MindJet MindManager 9 review

Mind mapping package gets Gantt chart upgrade

MindJet, MindManager 9 (MM9) is the latest version of Mindjet’s project planning and mind mapping software. Its key new feature is the incorporation of project Gantt charts.

Launched in August, and costing £199 + VAT for a one-year licence, MM9 is currently only available for Windows, although its predecessor version 8 is available for Mac OS X and costs £259 + VAT.

In addition to performance improvements, new features include the ability to create dynamic personal dashboards by synchronising MindManager with Microsoft’s Outlook email client, and the ability to build interactive slide presentations in the software, rather than exporting maps to PowerPoint to work on.

MindManager’s approach to project planning differs significantly to standard project management packages, such as Microsoft Project.

Using the mind mapping technique pioneered by Tony Buzan, users map their ideas and information in a web diagram, branching out from a central topic, to create related topics that eventually build into a ‘mind map’.

Mind maps can contain all the information related to the project, from text documents, audio and video files, web links and connections to back-end databases, so that all project information is accessible immediately and not distributed over several siloed sources.

Buzan himself has a competing product, iMindMap, version 4 of which launched earlier this year.

Install
We installed the package in under five minutes on both Windows XP Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate systems, on two Intel Core 2 Duo-based laptops, and a Dell GX280 desktop system.

New features

Gantt charts
The main new feature in MM9 is that it lets users plan projects using Gantt charts.

Gantt charts are bar chart representations of project schedules and can incorporate critical path analysis, showing relationships between project activities, giving project leaders insight into any problems with project completion dates.

Once task information is entered into user mind maps, a single click is all that’s needed to see the related Gantt chart, which can be set to appear above, below, to the left or right of the related mind map.

The software can be set up so that several users can input information on a single chart – part of the ‘resources’ feature in standard Gantt charts – such as whether they are available at any particular time to work on the project. With a single click we could identify over- and under-utilised resources, and quickly redeploy tasks to match available resources.

Dynamic Outlook dashboards
MM9 has improved Outlook email client integration, which now lets users create Outlook mind maps within the software.

In earlier versions of MindManager this function was mainly push-based, allowing data to be sent to MindManager from Outlook. MM9 lets users pull in Outlook information. Project team member contact information, appointments and tasks can all be pulled directly from Outlook and into mind maps.

MM9 eliminates the need to switch to Outlook by allowing easy access to Outlook information within the software. For example, with dynamic Outlook dashboards, we could synchronise our Outlook email client to create a personal dashboard in MM9 detailing all our tasks on a single mind map.

Slide presentation improvements
MindJet has improved on Microsoft PowerPoint by integrating the ability for users to make collaborative changes to PowerPoint slides in MindManager.

Previously, users had to export mind maps to PowerPoint to edit the slides, but now they can create a slideshow on-the-fly and dynamically update those slides in MindManager.

Database access and SharePoint
MM9 can link to IBM DB2, Microsoft Access, Excel and SQL Server, MySQL and Oracle databases, including MySQL, but doesn't have native integration to SharePoint portals.

To get that functionality users need the MindManager Explorer for SharePoint package at an extra £99 + VAT. We think MindJet should be integrating this feature into MindManager at no extra cost, as it eventually did with the Gantt charting package.

MindJet Catalyst
MindJet still offers the cloud-based version of MindManager, MindJet Catalyst. Catalyst is the revamped version of MindManager Connect, introduced in 2009 to allow users to store maps and other related project information, such as pdfs, Excel spreadsheets and Word documents off-premise in the cloud.