Decision Trees Using Argument Mapping

As a variation on a theme, try argument mapping process logic (is that a good sentence?).  The bCisive tool is not only great for mapping arguments, it works well for decision trees.  And for my money, it is so much more visual than a typical flow chart.  See my example at the bCisive Hive here.

For a comparison between diagramming techniques see this introduction at the Austhink website.

 

Technorati Tags: argument mapping, decision making, decision tree, bCisive, Austhink

More on Mind Manager Export to Word

Exporting to Word has been both a strength and a weakness of MindManager.  MindManager does a good job exporting the topics and notes, creating a hierarchical document structure based on the topic levels in the map.  However getting the formatting right without further editing in Word is less than intuitive.

A couple of preparatory steps and some mapping guidelines can be followed to ensure better results - first time. 

In summary:

1. Design and create a Word template before you map

• Edit the key Word styles such as Heading 1, Heading 2, Body Text
• Think of a hierarchical document structure based on these styles
• Create a simple one page document using all the required styles and following your hierarchy
• Save this as a Word template.

2. Create a simple MindManager map and export it using your template

• Just one branch will do as long as it contains all the levels in your Word hierarchy
• From the export options, make sure you select the template created in the first step
• Export the map
• Review the document and edit the additional styles created by the MindManager export - these all begin with MM such as MM Topic 1, MM Topic 2
• Save this document as a new Word template

3. Now create the map with your actual product and export

• Now start work on the map you are using to create your document, report or presentation
• When ready, review the map and ensure the topic levels conform to the document hierarchy you created in your second Word template
• Export the map, ensuring you use the second Word template - ensure you match the topic levels to the MM topics in this template - NOT the default Word topics such as Heading 1 and so on
• Complete the export and review the Word document for any final formatting.

This is all described in more detail in a map, which you can download here.  It also contains sample templates.  When you develop a template you like, it can be used over and over again - the first two steps above can be omitted.

 

I'm working on a more complete map covering Word styles for notes, relationships and attachments that will be posted soon.

 

Technorati Tags: Mind Manager, MS Word