Mind Map Tutorial | My Secret for Project Management

[Music] hi everyone welcome to my channel my name is Shang and I help companies work through their toughest strategic and operational problems if you've seen some of my previous videos you might know that I am a huge fan of using my maps as a way to learn new things and coming up with a schnabel plans if you're brand new to concept I will recommend checking out this intro video where I highlight the advantages of this type of note-taking but to give you a quick summary my mapping is a spatial way of breaking down complex topics into actionable and digestible parts its spatial because every piece of information you're working with is laid out in a visual map format I use this very versatile tool for everything from strategizing business deals designing software products and even running partner meetings because it lets me go into the weeds without losing sight of the big picture in this tutorial video I'll cover the tools that you need to get started go through an example they'll illustrate some basic concepts and techniques and finish everything off with a few tips that will make your life easier alright let's get into it [Music] so the beauty of my maps is that it really doesn't take much to get started literally all you need is a pen and a piece of paper that's it I personally use a moleskin excel notebook without lines and in this size actually is perfect because it gives me enough room to really expand my thoughts but at the same time not so big that it gets so messy and super cluttered so I go through one of these every three months or so and as you can see I've already accumulated quite a stack and I've got seven more of these at work which I couldn't really show because the office is closed the other important thing about my mapping is that you need to have the right pen so an erasable pen is probably best because my mapping basically turns your notebook into a portable whiteboard right and you wouldn't use permanent markers on your whiteboard and I found that the the clickers the friction pens from pilot to be really really good for this purpose and I personally used the 0.7 fine point in blue as a primary because it just it just draw so well and then I also have a point five superfine in red for annotations which I'll go into a little bit more detail later on but it makes or mindmap just pop and a lot more useful and for those of you with iPads all you need is an Apple pencil a paper like screen cover like this and one of the many note-taking apps on App Store like notability good notes or OneNote I recently bought a 2018 iPad pro 11 inch and found a notability app to be the best of the bunch that paper like screen protector is a must-have if you're using the Apple pencil because it gives us slippery screen a paper like writing experience so that's all I'm gonna talk about gear because I can obviously go on about this kind of stuff forever let's move on to the example now I'm a big believer in learning through doing so let's go through an example say I want to start a side hustle like a YouTube channel a blog or even a non-profit first I'll put down the main topic in a box and then brainstorm the main components of my plan for project planning I always start with Deb ejected or - why then I'll go through the other main subtopics like target audience - who deliverables the what operations the how timeline the when and finally milestones and metrics these aren't the main notes or subtopics of my map and we can already see some structure forming just from this high-level breakdown the next step is to expand on each of these nodes starting with the purpose let's say I want to help people think about important issues using mental models a secondary goal could be to build a network of like-minded folks to help each other out and make a positive dent in the world next is the audience or who would be interested for this project I'm targeting anyone who is passionate about learning or want to get ahead in life and career by upgrading their thinking processes next is what exactly am I going to produce this could be content like videos or written articles and then we've got how am I going to do it or the operations and logistics I think at this point it's reasonable to split this one into creation tools and distribution if you're making videos and I probably need some gear like a camera a mic lights and a tripod these are all part of the hardware requirements and then in addition I also need to learn some software tools like Final Cut Pro find background music and a way to make thumbnail images as for how I'm going to share my con and grow my audience there are a few main platforms YouTube for videos medium for blogs and Facebook LinkedIn Twitter and Instagram for sharing when am I gonna do it the two things that come to mind here are ongoing time commitment and launch timeline for the time commitment I have to take an account my full time work and personal obligations to craft a schedule that gives me time to research write and produce quality content so if I want to make one video a week it means I need to make extra time by waking up early in the morning before the work emails and slack messages hit for launch timeline I want to start as soon as possible but it needs to be broken down into steps for example if I want to start a YouTube channel given my schedule I need to give myself some lead time to set up the channel art and description learn video editing and thumbnail creation and gif militarize with filming if it takes time for the gear that I ordered to RIE then I need to take that into account too finally I need some concrete goals and metrics that keep me on track for example if I know it takes a lot of work and time for a YouTube channel to take off I might set the goal of producing 55 0 video is to give the platform a solid chance before considering other options ask for metrics these could be the number of subscribers likes and comments or it could be more qualitative type of feedback like encouraging messages from people who found my content helpful the point of metrics is to gauge if I'm meeting my objectives as you can see we've already flushed out a pretty solid plan with plenty of room to go into more detail with any of the subtopics [Music] now that we've gone through the basics here are a few more tips to make the map even more useful number one don't worry about the order in which you put down the information so I went through this example in a clockwise fashion because I've launched products before and I know the sequence of questions to ask but yeah if I were to go into a completely new topic I would mostly just focus on putting down the information first and then I'll organize and annotate the map later number two use annotations to make your mind map more actionable and easier to read my mapping is a form of active learning that requires you to constantly figure out where to place information but just because you learned something or you put that information down doesn't make it actionable or easily explainable to someone else or even for you to review later this is where annotations with a different colored ink come in first you'll notice that the main topic is in a box and the main subtopics are in circles this visual aid immediately tells me the high-level structure of this project I also use numbers to indicate importance and priority here for example I'm prioritizing videos over blogs stars and exclamation marks call attention to key information in actionable steps for example in the early stages of this project I would prioritize qualitative feedback like private messages over a quantitative metrics like subscribers because skill doesn't matter as much as discovering my audience at this point so I will put an exclamation mark next to this number three connect the dots one of the great things about putting information down spatially is that you can link things together from across the map for example I could draw an arrow from objectives to metrics to remind myself that the metrics I track need to tie back to the my original purpose or to incorporate an estimate a time to learn new skills and for new gear to arrive in the launch schedule number four don't be afraid to move things around I'm very conscious about space during mind mapping and intentionally give more room to notes that I think will be more complex I also erase and move things around rather than cross things out to the efficient with space sometimes I'll add a new sub node if I think the information should be recategorize the point is to keep your map pruned and organized otherwise things can get really messy alright that's it for now let me know if you have any questions or feedback in the comments below next time I'll show you how I accelerate my learning using a modified question and answer my map which has been incredibly useful for picking up new skills and knowledge and as always give this video a like or subscribe if you found it useful and until next time guys take care [Music]

Channel: Sheng Huang

Views: 207,932

Rating: 4.9535785 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: o1WhjPh3ZQ4

Length: 10min 42sec (642 seconds)

Published: Mon May 18 2020