How One Marketing CEO Uses CD PRO

I've mentioned the name Jenn Neal in the past. She's the CEO of the marketing company Kane & Associates LLC, and someone who loves to try out new technology. She had done some mind mapping years before with pencil and paper, but moved into the present age when she got a copy of ConceptDraw MINDMAP.

When Jenn opened up her new copy of CD OFFICE, she also discovered CD PRO. I have some excerpts from a case study we did about her that explains what happened next:

Jennifer Neal remembers the night well. She had gotten a phone call that day from an upset client—a rare occurrence for her company. Now it was two in the morning and she was wide awake. She knew she’d never get to sleep again until she figured out how to make sure what happened that day never happened again. So she got out of bed, opened up her brand new copy of ConceptDraw PRO, and started thinking.

“I knew the problem was caused by us not having a defined work flow process,” Neal says. “Before, our products were simple enough that we could keep all the steps in our heads. But the things we were offering are more sophisticated now. It was pretty clear to me that we needed a new way to keep track of what we were doing.”

She says ConceptDraw PRO proved to be so easy to learn that even in the middle of the night, even though she’d never used it before, she was able to immediately start creating a flow chart of the Kane & Associates production process. She even added some new steps she thought might improve the process.

By ten o’clock that morning Neal had finished the process flowchart. But instead of heading back to bed, she headed off to work.

“I was so excited about having created the flow chart that I wanted to show it to my project manager right away. I said, ‘OK. Do you agree that chart this represents our process? Do you think these new steps will make sure we don’t have the kind of problem we had yesterday?’”

Once she and her PM came up with a final version, Neal created a cleaned-up process flow chart and gave it to the disgruntled client. Once he could see how many moving pieces there were, she says, he was much more understanding of the problem that had surfaced. Now Kane & Associates provides all clients with the process map.

“The chart helps our clients visually understand our process. ‘This is the first step. This is how long it’s going to take. This is what to expect. These are the deliverables.’ It helps clients appreciate how complicated it is to do something that can look so simple once it’s delivered. And being able to provide this flow chart alleviates a lot of stress for me because, from the start, clients see how many moving parts there are.”

Shout out to Assistive Technology

Brian Friedlander, Ph.D at Assistive Technology (http://assistivetek.blogspot.com), has been a constant and enthusiastic supporter of mind mapping for years.

He's platform agnostic, finding good things about many of the more popular mind mapping technologies on the market. In a recent post, Brian found some good things to say about ConceptDraw's new integration with Skype and Evernote.

The focus of his assistivetek blog is how technology can help the learning process. He's particularly interested in assistive technology, eLearning, mind mapping, project management, visual learning, collaborative tools, and educational technology.

He uses all of these technologies in his graduate courses at the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, N.J. In addition to teaching, Brian also consults to many school districts and business organizations in N.J. and is available for workshops, training and presentations.

If you are an educator interested in finding new ways to help your students learn--and learn HOW to learn, consider subscribing to Dr. Friedlander's blog! (He has more than one, as you can read in his Blogger Profile.)

Create Strategic Marketing Plans 80% Faster

Jack Todaro manages business development, sales, and marketing for Oregon Aero, an aerospace company that designs and manufactures products primarily for aviation, law enforcement, and the military.

Todaro says that the success of a small company like his depends on fast, strategic thinking to succeed. He, in turn, depends on ConceptDraw MINDMAP to help him make sense of all the different data points that contribute to his strategic thinking.

Hobie: What kind of strategic thinking are you involved in?
Todaro: My job has a lot of different dimensions. I have to help conceptualize what products we want to develop, analyze what the marketplace is, help engineering develop the product, and then develop the strategies that will help us bring the right product to market and find the right buyers.

Hobie: What are some of the elements of these strategies?
Todaro: They include identifying how we’re going to approach the market—whether it's through trade shows, magazine ads, or direct mail, e-mail campaigns, sales calls, et cetera. I manage how the marketing program is put into effect, and I make sure that we capture and follow up on all of the leads we generate through marketing.

Hobie: You recently worked on a project to develop cushions for helicopters. What was that all about?
Todaro: All helicopters come with standard seats. But a U.S. government agency wanted cushions that would help pilots avoid the physical problems that come from sitting too long in one position.

Whenever we consider creating a new product, we have to think about how large the market will be. I used MINDMAP to assess our opportunities in law enforcement, medical evacuation, and the military. I started by looking at the U.S. market, where I learned that about 200 helicopters were being used by domestic law enforcement. So that’s the first market that we're going to go after.

But I also discovered that there were almost 4,000 of these helicopters throughout the world. So my next step was to map out who owns all of these helicopters, how they’re being used, and the best strategy to sell to these owners.

Hobie: How else do you use MINDMAP?
Todaro: I use it for all kinds of things. We just finished a show in Florida called Heli-Expo. All the major OEMs and customers attend it, so we wanted to have a big presence. I used MINDMAP to design a 20-foot booth, including seating and tables. Then I gave the mind map to the company that would create the booth, and we went back and forth until we landed on the right design.

Hobie: So you use mind mapping for a wide variety of projects. What's the common thread?
Todaro: If I had to choose the top two things I get from mind mapping, I’d say that it’s speed and quality. Mind mapping shortens my thinking time by about 80 percent—and that’s a huge benefit.

It also helps me get new ideas much faster. If I'm presented with a blank sheet of paper, I’ll just sit there thinking and thinking. But with MINDMAP, the ideas just flow. I can see how they all fit together—and that helps me sharpen my thinking. Mind mapping is just an extremely intuitive and fast way to work.

Find out how ConceptDraw MINDMAP can speed up your thinking and planning!

Mapping Lean Six Sigma in a Hospital Environment

Hospitals and health plans know that the high cost of care is squeezing the U.S. economy. That’s why so many of them are using Lean Six Sigma to control spending by refining internal processes—while still satisfying customers in a highly competitive market.

I have been talking with Ralph Jarvis, principle of Jarvis Business Solutions of Grapevine, Texas (I love that name). He and his staff used ConceptDraw MINDMAP to kick off a Lean Six Sigma implementation at a Texas hospital, then used ConceptDraw PROJECT to manage the process. The project resulted in a dozen ways for the hospital to improve its insurance validation process.

Hobie: What were you trying to do to help the hospital?
Ralph: The goal was to improve the patient experience by reducing wait times. By improving the way it captured and reused information, the hospital could reduce the amount of paperwork needed to move patients within and between hospitals in the consortium.

Hobie: That sounds like a big project. How did you get started?
Ralph: We kicked the project off with brainstorming sessions with our team and key hospital stakeholders. The goal was to gather ideas and insights that would help identify potential trouble spots. We used MINDMAP to capture the ideas:

Ralph: We decided early on to use the DMAIC methodology (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control). Critical to DMAIC is the ability to gain a clear understanding of the “voice of the client.” Experience has taught me that while the client may have already identified a main problem, it often turns out that the real problem is somewhere else. Part of the Lean team’s job was to combine the DMAIC roadmap with empirical data to identify and then solve the real problem behind the validation process.

Hobie: How did you go about finding the "voice of the client"?
Ralph: We found it by talking a lot. The fun part about any kind of consulting is when you get to brainstorm with the client, to extract information regarding the issues, regarding the problem. This is an opportunity to tap in on the creative side of your clients. Once analyzed, this information can lay the foundation for a successful project.

Hobie: So what was the result of the brainstorming?"
Ralph: It was pretty interesting. We discovered that what they thought was one problem was, in fact, three separate but connected problems: One customer-focused, one focused on the hospital and the doctors, and the third focused on insurance. It took us a few meeting to make this realization. But it was worth the effort.

Hobie: Okay. So you found increasing complexity. That's always fun. How did you handle that turn of events?
Ralph: We created three project teams. Each team included from 15 to 20 participants, from senior executives to the data entry clerks. And each team used mind mapping to keep track of their progress. In fact, mind mapping made note-taking a central byproduct of each team's meeting process.
One person on each team was responsible for creating the notes. But unlike most note-taking methodologies, mind mapping enables that person to be an active participant in the meeting. And by projected on a wall or screen, we could use the mind map format to give each team member instant feedback on if and how new ideas fit into the overall plan.

Hobie: So you used MINDMAP to kickoff the project, then to capture team meetings. Anything else?
Ralph: The maps started to get really useful when we wanted to add relevant data. The DMAIC road map is a data-driven process. That’s why, as part of the DMAIC process, participants must agree at the beginning of the process to provide needed data.
In a sustained environment, stakeholders from, say, accounting, IT, and process owners would capture that information through system usage. But in this case, the data wasn’t immediately accessible.
So each team set about linking the maps to new information and data in the form of reports, spread sheets, slide shows, and Web sites. MINDMAP's drag-and-drop functionality made it pretty easy for us to place supporting data immediately adjacent to the relevant insight or idea:

Hobie: So you added this empirical data to the same map that you used for brainstorming?
Ralph: Yes, we did. Being able to combine information and data with the ideas and insights of the members of each team is what makes MINDMAP so interesting. I think it really promotes good thinkng and planning. Because it enables you to see what kind of objective information there is to back up any given idea.
And then it enables us to actually start sketchiing out how we're going to put those ideas into action:

So you used MINDMAP to manage tasks and everything?
Ralph: No. I'm a licensed project manager and wanted to be in that environment to run the project. So we used ConceptDraw MINDMAP's connection to ConceptDraw PROJECT to put all the tasks we'd gathered in the map into a regular PM environment.
We could instantly view our planning details inside of Gantt charts. That enabled us to jump right into establishing project timing, coordination among the various departments, and milestones and guidelines:

Ralph: Being able to go directly from mind mapping to project management was a great information-management tool. But what made it really stand out was that it also made it easy for us to demonstrate to hospital execs how our Lean Six Sigma approach was producing results.

Jarvis says that the combined power of mind mapping plus project management supported his teams through the entire project lifecycle and made it possible for them to provide hospital management with 12 critical recommendations for its customer satisfaction improvement – all under “Beat the Clock” conditions.

Ralph: What you're really trying to do with Six Sigma is to create a perfect process that eliminates defects--all the things that don’t add value to the end customer. You want to increase the customer's satisfaction with your products or services, and reduce costs associated with defects and inefficiencies. It’s all about focusing on what you need to get to the marketplace and satisfy the customer's needs. It's as simple as that. And the ConceptDraw MINDMAP/PROJECT suite helped us get there quickly and accurately.

ConceptDraw gets a lot of kudso for having such a nice integration with project management functionality. Other mind-mapping products can export to PM apps. But only ConceptDraw MINDMAP has its own "sister" app that, like all siblings (!), immediately understands what the other one is trying to say. (No, really. They do understand each other. These are two computer program, after all--not two people.) To learn more about (and get a free trial to) the ConceptDraw MINDMAP/PROJECT family of apps, please visit www.conceptdraw.com.

And for more information, please see Project Management Approach for Business Process Improvement.

How to Uber-Manage Your Home Remodel Project

It's pretty cool that you can use the same software to manage words and... garage door hardware. That's quite a range of uses.

Last year my wife and I wanted to finally get some hardware on the garage doors we'd been holding closed with a bungee cord.

So we did what most people do: We got onto Google and started looking for hardware we liked.

But how to you manage information like that? I guess you could:

1. Print out a picture of every piece of hardware you like.
2. Make sure that you can remember which website each piece of hardware was from.
3. Keep track of any communication you've had with the vendor.
4. Find a way to group different styles of hardware you get from different sites.

I guess that now that Pinterest is around, you could pin the different hardware options so you could see them all at once.... show them to whoever is going to install them to make sure they'll work and work together. But that's kind of a clunky solution.

That's why we created a mind map for the project:

(Click on image for larger view.)

As you can see, ConceptDraw enables you to put a whole bunch of info on one screen:

• Name/Skew, dimensions, finish, and price of product
• Link to vendor website
• Picture of each piece of hardware
• Contact info for vendor
• Record of communications with vendor

This kind of info makes it much easier to keep track of your options, vendor promises, and decisions. And this is just a simple map for a very simple project.

Imagine how useful it would be to have a map like this to help you keep track of the kind of appliance choices, woodwork styles, lighting options you have to consider for a larger project. You can even build a map to help you compare your choice of contractors.

As with all other projects, from coming up with blog ideas to putting on an addition, being able to mix images, web links, ideas, and information all on one screen just makes life easier. And heaven knows that when it comes to remodel projects, you need all the "easier" you can get.

ATTN Freelance Writers: You are Project Managers too.

As a freelance writer, you can get in trouble when you have too many writing projects going on at once. Each project is always at a different stage. Each one needs something different to move it forward. It can drive you seriously nuts (been there).

If you don't already, you need to think of yourself as a sometime writer, sometime project manager. ConceptDraw can help you assume this role without having to attend ze L'Universite de Project Management.

Here's the kind of map I use every week to keep track of my contracts. It takes me just a few minutes to create and update the map, which I do at the end of every day:

The map lets me see AT A GLANCE where I am with all of my work. I can visually track the milestones of each project. I can tell by the various icons that I have attached relevant documents, be they Word docs, emails, mind maps, or just notes to myself. I can add notations about things that went on during a phone call. I can add reminders. But best of all, I have all my projects--and direct links to all my documents, in one easy-to-read document.

Download a ConceptDraw MINDMAP free trial and give it a try. And enjoy your new status as a bona fide project manager.

Start Projects Faster with Mind Maps

Did you know that mind mapping is an awesome way to get your project started in a hurry? The powerful input tools of ConceptDraw MINDMAP make it easy for you plan out your projects, large and small, more quickly than ever.

Try starting in Brainstorm mode. This puts the focus on getting your ideas on the page as quickly as possible, without worrying about how they’re organized. Click the Brainstorm button on the toolbar, and then start typing your list of tasks, phases, and milestones. Don’t concern yourself with structure yet, just input all your content. When the Brainstorm is over, use the intuitive drag-and-drop functionality of ConceptDraw MINDMAP to organize your project. The speed that you can map out a project is only limited by the speed that you can think and type.

Example ConceptDraw MINDMAP

To arrange the new project as a mind map, first change the name of the Main Idea to the title of your project. Then, determine your high-level tasks, or Phases. Attach these to the Main Idea as Main Topics. From there, attach your lower-level tasks to their corresponding phase. In no time, you’ll see your project’s structure taking shape.

Now, go to the Output tab, select the Project Management category, and double-click Open in PROJECT. This will save and close your mind map, and launch it in ConceptDraw PROJECT. You’ll see that your Tasks and Phases are automatically laid out on the ConceptDraw PROJECT Gantt chart, ready for you to set dates, durations, predecessors, resources, etc.



ConceptDraw PROJECT Gantt Chart


This is a great way to save time outlining your project. The fast input and flexibility of organization in ConceptDraw MINDMAP, coupled with its tight integration with ConceptDraw PROJECT, enable you to take your project from a collection of scattered ideas to a concrete plan in just a matter of minutes.

CS Odessa Announces that ConceptDraw PROJECT v6 now has the ability to import and export Microsoft Project files



ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 can
import and export MS Project files.



CS Odessa announces that ConceptDraw PROJECT v6 now has the ability to import and export Microsoft Project XML files, with new PROJECT EXCHANGE. Because of this ability to exchange data between ConceptDraw PROJECT and MS Project; users have increased flexibility on how to exchange project information with all members of the project team. The exchange of project data across different project applications keeps everyone informed and allows for quality collaboration among team members, as well as 3rd parties that have involvement in your project.



The ability to exchange project information is key to a project’s success. ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 has the ability to save to a MS Project XML file format so that ConceptDraw PROJECT files can be shared with users of MS Project (2003, 2007, and 2010) as well as any other project management tools that can accurately import MS Project xml file format. This allows users of ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 and ConceptDraw Office 2 (contains ConceptDraw PROJECT 6) to generate project content that can be shared with all team members.

Project participants also have the ability to import MS Project files into ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 and ConceptDraw Office 2. This gives users an excellent alternative on the way they manage projects, and assists in the interoperability of project information between team members who have Macintosh and PC computers.



The ability to exchange data between ConceptDraw Office and MS Project is a big plus for project members because they can then use the other the other project tools that are part of ConceptDraw Office. As an example, ConceptDraw MINDMAP 7, part of ConceptDraw Office 2, can be used as a project front- end to brainstorm, build processes, identify contingencies and organize information for presentations to brief team members and stakeholders. The PROJECT EXCHANGE can be found in the CS Odessa ConceptDraw Solution Park.



CS Odessa provides a range of professional project software tools that assist you during every stage of your project. ConceptDraw Office uses powerful ConceptDraw INGYRE2 technology to make all tasks as easy as pushing a few buttons. The top to bottom integration of ConceptDraw Office, which includes the innovative standalone ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 product, are valuable tools to help Project Managers work towards their organization’s success.

In addition, CS Odessa also provides many project management solution add-ins that can be downloaded from ConceptDraw Solution Park. The combination of ConceptDraw Product and ConceptDraw Solution Park, from CS Odessa makes for an unbeatable value in project management software tools.

PC Magazine On-line -- Reviews ConceptDraw Office 2.0



PC Magazine rates ConceptDraw Office 2.0

Very good (4 out of 5)



Read the overall review here.

Reviewer drills down and looks at the individual products.

Individual looks at ConceptDraw MINDMAP, ConceptDraw PROJECT & ConceptDraw PRO.



Managing a Sales Dream Team

Sales people are usually the face of the company. To do their job
properly a salesperson must be expert on the products they sell, as well
as being a contributing member of the team. It is very important
to maintain a constant communication flow within a sales team.


Oleg Bocharnikov Director of CS Odessa Sales shares his experience
of efficient sales team management and discusses the key elements of increasing communication flow within your
sales team.

Meetings

Have regular meetings, without scheduling too many! Meetings are important, but not every issue demands a meeting.


Have periodic meetings to discuss new sales activities or product information.


Incorporating the Brainstorming technique can be very useful if the goal of the meeting is to develop new sale ideas.


We use ConceptDraw MINDMAP at all stages of a meeting, from the brainstorm session — to carrying out decisions.


This is the value of brainstorming in a team — separating creation from evaluation, producing many ideas at once, and building on one another’s creative ideas and solutions.

Scheduling

Create a list of sales activities that your sales team should be doing each week. This list should include emails, phone calls, networking strategies, retrieving referrals from existing clients, and any other activity that is relative to your business.

Review Process

Use data such as weekly sales-activity reports to keep track of how well your sales staff is performing. Combine these reports with review meetings to discuss and celebrate results face-to-face. This will
give you the chance to address any problems or issues. Through a weekly review process you will be able to monitor your sales team and improve results.

Learning Process

Sales people need to fully understand the key benefits and features of products. The process of ConceptDraw products development is in constant progress. We have specialists who deal particularly with ConceptDraw PRO, ConceptDraw PROJECT and ConceptDraw MINDMAP. These specialists provide learning materials for our sales team, so that everyone within the company is a product expert!

Live Experience

The CS Odessa Sales team utilizing ConceptDraw products in their every day workflow. The entire sales process and workflow is documented and carried out using ConceptDraw Office.



We use ConceptDraw PRO to support the learning process, and ConceptDraw MINDMAP to conduct our meetings and brainstorm sessions. After meetings such mind maps are transformed into personal To Do lists
and task schedules in ConceptDraw PROJECT.

Communication in R&D Project Management

The more resources involved in attaining R&D project goals, the more complex communication tasks become.

ConceptDraw Office is able to clearly define and implement the communication processes for your researchers. It is the tool to build long-lasting relationships between team members, expedite project activities, and keep control over projects by delivering necessary information in appropriate formats to all team members.

ConceptDraw Office addresses communication as a critical component in setting the stage throughout the research project phases.

The initial Idea stage is where project ideas are generated, selected, discussed and finalized. The main issue facing project managers at this stage is the need to understand the main goal and its requirements. Whether you are working on an internal or external project, there is always a need to discuss ideas and potential strategies, as project resource requirements must be calculated and understood amongst all project participants.

The suggested forms of communication at the Idea stage are brainstorm sessions, mind maps, business process models and presentations.

At the Planning and Executing stages, a project timeline is mapped out for task and resource (people, equipment, and materials) allocation. ConceptDraw Office contains the tools necessary to handle these two important stages.

ConceptDraw PROJECT is tightly integrated with ConceptDraw PRO, requiring just one click to automatically build a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) chart for your project. Now it is easy to keep your WBS up to date. If more changes are needed, modifications to the project can be directly made in ConceptDraw PROJECT with the automatic rebuild of associated WBS.

ConceptDraw PROJECT also makes it easy to send detailed ToDo lists to all project participants. The typical amount of time it takes to communicate these tasks is significantly reduced to a minimum. Suggested forms of communication for the Planning and Executing stages are Gantt charts, WBS charts, flowcharts and ToDo lists.

Two other major components necessary for the success of a R&D project are Daily and Management Communication. Having a communication management strategy that is supported by ConceptDraw Office helps detail the needs and expectations of the team, how project data will be exchanged, and the responsibilities of each team member.

The communication process continues as long as a project is in action, to keep information flowing between all members of a project.

ConceptDraw Office minimizes the amount of project rework necessary and improves the everyday workflow of research project by utilizing visual methods to represent pertinent information. With visual methods it is easy to:

• open project files in ConceptDraw MINDMAP to modify schedules and project details
• effectively determine workload-to-work capacity and resource allocation in ConceptDraw PROJECT
• build charts and diagrams in ConceptDraw PRO that document processes and reports on project status

Suggested communication formats for the Communicate and Manage stages are Report Maps, Visual Reports, Project Dashboards, knowledge maps, mind maps and PowerPoint presentations.

Clear communication within a research team helps build a collaborative work environment, with an emphasis on a shared vision of goals. ConceptDraw Office offers an effective and innovative approach to building communication flow at all stages of a R&D project.

Using ConceptDraw MINDMAP to Gather Requirements

After writing an article about using ConceptDraw MINDMAP to gather requirements, I got in contact with the Requirements Networking Group: Where Requirements Gatherers Meet. "RQNG" has lots of whitepapers, articles, and podcasts about everything from Agile to data warehousing to requirements security. Feel free to download a PDF of the article: Visually Mapping Requirements: An uncommon approach that just might make your job easier.

Ye Olde Fashioned Questionnaire

A post on the Sielevel Software blog talks about using questionnaires to make sure project assumptions are correct. As I'm sure you've discovered, using mind maps is really an excellent way to ensure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to project planning. Maps are especially useful in early-stage planning for this very reason. By projecting a map on the wall, participants can make sure that there are no misunderstandings or misconceptions about the project.

But I liked this blog's idea of using questionnaires as the last step in the project planning process. Here's the example they give:

Please validate each of the statements below by answering “Yes” or “No”.
1. Customers with a classification of “REV” are NOT charged any Federal Taxes.
2. Customers with a classification of “REV” are ALWAYS required to pay Local Municipality Service Taxes.
3. The tax rate charged for Local Municipality Service Taxes for Customers with a classification of “REV” is ALWAYS the same as the rate charged for ALL other Customers.
4. Etc., etc.

If you're building maps together with a client to plan a new project or product, this step may not be necessary. But it might be useful if there is any question about the work at hand.

The Checklist Manifesto

Have you read Atul Gawande's "The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right"? Gawande writes about the how we humans--including those among us who spend decades training, practicing, applying our skills--are no match for the complexity of the modern world. But we think we are. And when we think that way, mistakes are sure to happen.

Gawande is a very highly respected surgeon and a brilliant writer (he's published numerous books on this general topic, and is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker). He traces mistakes to two basic problems. First, ignorance: We simply might not know enough. Second, we're inept: We know, but we might not always apply what we know correctly.

His solution to massive complexity: the simple checklist, and offers startling examples of the improvements checklists have had in medical outcomes. But he says that checklists can be used in all kinds of endeavors. (It reminds me of another overwhelmingly simple response to complexity--the Geek PDA).

One of the best uses of mind mapping for project management I've ever seen is in project post mortems. You list all of the things that went wrong in the project, and ways you might improve or avoid them next time. Then, when you start the next project, copy and paste those lessons onto your new project map. Your mistakes are right there in front of you as you plan the new path ahead.

Gawande is clear that there are no grand checklists: life is complex. Few things in life can be reduced to repeatable processes. But maybe some things can. Are there things you do over and over again that might benefit from a simple checklist? By letting go of the notion that we are smart enough, experienced enough to manage the complexity of our work (and maybe our lives), we might all experience greater success.

Getting Projects Off on the Right (or Left) Foot

If you're interested in "projects"* and have never visited Glen Alleman's blog, Herding Cats, you might want to check it out. Glen is very thoughtful on the subject of project management (and on lots of other subject, I'm sure). In the last couple of days, he's been talking about the importance of starting projects with a clear, shared understanding of the goal and of what it means for the project to be "done."

Glen quotes David Campbell, who makes the obvious but often overlooked observation that "if you don't know where you're going, you'll probably end up somewhere else." Sounds pretty much like common sense.

But in my experience, and maybe yours, the tendency when a team gets started on a new work initiative (AKA project) is to just get going. The benefit that can come from taking even an hour up front to identify key metrics... it's huge. If you're not doing it now, try getting a few key players in the room and projecting a map up on the wall to build a common understanding. It's a common sense thing to do... like looking at a map before you start a trip, or reviewing a recipe before you start to cook.

The cool thing with ConceptDraw Office is that, once you've done this kind of thinking, you can essentially toggle back and forth between the mind map view and the project chart view, and build process diagrams -- all without leaving the ConceptDraw environment. No lost data, not competing rules, no need to buy another application. Sweet!

Planning a Project with ConceptDraw Office

The Plan Action Stage of a project details the ideas and then plans out the actions necessary for implementation. In addition, forecasts are developed of the expected results of a project for use by upper management and investors.

Precise organization and planning when creating draft project timelines and budget are critical components for future projects. At the Plan Action and Organize Project Stages, a project timeline is mapped out for task and resource (people, equipment, and materials) allocation.

Figure 1: Planning a Project with ConceptDraw PROJECT.

ConceptDraw Office contains the tools necessary to handle these two important stages:

• ConceptDraw PROJECT is well integrated with ConceptDraw MINDMAP, saving time when setting up a project and all the necessary supporting components.

• Plan project actions in detail. Simplifying job delegation and responsibilities using ConceptDraw's PROJECT Gantt chart.

Figure 2: Creating a Mind Map from Gantt Chart using ConceptDraw Office.

1. To modify schedules and project detail it is possible to create a mind map from selected tasks.

2. Open project files in ConceptDraw MINDMAP and make a single mind map of all your projects. It is convenient to keep all the related files to a project in one place. A single Knowledge Map, supporting multiple pages and hyperlinks, easily becomes the main information source for a project of any size.

Summary

ConceptDraw Office helps minimizes the amount of operations during the planning stage of a project and improves the everyday workflow of any project by utilizing visual methods to represent project information.

Adapting, Change Is The Name of the Game

When you are in the middle of working on a critical task, and need to rapidly make changes, the last thing you want is your mind mapping software getting in the way and slowing you down.

Many times throughout a project life cycle, there are global changes that need to be made to the processes or project documentation,  that need to happen immediately. ConceptDraw MINDMAP enables you to rapidly perform a Find and Replace across single-page or multi-page maps.

You can easily and selectively find-and-replace from one topic, sub-topic text, topic notes, hyperlinks and resources. Imagine the power of being able to rapidly change resources in a large project!

This great feature adds incredible flexibility to how you work, giving you a tremendous ability to quickly and effortlessly, make changes within your mind map documents and projects.

Project Status Reports, Map Progress

by Gregory Zhukov

Project status details are very important to keep project managers and participants informed and continually moving towards accomplishing goals.

Detailed and professionally presented project status descriptions enable stakeholders to remain fully informed about project performance. For the Project Manager, it also means being ahead of the game when it comes to being alerted of any necessary changes to original project plans or issues that may arise-- way before any long term damage is done. Project participants are also able to maintain a common vision and goal in regards to project progress.

Professional and visually appealing status reports create a clear view of project performance process to all project participants. The objective of a well developed report is to break in the gyre of chaotic information flow and present in a format that transforms hundreds of hours of work into a visual representation that takes an average of 30 seconds to interpret.

You can use mind mapping to depict and describe project status. Only five different mind map types are needed to completely describe project status. An easy way to do this is by using the innovative Visual Reports functionality within ConceptDraw Office.

Visual Reports of ConceptDraw Office:

• Project Status Mind Map
  Displays the whole picture of a project process in one single view. It can assist one in making adjustments in current project strategy during implementation.
  

• Task Status Mind Map
  Shows what tasks were completed, what tasks are in, or scheduled for the future, and if they are on time or critical. This mind map is used to track current status of project tasks.
  

• Completed Tasks Mind Map
  Contains all completed project tasks. This mind map presents an overview of work that is already performed.
  

• Task in Progress Mind Map
  Relays project tasks which have not yet been completed. All tasks that are on time and are critical are displayed. This a great map for task management.
  

• Milestones Mind Map
  All project milestones are displayed here. It shows whether a project is on track for completion as expected. This mind map displays a project’s progress.
  

Project reports are an important part of project management communication. There is a huge need to deliver project status data to all project participants in the most effective manner. While visual formats have proven to be the most effective form of information perception, email is also the most powerful tool for sharing such information.

Visual reports generated using Visual Reports in ConceptDraw Office are delivered to designated recipients as email attachments with a message body preview. The generation and delivery of these mind maps is a great way to keep everyone on your team on the same path.

Resource Management Using ConceptDraw PROJECT

ConceptDraw PROJECT makes it easy to change and adapt project calendars

Management of people resources in any project is a titanic task. As your team grows it is difficult to track all of your resources and their availability. With a growing number of resources the likelihood that all members of your team will be working 8 to 5, five days a week is a flight of the imagination. The product management solution you select needs to be flexible enough to accommodate whatever your project schedule is. Maybe your team for a project adopts 6 day work weeks during a critical project period, or maybe there is an individual who is only available for 4 days a week. Or your team works 10 hours a day 4 days a week during a project phase. No matter what your teams’ schedules or individuals’ schedules are, your project management solution needs to flex matching the resources you have available. Without this flexibility your projects will veer from their planned trajectories quickly, and projects that exhibit this behavior are seldom successful.

ConceptDraw PROJECT has the ability to maintain calendars that reflect the schedule of an overall project, a team and its availability for projects, or the work schedule of an individual. In the screen image you can see that the calendar that is associated with Tom S and how it has been modified from a standard schedule. Tom is available for work on a Sunday, but he will not be available on the 16 through the 19th. Once the calendar has been selected it is easy to make the necessary changes to Tom’s days and even the hours he can work. You can see that Tom’s calendar has been changed to show that he is available on the 12th. Once his calendar has been changed, you can then see on the Gantt chart, in the background, that a task assigned to Tom now starts on Sunday the 12th. Unless you made the change in Tom’s availability in his calendar, you could not have scheduled him to work on a Sunday.

ConceptDraw PROJECT has incredible flexibility that adapts to how you and your organization work. This plasticity in project workflow, improves the efficiency of you and your team. Efficient use of resources is critical in maintaining your projects on their planned path to successful completion.

Business is all about Accomplishment. ConceptDraw Office is all about Business.

To accomplish something, is to bring about a desired result. The individual components of accomplishment can be broken down as either tactical or strategic. Tactical is often viewed as small-scale actions that contribute to a larger purpose, while strategic accomplishment is more focused on the integrated planned effect of a company. Strategy comes in many shapes; likewise there can be varying levels of impact. The one given is that attaining a successful strategy is critical to any business.

A Strategic Accomplish Map can be used for keeping your strategy visible at all times. This example [http://www.mindmappedia.com/?id=121847551] may be used as a template. A company’s strategic plan must be broken down to department and individual levels. If this is not done, the company’s strategy may never be effective, as participants will not understand their roles.

“If the building blocks are clearly defined, the essence of even the most complex strategy can be expressed on one page.” ----An excerpt from, Execution. The Discipline of Getting Things Done.

At CS Odessa our version of this quote is:
“If the building blocks are clearly defined, the essence of even the most complex strategy can be expressed on ONE MIND MAP. “

Mapping Strategy Implementation
Many times strategy, after the initial planning stage, is elusive in its identification and implementation. Mind mapping is a great starting point to sort through this, as many of our customers use ConceptDraw Office to assist them in attaining their goals.

ConceptDraw Office is a business solution that combines business productivity methods and data visualization with project management technologies. There is no other product on the market equipped enough to enable one to observe and analyze accomplishment processes inside and out. ConceptDraw Office makes it a snap to plan, develop, manage, and document quality processes. ConceptDraw Office is comprised of ConceptDraw MINDMAP, ConceptDraw PROJECT, and ConceptDraw PRO and is packaged as one seamless software tool kit.

ConceptDraw MINDMAP
ConceptDraw MINDMAP is an excellent tool to record observations and development of goals. Moving from observation stage to early process development is as easy as dragging-and-dropping items or objects that can be used to structure a process and then immediately assign resources.

ConceptDraw PROJECT
With a single push of a button, all observations and task information are automatically moved over from ConceptDraw MINDMAP to ConceptDraw PROJECT. From a project vantage point it is then easy to manage all the resources available to you and ensure proper management of all the processes put into place.

ConceptDraw PRO
ConceptDraw PRO is a professional business graphics and drawing tool that is an integral part of ConceptDraw Office. ConceptDraw PRO is well known for its ability to produce eye popping business graphics and flow charts in professional formats, and to build score card documents that report on project status.Plan, Do, CommunicateConceptDraw Office is a proven and powerful software solution that can assist you in the common challenges you are faced with when working towards accomplishing your company’s defined goals.

Works Cited
Bossidy, Larry, Ram Charan, and Charles Burck. Execution The Discipline of Getting Things Done. New York: Crown Business, 2002.
Hunger, J. David, and Tom Wheelen. Essentials of Strategic Management (4th Edition). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2006.