MindJet Project Management JetPack for MindManager 7

The good people at MindJet have allowed me early access to their MindManager Project Management JetPack.  As I read that sentence I realize that many readers won’t have a clue what I’m talking about, so let me explain:

MindJet is the company that produces the MindManager application.

MindManager is, at its heart, a brainstorming and mind mapping software tool.

Mind mapping is a knowledge management technique for generating, organizing and communicating ideas or concepts. (Go here for more info)

MindJet have noticed that users of their tool tend apply it to discrete application areas, and therefore lots of the content users produce is re-usable.  So they’ve started to produce JetPacks – pre-packaged mind map content for MindManager.

One of the solutions categories is Project Management, and it’s being offered as an incentive to upgrade to their new MindManager version, version 7.  I reviewed version 7 in a previous blog, but now I’ve used it for a while, I can say I’ve fallen in love with it.  I’ve used previous versions for years, so I know what I’m looking for:  My main requirement is that the application doesn’t get in the way of the insight generating process.  MindManager 7.0 achieves this goal very well.

The Project Management JetPack is a way to organize a cluster of checklists (with their inter-relationships) and templates.  The organizational paradigm of the JetPack is a hierarchy of mind maps, whose branches often terminate as headings, or with checklists, tables or documents, or other mind maps.  Some mind maps, when completed for the specific project can be output to produce project documentation, for example the Business Case map.

The actual organization of the maps will feel comfortable to those familiar with PMBOK, Prince 2 and ISO 10006:2003 – which shouldn’t really surprise because there is a strong correlation between these three major methodologies.  Since it is focused on “big bang” project methodology, it will be less use to those who want to progress work on an agile basis – though an agile project manager can use the JetPack to rapidly pick and choose which elements are appropriate for their “projectlet”.  The JetPack doesn’t claim to be a methodology, rather it claims to be a resource to support methodologies.

Here’s where I get contentious:  The PM JetPack is a better methodology than PMBOK, Prince 2 and ISO 10006:2003.  The main problem with these Goliath methodologies is the complexity of communicating them to a large set of project stake holders (internal, external and extended) – the sheer scale of the learning curve. The PM JetPack’s organization is so good that an intelligent person can pick it up quickly.  A mind map is a natural communications tool, so it overcomes this problem very well.  Furthermore the mind map encourages you to modify, trim and embellish as necessary.

Using the PM JetPack in this way is further enabled because there is a freebie Mind Manager viewer.

There’s a catch: Copyright. All of the PM JetPack's mind maps and documents are copyrighted to MindJet LLC, so your ability to modify and share them is curtailed.  It appears that each person using them must have a license.  It would have been great if MindJet had worked through the the use of a collective commons license (or similar) to avoid this issue, but with a standard copyright notice, the tool becomes much less useful than it could have been.

Remember this isn’t a Project Leadership JetPack, so you won’t be surprised that it lacks content in this area, but as it stands, even with the current copyright notices, it’s very useful, and will save individuals quite a lot of time if they haven’t already built up their stock of templates.  Compared to other project template resources it’s inexpensive and immediate, and it appears thorough.  Have a look at a sample map here.

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: MindManager, MindJet, JetPack, mind+map, mind+mapping, project+mananagement

Comments

[Michael Deutch]

Philip,

Thanks for the kind words about the Mindjet’s Project Management Jetpack. The templates and sample maps contained in the Jetpack are the copyrighted property of Mindjet. When you license the Mindjet Jetpack, the end user license agreement provides you with the following rights:

A non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, limited right to install, access and use the Jetpack solely for the purposes of viewing the Jetpack and supporting your use of the MindManager software and the creation of maps with such software. For example, you may use the maps contained in the Jetpack as templates to create your own maps, and you may modify the maps or templates contained in the Jetpack, subject to all of the terms and conditions contained in this EULA…. For the avoidance of doubt, Mindjet, LLC claims copyrights in the Jetpack materials, but not in your original expression or contribution (e.g., text, graphics, photos, images) that you input into the sample maps and templates.

In other words, you are permitted to modify the maps and templates that are contained in the Jetpack and Mindjet does not claim ownership in any of the original materials that you put into the templates or maps.

Thanks,
Michael Deutch
Director of Solutions Marketing
Mindjet