BA Techniques: Mind Mapping

Written by Bharath Ravi | Jul 8, 2020 6:12:48 AM

Purpose

Mind mapping is used to articulate and capture thoughts, ideas, and information.

Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®)

The term mind map was first organized by the British popular psychology author and television personality Tony Buzan. Mind mapping is a versatile technique that boosts the productivity by helping you generate ideas and better analyze them, as well as making it easier to structure and recall the information. A mind map is a graphical way to represent ideas and concepts. It is a thinking tool that helps for structuring the information, helping for better analysis, recall, and generate new ideas. It is a diagram used to visually organize the information. Mind map can be used to organize large amount of information in a dynamical hierarchical structure. It allows to plan, organize, and present the information effectively and efficiently. The mind map promotes bigger picture thinking, improved problem solving skills, and is a valuable tool for team collaboration. The methods for organizing the information are changing dramatically, and visual mind mapping is quietly becoming a revolutionary tool that keeping us organized, productive, and focused.

Mind mapping is a form of note taking that capture the thoughts, ideas, and information in a non-linear diagram. It uses the images, words, colors, and connected relationship to apply structure and logic to thoughts, ideas, and information. A mind map has central main idea supported by secondary ideas, followed by as many layers of ideas, as necessary to fully capture and articulate the concept. The connections are made between the ideas by branches that typically have a single keyword associated with them that explain the connection. Mind map can be created on a paper or with the specialized software.

Business Analysts use the mind mapping technique to,

  • think through and generate ideas on complex concepts
  • explore the relationship between the various phases of the problem
  • present a consolidated view of the complex problem

 

Some of the articles related to Mind mapping techniques are as follows,

 

A mind map is a type of chart that organized the information visually. It will stem from a central idea, with supporting ideas branching out from it in a non-linear order. It will help to think the problem in a more critical way and improve the problem solving ability at the same time. It is a valuable tool for team collaboration in the business group. The main elements in mind mapping technique are,

  • Main Topic - The main topic of the mind map is the thought or the concept that is being articulated. It is positioned in the center of the image so that multiple topic and association can branch off.
  • Topics - Topics are the thoughts or the concepts that explored upon to further articulate the main topic. It can be as many or as few topics as required to fully explore the thought of the main topic.
  • Sub Topics - They are the thoughts that explored upon to further articulate the topic and directly relate to the main topic. Their association with the topic is expressed through a branch that has a keyword associated with it.
  • Branches - They are the associations between the main topic, topic, and sub topic. It include the keyword that clearly articulate the nature of the association.
  • Keywords - It is a single word used to articulate the nature of association of topic or sub topic connected by a branch. It is useful for both categorizing the topic and for triggering the additional associations.
  • Colors - It may be used to categorize, prioritize, and analyze topics, sub topics and their associations. There is no color coding standard for the mind mapping technique.
  • Images - It can be used in main maps to express larger volume of information that are unable to be expressed in short topic headings. It is useful in stimulating the creativity and innovation by generating additional thoughts, ideas, and associations

 

Some of the books for Mind Mapping techniques are,

 

 
View full post