Outlining superior to mind mapping for complex topics?

Posted by Cassius
Sep 3, 2009 at 01:05 AM

The mind mappers I have seen are just graphical representations of outlines.

Of course, outlines also have problems representing reality, as they cannot easily represent interrelationships between different topics in the outline. A software package that represents a system or knowledge as a web is more appropriate. Neil Larsen, developer of MaxThink, created such a program, but I found it too difficult for my all-to-human mind to encompass.

Before I retired, I considered purchasing The Brain. It can represent a web and yet allow one to focus in on a small part of the web, of a size my mind could encompass. I also tried to get its developers to slightly enhance The Brain by enabling one to make links directional. The developers weren’t interested.

This would have allowed organizations, such as the FAA (40,000+ employees) to create a"map” showing the interrelationships among different parts of the organization and the duties of each. Each part of the FAA could view itself as the “center of the universe” and see how it affected other parts and was affected by them.