Using "mind mapping" software for process mapping

Posted by Derek Cornish
Oct 19, 2006 at 10:44 PM

After grappling with Visio (which I have never liked using) and rejecting SmartDraw as too expensive, I’ve recently been looking at mind mapping tools as another way of drawing process maps (essentially flow diagrams) of step-by-step decision-making activities.

Why mind-mapping software rather than conventional flow diagram ones? Partly because of the discussions in this forum which made me realise that the mind-mapping rubric is fairly elastic (aka vague) and covers software with a variety of uses. Also, apart from the cost angle - mind-mapping software tends to be somewhat cheaper - there is also the bonus of getting programs with more versatile feature sets, too.

Essentially, I’m looking for something a little more polished than my existing Inspiration v7.5 - although that more-or-less does the job I’m after. CRIMP aside (is it ever?), this has taken me on a trawl through the various mind mapping/concept mapping programs mentioned here. It seems to me that some of the software is more comfortable with the traditional mind-mapping diagram approach (central idea with radials) than with flow-diagrams. But as I am a complete novice, it may be that I am just not exploiting all their features.

I had thought that VisiMap might be one such possibility, but I’m currently leaning towards Mind Manager (expensive, though) and Mind-Pad. Both seem to cater for flow-diagrams as well as mind-maps. Whether they will offer enough to justify adding them to Inspiration, though, is another matter.

I’d be glad to hear other people’s suggestions or comments on what they use for making flow-diagrams/mapping processes.

Derek