Innovation at the Frontier

By Chuck Frey

For years, Tony Buzan's company sat on the sidelines of the mind mapping software market, endorsing one program or another over the years. But most of these programs didn’t adhere very closely to his vision of what a mind map should be – a rich, organic creation, full of color and imagery – a unique visual representation of its author's thoughts.

In 2006, the Buzan organization decided to launch its own mind mapping program – iMindMap – with an aim of creating a software environment that would more closely mimic the process of creating hand drawn maps. In 2007, iMindMap 2 was released, and it shows tremendous promise. It delivers on the promise of creating a more organic interface for creating mind maps, while also offering numerous features that should satisfy all but the most demanding businesspeople.

In this "first look" review, we’ll take a look at what makes iMindMap 2 different, and what its unique paradigm means to business users.

The interface

iMindMap 2 offers a simple but well-designed interface. At the top of the workspace is a toolbar, plus commands for formatting topics. Another, smaller vertical toolbar is nestled on the left side of the workspace. At the bottom of the screen, tabs provide fast access to editor, text (outline) and presentation views. Finally, another set of tabs on the right side of the screen provide access to the map navigator and libraries of images and icons. For users of mind mapping software, this interface should be quite familiar, adhering to many of the de facto standards that developers in this software genre tend to follow. But don’t let that fool you: Lurking just beneath the surface is a unique, powerful, organic mapping experience just waiting to break free.

Creating a map

When you first open iMindMap 2, you’re greeted by a dialog box, which asks you to select an image to surround the central idea of your mind map. You can choose one of the recommended images, or browse your computer for another one that is suitable to your purpose. iMindMap then places your central idea in the middle of the screen.

To add a topic, you simply hover over the central topic, and a red dot called a “control point” appears. Next, you drag your mouse from this dot outward to create a branch, and type in your topic text. By default, the program opens in mind mapping mode, which creates organic, flowing topic lines – each one automatically colored differently. You can also insert new branches quickly using a keyboard shortcut – nice! A branch can be reshaped by clicking and dragging on its control points; additional control points can be added to give you even finer control over your branch shapes.

A SpeedMapping mode is also available, which makes it possible to quickly add ideas, but isn’t quite as pleasing to the eye. A branch, when selected, contains several blue dots, which enable you to easily modify its shape. iMindMap creates predefined branch shapes, but you can also switch to a hand-drawn branch mode if you want to get more creative.

Adding subtopics is done in a similar way. If you hover over the end point of a branch, a target-like circle – another control point – appears around it, which indicates you can drag a sub-branch out from it. The whole experience is rather organic, and is very creatively pleasing, compared to clicking the “Insert” key and adding a pre-defined (plain, boring) branch to your map in other mind mapping programs.

Enhancing your map

iMindMap gives you access to an extensive selection of topic icons, plus an online library of nearly one million images, which you can utilize to enhance your map. The program’s image library includes clipart, animated images, photos and 3D objects; you can also add your own images to your maps. What’s nice about the way this is implemented is that all images and icons are free-floating, and can be moved to any position within your mind map. You can also resize and rotate images and icons using your mouse. In addition, you can connect disparate map branches with relationship arrows lines, and can encircle groups of topics using “clouds" – iMindMap’s name for topic borders.

Topics may contain notes, as well as links to web pages and files. iMindMap 2 includes a full-featured word processor that lets you create highly formatted text in the notes window.

When working with topics and subtopics, a right click of your mouse gives you immediate access to a wealth of options for formatting, modifying or enhancing them. It’s nice to see that the developers of iMindMap 2 support this, because there’s nothing more frustrating than having to move your mouse back and forth between the topics in your workspace and a toolbar at the top of the screen, just to accomplish common mapping tasks.

A couple of minor complaints: The icons that are displayed on branches to denote attached notes or links are rather small. At lower screen magnifications, they get a bit hard to see. Also, when I tried to edit the text of a branch, when I double-clicked on the text, nothing happened. It turns out that I need to double-click on the branch to select it and open the edit window. This took a little getting used to, but was manageable.

Notable features

SpeedMapping mode: While the mind mapping mode of iMindMap has been optimized for organic mind maps, SpeedMapping mode is designed to enable you to enter ideas into your map quickly, using only the keyboard. You simply type in the name of your topic and click enter; iMindMap enters that topic outline and automatically opens a new branch to capture your thoughts. SpeedMapping mode also automatically reformats your map as new branches are added, ensuring that your branches stay well-organized. You can easily start out in SpeedMapping mode to quickly get your thoughts on the screen, and then switch over to mind mapping mode to embellish and personalize your map. This operating mode is also ideal for capturing ideas during brainstorming sessions or for taking notes during a meeting. SpeedMapping is new to version 2, and was definitely designed with businesspeople in mind!

Support for the Tablet PC: iMindMap 2 includes a Pen Mode, which enables you to utilize the program on a Tablet PC, with an interactive whiteboard or on a PC with a graphic tablet input device. Creating branches in Pen Mode works much like hand drawing a map; you simply drag away from the currently selected topic and the pen draws a branch. When you hand write the topic text, a pop-up window appears with a list of possible words that the text recognition engine has identified as possible matches for what you have written. The program even gives you the option of displaying larger control points, which make it easier to select them when using a Tablet PC or whiteboard input device. In short, iMindMap’s Pen Mode gets you even closer to the experience of hand writing a mind map!

Outline view: iMindMap 2 includes an outline view, which displays your map’s topics, subtopics and notes in a hierarchical text outline format.

Insert sketch: Recognizing that many users will probably be utilizing iMindMap 2 with some sort of a pen input device, the developers have wisely included an “insert sketch” command in the program. Selecting it opens a separate window, with several pen shape tools, an eraser and a color palette. When you insert a sketch into your map, it can be manipulated just like any image file.

Grid tool: iMindMap 2’s grid tool overlays the program’s workspace with a grid that helps you to position your branches. By selecting the “snap to grid” option, you can ensure that all of your branches have well-aligned end points.

Overview navigation map: This neat feature helps you to find your way when working within a larger map. It is located in a set of tabs on the right side of the workspace. Clicking the navigator tab opens a narrow vertical window next to your workspace, showing a high-level overview of your map, with the part currently displayed in the workspace highlighted in white with a red border.

Presentation view: This operating mode gives you access to some additional commands and toolbar icons that allow you to expand and collapse branches one at a time or one level at a time and to quickly open or linked to any attach documents, media, files or external links.

Powerful keyword search: iMindMap’s search capability not only enables you to search for a specific word within the current map, but you can also do an expanded search that looks for it in all of the mind maps within a specified directory at your computer. Nice!

Thesaurus: If you're looking for just the right word to insert into a branch, iMindMap can help you with its built-in thesaurus. It's unusual to see this capability in a mind mapping software program, but when you stop to think about it, it makes a lot of sense!

Export options: The developer has wisely included a full complement of export options in iMindMap 2, including the ability to export as image, a Word document, a web page, a PDF or a PowerPoint file. In addition, you can copy your mind map or text to a clipboard and past it into another application – which represents a quick and easy way to share part or all of your mind map with others.

Cross-platform compatibility: Because iMindMap 2 is built on Java technology, it can be utilized on Windows-based PCs, Apple Macs and certain versions of Linux.

Conclusion

There’s much to love in iMindMap 2. It offers a wealth of powerful features for business users, while also delivering a very organic mapping experience that is unlike anything I’ve experienced. It just feels right!

The other thing it gets right is that it enables new users to get up to speed quickly, without presenting a lot of overwhelming options. Yet these "power user" features can be quickly accessed by experienced users utilizing right clicks and the program’s logical drop-down menus.

Version 1 of iMindMap introduced a more organic mind mapping experience to the world. Version 2 added a wealth of features aimed at the needs of business users. It will be fascinating to see where the developers take it from here. I predict a bright future ahead for iMindMap!

iMindMap 2 can be purchased from the program’s website; a single license costs US$115. A 7-day trial download is also available, and is a great way for you to experience the benefits of this unique mind mapping tool firsthand.

Published on 1/14/2008

Identifying best practices is a common technique for stimulating business improvement. However, there are a few downsides to this process: sometimes certain practices do not translate from one organization or industry to another and sometimes practices are not implemented well. This can tend to make people say, “Well, we tried that and it didn't work here.” Too often, they generalize that failure to justify dismissing an entire initiative such as innovation, quality or so on.

An alternative to focusing on best practices is to look at the underlying principles of the initiative. For instance, if you learned that most innovative organizations were doing cross-functional teams, you might decide to implement that practice in your organization. However, assume that for some reason (such as an autocratic, chain-of-command organizational structure) this practice fails. This failure might discourage further innovation efforts. If you were focused on principles, however, and knew that collaboration was important to innovation, you could try to figure out ways to stimulate collaboration that would work within your culture. Understanding the underlying principles of innovation can help organizations develop conscious competence which could prevent making changes to their systems or culture that might adversely affect their ability to innovate.

Several years ago, as part of the work of the Fellows of the Innovation University, we decided to create a framework of innovation principles – those things we knew were important to the life of innovation. Those involved with this project wanted an organic, living metaphor for this framework. They finally settled on the DNA, the genetic structure, as the metaphor and representation of life. This resulted in the InnovationDNA which can be seen and downloaded at http://thinksmart.com.

The InnovationDNA consists of seven operational elements operating on a “playing field” of culture and surrounded by the context of the world. The operational elements are:

Challenge - The Pull -- Innovation, by definition, means doing things differently, exploring new territory, taking risks. There has to be a reason for rocking the boat, a vision of what could be or a deep fear of what might happen if things don't change. This is the challenge. The bigger the challenge and the commitment to it, the more energy the innovation efforts will have. Generally we only notice the dramatic challenges such as putting a man on the moon or mapping the human genome but every organization can identify challenges to its future, its customers and its employees.

Strategies do not have to be cast in concrete. Capital One was very successful luring consumers with high debt levels but good pay off records with their low interest balance transfer program … until competitors began to imitate them. So, they shifted gears. Their 1996 annual report states: “Many of our business opportunities are short-lived. We have to move fast to exploit them and move on when they fade.”

Customer Focus – The Push -- All innovation should be focused on creating value for the customer, whether that customer is internal or external. Interaction with customers and understanding of their needs is one of the best stimulators of new possibilities and the motivation for implementing them.

At Datex Ohmeda, a developer and manufacturer of anesthesia and critical care products, part of their innovation efforts is a program called “Discovery” that encourages people to do onsite customer observations. Russ Ward, program manager, states, ”When people see our products being used in real situations, they get stretched outside of their normal consciousness. They understand the problems and needs of the customer in a new way and learn how to step outside the normal perception processes.”

Creativity – The Brain -- Everything starts from an idea and innovative organizations understand that ideas can come from anywhere. Rather than focusing on owning ideas, these organizations want to own the results.

One day in 1995, the maverick thinkers of AT&T's Opportunity Discovery Department donned sandwich boards that read: “What if long distance were free?” This weird action prompted a lot of thinking and conversation about the future of long-distance.

Communication – The Lifeblood -- Open communication of information, ideas and feelings is the lifeblood of innovation. Both infrastructure and advocacy must exist in an organizational system to promote the free flow of information.

Cisco can close its books in one day and has hourly info on revenue, bookings, discounts, and product margins. This information is also available to each supervisor for the operation s/he runs. Real-time information is the basis of true empowerment as it gives front-line managers the information to make sound decisions.

Collaboration – The Heart -- Innovation is a group process. It feeds on interaction, information and the power of teams. It is stifled by restrictive structures and policies as well as incentive systems that reward only individual efforts.

IBM makes its alpha code available to the world at the earliest possible moment through a website known as “alphaWorks.” This open collaboration process, currently featuring over 200 technologies, creates a virtual collaborative community that evaluates code, tests market interest and speeds development.

Completion – The Muscle -- New innovations are projects that are successfully realized through superior, defined processes and strong implementation skills--decision making, delegating, scheduling, monitoring, and feedback. Innovative organizations also know that celebration is an important part of completing a project, regardless of its level of success.

At CIGNA Healthcare of Arizona, the Program Management Office helps employees to propose, plan and implement projects. One objective of the PMO is to make sure projects are in alignment with the company's mission and goals.

Contemplation – The Ladder -- Making objective assessments of the outcomes, benefits and costs of new projects is essential. Gleaning the lessons learned from both fruitful and failed projects builds a wisdom base that creates an upward cycle of success. Documenting and evaluating projects is a critical step that helps perpetuate innovation and yet this is the step that we find most organizations avoiding in their rush to get on with the next project.

The Neenan Company, a construction company which “yearns to be a learning organization,” has folks develop a written Learning Plan for the year. The plan includes not only what they want to learn, but also what they intend to teach to others.

Culture – The Playing Field -- Culture is the reflection of leadership, people and values--the outward and observable expression of how they work and behave together. An environment that is flexible, empowering, welcomes ideas, tolerates risk, celebrates success, fosters respect and encourages fun is crucial to innovation. Culture comes from four elements:

Leadership – The Role Model – We follow our leaders because we believe that they see a better place in the future and know how to get us there. Since, by definition, innovation involves journeying into the unknown, it is critical that the organization have confidence in the vision and strategies of the leadership.

People - The Source -- Of course, nothing happens without people. Every organization has an identity, a competency that arises from its collective and shared skills, talents, beliefs, attitudes, behaviors and most of all, from the relationships among its people.

Basic Values – The Backbone – These are the heartfelt principles that define an organization -- such as Trust and Respect, Learning, Commitment, Inclusiveness, and Contribution. They provide the structure for decisions at all levels.

Innovation Values – The Mindset -- Beyond Basic Values, there are some values that can transform the mundane into the compelling and an ordinary project into a stellar new business. Freedom, Intuition and Synergy are just a few of the ideals that form the mindset that creates the "magic" in innovative organizations.

Context – The World -- Nothing happens in a vacuum, particularly innovation. While it is obvious that Customers, Suppliers, Competitors and The Economy affect us daily, we also periodically interact with Government, World Events, Communities and Families. All of these interactions form the context for all business activities, including innovation.

Ten Practical Steps to Keep Your Innovation System Alive & Well

1. Remove fear from your organization. Innovation means doing something new, something that may fail. If people fear failing, they will not innovate.
2. Make innovation part of the performance review system for everyone. Ask them what they will create or improve in the coming year and then track their progress.
3. Document an innovation process and make sure everyone understands it as well as his or her role in it.
4. Build in enough looseness into the system for people to explore new possibilities and collaborate with others inside and outside the organization.
5. Make sure that everyone understands the corporate strategy and that all innovation efforts are aligned with it. However, also create a process for handling the outlier ideas that don't fit the strategy but are too good to throw away.
6. Teach people to scan the environment for new trends, technologies and changes in customer mindsets.
7. Teach people the critical importance of diversity of thinking styles, experience, perspectives and expertise. Expect diversity in all activities related to innovation.
8. Good criteria can focus ideation; however, overly restrictive criteria can stifle ideation and perpetuate assumptions and mindsets from the past. Spend the time necessary upfront to develop market and success-related parameters that will take you into the future.
9. Innovation teams are different from “regular” project teams. They need different tools and different mindsets. Provide enough training and coaching so that when people are working on an innovation team, they can be successful.
10. Buy or develop an idea management system that captures ideas in a way that encourages people to build on and evaluate new possibilities.

Joyce Wycoff is the Co-Founder of the InnovationNetwork, an organization which helps organizations build competency in innovation. She is the author of several books in the field of innovation and creativity including industry standards Mindmapping and To Do … Doing … Done! For more information about innovation, please go to www.thinksmart.com .

© InnovationNetwork™, 2004 www.thinksmart.com

by Joyce Wycoff

1. Remove fear from your organization. Innovation means doing something new, something that may fail. If people fear failing, they will not innovate.
2. Make innovation part of the performance review system for everyone. Ask them what they will create or improve in the coming year and then track their progress.
3. Document an innovation process and make sure everyone understands it as well as his or her role in it.
4. Build in enough looseness into the system for people to explore new possibilities and collaborate with others inside and outside the organization.
5. Make sure that everyone understands the corporate strategy and that all innovation efforts are aligned with it. However, also create a process for handling the outlier ideas that don't fit the strategy but are too good to throw away.
6. Teach people to scan the environment for new trends, technologies and changes in customer mindsets.
7. Teach people the critical importance of diversity of thinking styles, experience, perspectives and expertise. Expect diversity in all activities related to innovation.
8. Good criteria can focus ideation; however, overly restrictive criteria can stifle ideation and perpetuate assumptions and mindsets from the past. Spend the time necessary upfront to develop market and success-related parameters that will take you into the future.
9. Innovation teams are different from “regular” project teams. They need different tools and different mindsets. Provide enough training and coaching so that when people are working on an innovation team, they can be successful.
10. Buy or develop an idea management system that captures ideas in a way that encourages people to build on and evaluate new possibilities.

Joyce Wycoff is the Co-Founder of the InnovationNetwork, an organization which helps organizations build competency in innovation. She is the author of several books in the field of innovation and creativity including industry standards Mindmapping and To Do … Doing … Done! For more information about innovation, please go to www.thinksmart.com .

by Joyce Wycoff

While it's probably impossible to compute the exact percentage of business initiatives that fail, it is widely acknowledged that most do. After years of research and observation, it is clear that the same reasons for any change initiative failure tend to be the same culprits that make innovation initiatives fail. Here are the top ten reasons for innovation failure:

1. Not creating a culture that supports innovation
2. Not getting buy-in and ownership from business unit managers
3. Not having a widely understood, system-wide process
4. Not allocating resources to the process
5. Not tying projects to company strategy
6. Not spending enough time and energy on the fuzzy front-end
7. Not building sufficient diversity into the process
8. Not developing criteria and metrics in advance
9. Not training and coaching innovation teams
10. Not having an idea management system

Culture – culture is the playing field of innovation. Unless the culture honors ideas and supports risk-taking, innovation will be stifled before it begins. Culture is like our immune system … its job is to kill intruders before they can harm the body. Culture can change but it is a slow process.

Ownership – once great ideas have shown up, they have to be implemented somewhere. Generally that means a business unit manager has to take on the idea and devote scarce resources of time and budget to the new project. If that manager has not bought into the new project fully, it generally doesn't succeed. Business unit managers need to be engaged from the very beginning of an innovation initiative and they need to have the option of “buying” new concepts.

Process – when organizations want to embrace innovation, they often hold a two-day kickoff to hype innovation and provide some training in tools and techniques. They set up a few innovation teams, schedule some brainstorming sessions and then are shocked to learn (about six weeks later) that “innovation isn't working.” In today's world where people are already overloaded, a piecemeal approach to innovation just doesn't work, not if you want real, bottom line results. Innovation needs a process that focuses people on the right challenges and leads them through an organized process of releasing creativity and evaluating results so that the right concepts move into the implementation process.

Resources – too often the CEO stands up at an annual meeting and says, “We need to be more innovative,” and then goes on to the next topic. Innovation takes time, energy and money. People need some freedom and time to think and tinker around with new possibilities. They also need new skills and systems that support thinking and collaboration. Innovation is critical to the future; but it depends on the investment of today's resources.

Strategy – somewhere along the line, as people were taught to “think out of the box,” a false impression was created. People began to believe that there should be no rules, no boundaries, no constraints. This turns out to be a counter-productive approach that produces popcorn – wild ideas bouncing around with no purpose in sight. Once in a millennium this might produce a breakthrough … but it is not a cost-effective process. What is more effective is focusing creativity within the scope of a well-constructed company strategy. Of course, this requires a strategy that is both narrow enough to define the company's core competency and broad enough to allow exploration into related areas.

Fuzzy Front-End – there are a lot of unexpressed ideas lurking in organizations. However, to find the truly new and different ideas … the ones that could create a breakthrough , requires a process of looking outside and inside; at customers, suppliers and competitors; at changes in demographics, trends, economics, regulations, and political environments. Innovation that begins with an internal brainstorming session will seldom result in anything other than pale, incremental concepts.

Diversity – diversity is the difference between “same-old, same-old” thinking and “Wow! I never thought of that!” possibilities. In the old days, cross-functional teams were a daring foray into diversity. Now they are standard fare and the true value of diversity comes when we deliberately focus diverse thinking styles, experiences, perspectives, and expertise on a challenging problem or opportunity. The process of innovation should include all functions; all genders, ages, races, all thinking styles, as well as all stakeholders, customers, suppliers, competitors.

Criteria & Metrics – in a healthy innovation environment and process, more ideas will be generated than can possibly be implemented. This can lead to overload and frustration unless there is a mechanism for sorting and prioritizing. Developing criteria guides long before going into idea generation mode can provide the rational means for evaluating ideas and prevent going over the edge on a seductive idea that doesn't fit.

Training & Coaching – a mistake often made by organizations is assuming that innovation teams are the same as other project teams. In a recent survey by the InnovationNetwork, responses indicated that people participated on an average of 3.7 innovation projects per year. However, only 21% of the respondents had had some training on how to participate on an innovation team and less than 10% had actually had training as part of the innovation team. No wonder over 70% of all projects fail.

Innovation requires new ways of thinking and new skills. Developing a just-in-time, active-learning training process insures that innovation teams develop the desired results effectively and efficiently. As with any new set of skills, innovation competency develops over time while working on real projects. Coaching is a critical piece of developing this competency.

Idea Management System – Many innovation projects have died on a sticky-note covered wall as participants lost energy trying to figure out what to do with those yellow pieces of paper fluttering to the floor. Having an effective system that captures ideas and engages people in developing, modifying, enlarging and evaluating those ideas is just as critical to innovation as accounting systems are to the financial health of an organization.