Imagine putting one word in the middle of a page and then making a kind of visual map, all around it, of ideas that relate to it. Then when you've thrown at it all the ideas and words you can think of, you pull the words together that relate to each other, and start to recognize categories, using them to find new relationships you hadn't thought of before. This is what you do when you create a mind map, and there are all sorts of mind map uses in business and in school, and even in your personal life.

One of the most significant mind map uses is to eliminate hierarchies, at least at the beginning of exploring available information. This technique avoids assumptions about the priority of certain ideas, which come from linear arrangements of sequential thoughts. Instead, when one uses mind map methods, all ideas carry equal weight as they float around the central thought. This means nothing is discarded, and some vital piece of information that might not otherwise have been retained stays on the page, and its relationship to other concepts might then be discovered for the first time.

This helps with another of the mind map uses, which is problem solving. When hitherto unrecognized relationships appear during the exercise, the solution to a problem might emerge in ways it would not have been thought of before. At the very least, as mapping patterns suggest themselves, a framework for the information emerges, and a complicated idea begins sorting itself into distinguishable chunks. Creating a mind map is a great way for either groups or individuals to unravel problems or concepts that are very convoluted.

Another of the mind map uses on a smaller scale is more solitary, and involves taking notes. A student in a lecture on a complex subject, or even someone in a meeting who is trying to summarize the discussion, can both find mind mapping techniques valuable. As they recognize key words, they can list them in their notes and as other ideas come up that relate to the key words, they can be added in a cloud around those initial words. Whether used by a group to brainstorm, or used by an individual to summarize and clarify concepts, creating a mind map is an effective way of discerning the relationships of important ideas.

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