One central idea with branches and twigs, sent to collaborators so they can say what's missing.
A mind map is a plan before it has an order. One idea sits in the middle, and everything you know about it hangs off in branches. This page has one to open, a podcast plan sent to two collaborators, where each branch folds away when you tap it. Take its shape and put your own idea in the center.
Who it's for
Someone at the start of something, with notes in five places and two or three people whose opinion they want before committing: a podcast, a product, a wedding, a thesis chapter. You send the map so they can see the whole thing at once and tell you what's missing.
It's the wrong tool once the work has dates and owners. Then you need a list or a schedule. And a page can't take comments, so tell people where to reply.
What a good one contains
- One idea in the middle, named. "Late Starters", with "a podcast, season one" under it, tells a newcomer what the map is about before they read a branch.
- Five to seven branches. The sample has six: Format, Guests, Recording, Publishing, Launch and Open questions. Past seven, the center stops holding them together.
- Two levels under each, and no more. A branch has twigs, and a twig has notes. A third level turns a map into a filing cabinet.
- Labels of a few words. "Banker turned baker" fits on a line. A sentence doesn't, and it belongs in the document you write afterwards.
- Numbers where you have them. The gear twig says $350 and lists the three purchases that add up to it. Collaborators argue with figures more usefully than with intentions.
- A branch for what's undecided. "Open questions" is colored like the center and holds the name, video and money. It shows readers where their opinion is wanted.
- Folding. Tap a branch and its twigs disappear. Six open branches are a lot to take in, and closing five lets someone think about one.
- A request with a date. The header asks for reactions by Friday, November 20.
Send it before it's tidy
Look at it on a phone. A drawn map that wide turns to specks on a small screen, so the sample switches to an indented outline there, with the same six branches folding the same way. Say so in your prompt, or you'll get the drawing, shrunk.
Then read each branch as the person you're sending it to. If a label only makes sense to you, rewrite it. Leave the wrong ideas in. A map is sent to be corrected, and the tidy version comes after people have replied.
How to send it
As an open link. It's a draft for two or three collaborators, and every step before it opens costs you a reaction. Add a password if your map holds a budget you'd rather keep private.
Every page you publish gets one link that opens in any browser. You choose who can open it: anyone with the link, anyone with the password, or only the people and company domains you name, who sign in with Google or Microsoft. Change the page later and the link stays the same.
