Reflection – Mind Mapping Tool

Challenge & Selection

Mind mapping is a design tool that I often use. As a student, there are many projects that need the  proper tool in order to consider the various ideas and stakeholders, and mind mapping is an efficient  way to get others to make a link between the ‘what is’ and ‘what if’. Specifically, in my club where  we organise events including various cultural clubs in my school, mind mapping is essential in order  to arrange activities that are both meaningful and fun. When working with my club, there are many  reasons why we make use of mind mapping in order to come up with activities for our various  events. When sharing with those in my team and committee, I use mind maps in order to organise  information that we already have and data that we had collected. When sharing with managers in  charge, I use mind maps in order for them to get a better understanding of how we would like to  proceed with brainstorming and coming up with ideas, bringing in the various clubs involved and  laying down the basics in my mind map. As mind maps take note of insights and possible patterns  that we might have previously missed during our meetings, it is effective so as to bring out  important and meaningful observations. The information collected can be used to brainstorm for  ideas for the activities that can be held and the overall plans of the events, to develop different ideas  and finding the best activities for students to be able to enjoy.

Application

One instance where I made use of mind mapping was during the initial stages of planning a festival  for our fellow schoolmates. The festival was to involve all 13 cultural clubs in the school and the  name was ‘Global Town’, and I had to plan it such that it showcased each of the clubs identity and  the cultures they represent, as well as make it engaging for the participants of the event. Based on  the data collected by the various clubs previously on the activities they held last year and some  feedback from their participants, the club representative shared the many activities and games they  had previously done. They were then briefed on the theme and direction we wanted our ‘Global  Town’ to work towards. Afterwards, they were told to note down some insights they had for their  own clubs individually on their laptops and the reasons behind their suggestions. The clubs then  joined hands and wrote their ideas on the board that they thought could be successful and bring  more excitement and participants to the festival. After that, we tried to link up the insights so that  we could create connections that would involve all the clubs before we could move on to coming up  with ideas for our festival to fit our theme of wanting it to be a step-by-step event where  participants have to go through one club before they can proceed to another club’s activities.

Insight

By making use of the mind mapping tool, it helped me gain a deeper understanding of how mind  mapping works, not just jumping into idea generation as there may be loopholes that we missed out  and important information or feedback that should be taken into consideration. Mind mapping also  helped us activate our thinking brains based on their previous experiences and what can be learnt  from it, so that we could move towards a more successful event. Although there were feedback and  insights the members had thrown out previously, there was never a session to properly sort them  out, and this mind mapping session helped to get the insights be useful. Moving forward, our  committee managed to generate ideas based on our insights gathered and connections made from  those insights, and held a successful festival.

This course has helped me see this mind mapping tool in a new way, as I always mind mapping  would work best at the idea generation stage instead of before it, as a Segway to idea generation.

Approach

Our committee would use mind mapping again when it comes to evaluating and gaining insights, as  it has been very useful and effective. However, we should take note that the insights we put on the  board should be more elaborate as not every idea put there was addressed properly due to time  restraints. Some insights were thus overlooked until we went back to review them again when we  had some clashing arguments about ideas being put out. Future mind mapping sessions should  include post-its as they will be able to save some time in writing out the insights on the board and  the original concept of what was written individually would be projected accurately and as a whole  instead of it being shortened, to provide a better flow of the session.

