Visual organization tools can be extremely useful, and can be even more so if you can use them on the spot when you actually need them.
Which is why we like MindJet, a data visualization and organization tool for your Android based device; it has tons of great features to make your data flow easy and quick, and costs nothing at all to download and use.
Lately I have been getting into using visual organization tools to help me with my work as well as my personal writing endeavors.
There have been at least a couple of different programs I have reviewed that help you with organization, task management (no, not the CTRL+ALT+DEL kind) and brain storming, all of which are cool and have their own individual strengths.
One of the platforms I haven’t done much exploration on still is the Android app realm, however so I thought I would round out the subject with at least one mobile app for mind mapping, as it’s called. The one I wound up using, after some research and testing various programs, is called MindJet.
MindJet is a mobile application designed for Android OS 2.1 or higher. You can use it to take notes, cross reference them, create and manage to do lists, and enhance all of these with attached links or other info. The whole process is done on a virtual representation of a white board, known commonly as the ‘workspace’ as all of the tasks you use MindJet for will take effect in this area. You can put down each idea or note as an ‘object’ on the workspace, and then draw relationships and connections to other objects. This kind of work flow is becoming more and more popular in offices as well as for personal use so it’s nice to see the mobile community following suit. When you consider that it’s aimed at a touch screen audience, it only makes sense that they have implemented things like gesture shortcuts as well as the more common features like zoom pinch and rotate flick. MindJet is always ready to communicate with your DropBox as well, so it is a truly mobile application to help your productivity. Basically, it means you can sync the files between your mobile device and your desktop using MindJet, so any work you do on the go is easily accessed on your home system as well. This might seem like a small thing but in an app like this one, DropBox and other cloud functions can make or break them as useful apps and there aren’t many of us out there that keep less than useful apps on our devices.
MindJet is a nicely packaged program, with a comfortable interface and easy on the eyes set up. Many apps make the mistake of trying to jam too much information into one tiny screen and the user suffers for it, but MindJet seems to have a good sense of how much is too much and the interface as well as the workspace are large enough, with readable fonts. There’s a Getting Started mind map already created when you first start it up, and exploring this map will not only help you learn what Mindjet is capable of, by interacting with this previously created tutorial map, but will also provide the answers to that all important question: how? The tutorial map will lead you through creating objects, editing their information and adding enhancements like links and such. It will lead you step by step through the process of connecting objects and ideas to each other to show relationships between them visually, and thereby achieve a more logical and easy to follow creation process. Mind mapping is a fun and creative tool, even if you aren’t using it for business. MindJet makes it possible to do so on the go. My homepage is very competitive on my tablet, only the best and most frequently used programs get an icon there and I think MindJet will be there for a while to come. Until next time, my friends.
Currently the program is available for free on Android OS here and recently became available for iOS phones (in the Apple store, but it is not free) here.
