6 Tips to make activity tracking mind maps more effective

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I have been using mind maps towards tracking my several activity threads for the last few months. I must say that it has been a great enriching experience and I have benefited a lot in by this effort. Some clear benefits that I have realized are,

1. Gives me a clear view of my tasks and activities.
2. Allows me to plan better and keep myself updated of all threads.
3. Far lesser number of activities seem to slip between the cracks

Some of the tips that I mention below might prove useful to you folks in case you are also using mind maps for the purpose of activity tracking,

1. Don't completely delete threads which are closed from the map - Many a times tasks are closed but can open up and I would suggest to have a closed thread's branch under which all the activities closed (at least the important ones) can be placed month wise.
2. Load the mind map with information - Most of times action thread have mails, documents, presentations, views, discussions, MoM's associated with them. Without this information the mind map is not a complete information base that it can be. So remember to link up you mind map nodes with the information on them.
3. Tag your mind map branches and nodes with icons - In my understanding a mind map should not only provide you with a single interface to all your activity threads it can and should also provide you an idea of when and what that goes with the activities. Tag the nodes with the relevant icons to the best extent possible.
4. Branch dedicated to 'recurring activities' - Irrespective of the job you are doing you would always have a list of recurring activities that could occur daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly of yearly. It really pays off to organize all these recurring activities under one branch and review them as frequently as necessary
5. Highlight dependencies - In many cases one of your activities are linked on other activities on your map. Make it a point to link these together. This provides you a very good view of how your threads are dependent on each other and helps you a lot in prioritization of your activities.
6. Spread the word - Any project is team work and you getting more productive is only part of the success. The more and more people use this technique on your team the better it is for everybody. If you are convinced that mind mapping is a good technique, I would suggest that you use it for a few weeks and then take it on you to get at least 2/3 members in your project to get using it.

Tags: mindmaps, activity tracking