Teamwork International

The rules for producing Mind Maps are very simple and can be adapted to suit your personal preference.

• Take a piece of paper and draw a rectangle in the centre of the page.
  
• Inside the rectangle write the name of the topic that you want to mind map.
  
• As each major idea or theme emerges from your brain draw a line radiating from the rectangle.
• Write the name of the major idea above each line.
  
• Don't spend too much time writing neatly or drawing nice straight lines
  - go for SPEED not NEATNESS.

• As each idea materialises, quickly check whether the idea is an extension of an existing idea.
  • If it is, then just continue the line.
  • If the idea is a variation of an existing idea
    then draw a branch off of the central line and label it.

• If the idea is something totally and utterly new, then draw a brand new line from the rectangle in the center of the page.
  
  
• Within a short space of time yout Mind Map will begin to take shape.
  Don't be too alarmed if it looks as if a spider, with ink on its feet has crawled across the page.
  Mind Maps are personal records of thought processes and are normally PRIVATE.

• Once you have finished generating ideas and constructing the Mind Map you can start analysing the information shown on the mind map.
  

  Look for linkages - pieces of information at the end of a path that can be linked together in some way. Links can be shown by labelling the common points with letters, figures or by drawing a curve between two points.

  If the Mind Map is being used as the basis for a talk or for planning purposes, then each major line radiating from the central rectangle could be labelled numerically to show its sequence.