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Comment by ap22213 | Hacker News Reader

I have seen people using (or pushing) mind maps occasionally. I never got it though. How is it better or different than a tabbed outline? Is it the distance between nodes that matters? Is it because outlines are too vertical?

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A mind map is a database for tracking things when you don't know what is going to be tracked and/or how they are going to be related. You start with some central interest and then add pieces that relate. Good mapping software allows you to link relationships between distant relationships, associate minor bits of data, and easily change relationships between nodes.

I once started a job supporting several pieces of software on several servers in a new environment. I took disparate notes on this and that, but it would have been easy to lose specific pieces. So, I created a mind map of (Company Name), created nodes for server names and softwares. Then, I started filling in things for access information, credentials, installed software, useful scripts, etc. Eventually, I got a map of the whole system of a dozen servers, installed software, how they worked (and didn't), etc. I became the go-to guy for those systems because I knew them so well.

What software did you use? No offense to the creator of this, but this seemed a bit buggy. I love the idea of being able to save easily to a variety of places, like Google Drive, but I would honestly be willing to try it out for a few bucks a month if it was super-intuitive and helped me get more organized. I'd prefer web-based though.

Would you mind reporting these bugs to the official GitHub issue tracker? That would help fixing them and improving the app.

This actually does seem like a damn useful project. I'll put an issue up for keyboard problems I noticed. If I have some free time I might try to help out at some point.

I did this when starting a new job as well. I used (and still use) XMind. Now that I'm a bit more familiar with things I find myself using it less than I did at the beginning, but it's great for rapid brain dumps.

My own impression (having extensively used mind maps, outlines, and whatnot) is that it depends a lot on the subject at hand and the user. Some people are better wired to use mind maps effectively (I'm not one of these, but I find them handy on occasion) and others fare better with lists (org mode or a notebook for me.)

Mind maps don't imply a hierarchy. This change in how a problem is structured can alter how you think about it. (It's basically a different data structure, which makes it easier or harder to perform certain processing on it.)

Many mind map products do imply a hierarchy, though, specifically because they often do not allow linking a child to multiple parents. While they visually appear to be non-hierarchical, spreading out in multiple directions, they usually are a data structure where each node can have multiple children, but only one parent. This can be represented in an outliner, while a graph data structure cannot.

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