles either but crooked!