So what’s happened to the company since it made a big splash at last year’s conference? (This year’s Net:Work conference in San Francisco is just a few weeks away on  December 8^th.) In short, they’ve become a piece of a larger puzzle, being acquired by Mindjet to help create a broader solution that takes ideas all the way from inception to execution.

Around a year ago Mindjet, known for its mind mapping and brainstorming solutions, decided to expand from just helping people generate and capture ideas to also helping them realize them. To do that they needed some new technology, and after keeping a close eye on the project management space as well as pondering building a product themselves, they happened upon Cohuman, which met their needs and which had been struggling to find funding.

The acquisition went through in August of this year, with Mindjet releasing a rebranded Mindjet Cohuman on September 22. But don’t worry if you loved Cohuman last year, explained Blaine Mathieu, Mindjet’s chief product’s officer in an interview. The new product is still very similar to the one that won raves at Net:Work 2010.

“If somebody was a historic Cohuman user they would recognize Cohuman today other than some enhanced feature functionality and the Mindjet logo on it,” he reports. But the company plans bigger changes going forward.

We’re working through a phased integration between Mindjet’s other products and Mindjet Cohuman. In fact, we’re just a few weeks away from releasing our first beta integration between our application for information mapping and project planning called Mindjet Connect and Cohuman, sharing data back and forth. Then during the course of 2012 we’re going to be merging these applications more and more closely together, so users of either application will see additional functionality being borrowed from the other one. We’re moving down the path in 2012 of making them one thing.

Thos who originally came to Mindjet for a brainstorming app and those who chose Cohuman hoping to manage their projects socially will, hopefully, see the functionality of both products expand until they morph into an integrated offering that handles your projects from first inspiration through to the details of making them reality. The freemium business model will remain the same.

Besides logically expanding Mindjet’s offerings and solving Cohuman’s funding woes, the acquisition also brings Cohuman’s technology to Mindjet’s already existing large user base. “That’s the cool thing,” says Mathieu. “As Mindjet’s been around since 2001, we have over two million paying users today for our applications already, so obviously the first thing we’re doing with Mindjet Cohuman is taking that application to our existing user base and saying, ‘hey, look at this great new application we have for you.’”

“There are a lot of interesting little startups in the social task management area doing some interesting things,” says Matthieu, “but the big advantage that Mindjet has is we’re not a startup starting at zero – zero users, zero viral effect. 80 percent of the Global 2000 use a Mindjet solution today.”

That should mean more exposure and more users for a rebranded and expanded Mindjet Cohuman in 2012.

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“Mind mapping solo is a great way to get ideas out of your head and into a visual form that you can organize and use to think with,” said Carola Thompson, senior director of user experience at Mindjet. “Mind mapping in a group is similar in that you get ideas out of heads, but as a group you have more ideas to draw from.  This is particularly powerful in the ideation phase of a project.”

Mind Mapping This Post

During my research into collaborative mind mapping and the Catalyst service, Thompson shared a map with me that she had created based on our conversations and emails. In the map, Thompson provided the highlights of our previous discussions, then added her comments and quotes under relevant topic areas.

“A hint on reading mindmaps,” she told me. “Read them as you would a clock.  Start at 12 noon and work your way around the circle clockwise.”

Catalyst addresses many of the issues I’ve seen crop up with attempts at collaborative mind mapping using other tools:

• Lack of real-time editing capabilities.
• Risk of overwriting someone else’s data if two or more people are in the same map at the same time.
• A danger of the map becoming bloated as everyone chimes in.

“It’s a bit like ‘yellow stickies,’ but electronic,” said Thompson. “You may have collisions or two people attempting to organize the same topic, but the presence tools such as chat and editing indicators help enable users to coordinate their work in a virtual setting much as they would on a wall of stickies.”

Parker H. Trewin, director of global communications at Mindjet, also added his thoughts to the collaborative mapping for this post.

“The map is a living document of the group’s collective thinking, and is always up-to-date,” said Trewin (via the map). “With a shared workspace, all my team members can access a joint map and co-create and co-edit ideas, plans and strategies with dispersed team members at any time, from anywhere. Think of it as corporate crowdsourcing where I leverage the collective thinking of my team in real-time. I can then share the thinking in shared workspace for the team.”

Catalyst integrates with other Mindjet tools. For example, Thomspon used the MindManager desktop client for Windows to create the map about this post and shared it with me and Trewin via the Catalyst server. In turn, I was able to access and edit it from Catalyst entirely on the web, as was Trewin. As shown in the screenshot below, you can identify who created and edited any element of the map:

“The Catalyst Server is the glue that holds all of this together,” explained Thompson. “It manages the co-editing and makes it easy for people to work together without having to worry about checking out files and checking them back in. All edits are live.”

Prices for Catalyst start around $108 per user per year, and you can get a 30-day free trial.

Have you tried collaborative mapping ideas with your team? How is it working for you?

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The app is based on HTML5, which means compatibility with the iPad and other tablet computers and mobile devices. But what if you can’t get an Internet connection? No worries. LucidChart detects when you’re offline and shifts mode; any changes you make are stored locally by the browser. The app detects when you come back online, sends any locally-stored changes up to the server, and merges the edits.

How robust is the offline version? You can view your list of documents offline with full functionality, including full-text search across all of your documents. You can work on existing documents, create new documents, tag documents and delete documents, and otherwise edit and manipulate them. When an Internet connection is reestablished, all those changes are then synchronized to the server

Dealing With Collaboration and Conflicts

Offline capabilities overcome one of the major shortcomings of cloud applications. But what about when a diagram is being created collaboratively with other team members? LucidChart online allows an unlimited number of users to edit a document simultaneously in real-time. Each person’s changes are sent to the server and “merged,” in a similar way to how Google Docs works.

If you move a flowchart block to one side and edit the text, for example, everyone viewing the chart at the same time will see the block in its new position with the new text. In case of simultaneous edits that could conflict, the server will determine the result that appears while still saving all the other actions in the document history; nothing is lost and you can revert to other edits, if needed. In offline mode, real-time collaboration obviously isn’t possible. When you are back online, LucidChart applies the same algorithms to merge changes you made offline, while also keeping any conflicting changes in the document history.

A Mobile Hiccup

Right now, LucidChart currently functions on the Safari and Chrome browsers; it should be working on Firefox and Internet Explorer soon. When I tested it on my PowerBook using Safari, the experience was smooth and seamless. Testing it on my iPad, however, resulted in consistent crashing. Karl Sun, CEO of LucidChart, says performance on the more-powerful iPad 2 is better, and the experience on mobile and tablet devices will only get even better over time as the hardware continues to improve. So while a total mobile experience isn’t yet achieved, if you need to make an edit in a pinch or want to simply show your diagrams in a meeting, you can access them. Just don’t expect to be able to  create complex diagrams on less powerful devices.

LucidChart offers several plans, including a free account offering up to 25 MB storage and two collaborators and team accounts starting at $25 per month for 5 GB storage, unlimited collaborators, wireframing, encryption and other premium features. It fits somewhere between a free offering like Diagramly (see Simon’s review here), which offers sharing, but not collaboration or online storage, and more full-featured collaborative online mind-mapping tools such as MindJet’s Catalyst (see Imran’s interview with CEO Scott Raskin here), coming in closer to the latter, but at a lower price.

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When I’ve run up against clients and project stakeholders who didn’t understand (or want to understand) a Gantt chart, I take a consultative approach and work with them to see how they want to receive project scheduling and related status information. I believe that as a remote worker, any project scheduling and status data I communicate back to my employer or client has to stand on its own, without the need for further explanation by me.

In this post I am going to round up some alternatives to Gantt charts that I’ve used to communicate project scheduling and related information.

Mind Maps for Project Management
I originally started using mind maps to brainstorm article ideas, but now also use them as a project management tool. When a former client voiced disdain for Gantt charts, I suggested using mind maps to communicate project scheduling and status data. The selling point I used was showing how mind maps can graphically represent project status information on one page. The client saw the mind map as easier to to read than a Gantt chart that they would have to scroll through to decipher the project scheduling information they were after.

MindJet shows how a mind mapping tool can be used for project management, and its online template gallery includes some mind map templates for project management including project planning, project scope and risk assessment.

Web-based Project Management Tools

The real innovation in project management tools is taking place on the web, not the desktop. While this new generation of project management tools doesn’t always rely on the Gantt chart, they have the advantage of making project schedule and status available in ways that your team members and stakeholders can easily understand without needing a project management certification. For example, Zoho Projects (reviewed for WWD by Doriano) includes a number of management views that don’t require an intimacy with the nuances and mysteries of the Gantt chart. Recently, Zoho launched a Task Details and Overdue Milestones View that make it easy for any project team member to see what project milestones are overdue.

Alternative Views in Project Management Applications

If mind maps and web-based project management tools are out of reach to your project team for whatever reason then it is important to know the alternative view options available in your project management tools. Microsoft Project and OmniGroup OmniPlan both have alternative views, including calendar- and task-based views. These views are available within a few clicks and can be effective if Gantt charts aren’t working for you.

What alternatives to Gantt charts are you using to capture and communicate project scheduling and status? Share your tips below.

Artwork by stock.xchng user: jnatiuk.

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Imran: It’s almost a year since we covered MindManager, what can you tell us about the newly released Mindjet Catalyst — what’s new and what’s the migration path for existing users?

Raskin: Mindjet Catalyst is the most exciting announcement that we’ve made as a company, combining powerful applications for online document sharing, web conferencing and project management with our award-winning application for visual collaboration. Mindjet Catalyst takes the concept of a team brainstorming on a whiteboard and brings it into the digital realm, meshing the best of creative, in-person meetings with online collaboration capabilities, ultimately enhancing creativity, innovation and problem-solving.  All current Mindjet Connect customers will be upgraded to the Mindjet Catalyst platform at no extra cost.

Imran: Are there any mind mapping theories, methodologies or best-practices upon which Mindjet bases its products?

Raskin: We believe that in today’s business world, several factors are making it imperative that organizations of all sizes re-evaluate how they encourage and manage collaboration. Innovation and creative problem-solving are key to every enterprise, large or small, and we believe innovation depends on unleashing the collective creativity and ingenuity of employees, partners and business ecosystems. Gary Hamel noted that companies intent on generating sustained wealth must create a dynamic, open internal market for ideas within an organization.

Our products are based on a strong belief in the power of visually linking and layering information to build relationships between knowledge and insights from every member of a team (be they images, lists, notes, data, charts or documents) and by locating — virtually — every piece of pertinent information for any given project, all in one place.

Imran: What can you tell us about the broader marketplace, where it’s headed and why we’re seeing product after product entering this space?

Raskin: Well, it’s interesting when you mention the “broader marketplace.” If you can say anything about collaboration right now, it’s certainly a “broad” sector. People are lumping everything into “collaboration” these days — whether it’s web conferencing, virtual workspaces, wikis, enterprise social networking, microblogging, you name it. If it facilitates communication among groups, people are calling it collaboration. This is where we differ with most people. My argument is that these tools are not collaboration tools — they’re really just communication tools on steroids. I can meet with people in a web conference, or post items to a wiki, but we’re really just continuing to push information back and forth and not engaging in activities that lead to true innovation.

People are overloaded with information and companies must innovate. That’s why companies are rushing in to try to meet this need. But unless people have a platform that enables them to dialogue and brainstorm with others in a visual manner, create strategic and actionable plans and then execute on them, they’re not going to address the innovation problem. We think we offer significant value that no one else who makes a “collaboration” product today offers.

Imran: Is mind mapping as critical as a word processor or spreadsheet? Should iWork, Google Apps, OpenOffice or Microsoft Office integrate mind mapping?

Raskin: Absolutely. A customer of ours who is a former VP at WebEx says that he tells all of his teams that Mindjet is the “only tool that is never optional.” Will the word processor or spreadsheet ever go away? Certainly not — they fulfill specific needs for specific purposes. But imagine having a central, visually-oriented dashboard that enables you and all of the teams you work with to collaborate in real time, manage multiple documents and spreadsheets related to any project, and track your progress from start to finish to success. If you’re in sales, imagine a tool that creates instant trust with your potential customers by mapping out for them in real-time that you understand their critical needs and can visualize for them a path to meeting those needs. Some have called what we do the “indispensable fifth productivity app” after documents, spreadsheets, presentations and email. Adding mapping to your current suite of tools makes those tools work exponentially more productively for you.

Imran: What’s next for the company after the move to Catalyst?

Scott: We have a lot coming out in the next few months and even over the next year that we’re very excited about:

• Our currently available Mindjet for iPhone app, and also the upcoming release of MindManager 8 for Mac on October 20th.
• For Mindjet Catalyst, we’re on schedule to go out with a new release every 45 days.
• Our readiness for several of the exciting new capabilities that will be coming for MindManager in Windows 7, including touchscreen compatibility.
• We’ll have more news about purpose-built solutions that integrate with existing infrastructures.
• We’re working on enhancements for working with maps in social media outlets.

MindJet has kindly offered WebWorkerDaily readers a year’s free subscription (worth around $1,500) to the first 25 people who contact the company at gigaom@mindjet.com.

How do you see mind mapping tools evolving in the future?

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One option is MindJet for iPhone, a very easy-to-use mind mapping app. It also works with the iPod touch and is available for download from the iTunes Store for $7.99.

I downloaded this app because I was looking for ways to capture ideas on my new iPhone 3GS, and I regularly use MindJet MindManager on the Mac and Windows PC to generate ideas and other brainstorming activities (see Imran’s review of the desktop app). My big requirement for on-the-go mind mapping was that I didn’t want to have lug along a legal pad, or even a Moleskine notebook, so MindJet for iPhone seemed like a good choice.

Inside MindJet for iPhone

Let’s take a look at its more notable features:

Performance. Developing a mind map using MindJet for iPhone means you can enjoy the nimbleness of the iPhone/iPod touch user interface. Zooming in and out and scrolling around is a joy. While it took some time to get the hang of creating sub topics, it was easy once I got the hang of it.

Manage Topics. Perhaps the biggest strength of this application is how Mindjet adapts to the iPhone/iPod touch user interface for the creation of mind maps. While I am far from calling myself a mind map ninja, the app was easy to use because it stayed true to iPhone application standards.

Email Mind Maps. Perhaps it is just my personal experience, but my mind maps stay with me because they are part of my own composing process. However, if you are working on a project team where mind maps are a standard communications medium, you have the option of emailing mind maps you create with MindJet for iPhone to yourself or other team members.

Transfer Mind Maps back to your PC. While you have the option of using MindJet for iPhone as a standalone application, you can also transfer your mind maps back to your PC for further work. Choose Transfer and you have the option to use BonJour with Safari or Internet Explorer to transfer your mind maps back to your PC via Wi-Fi. The Transfer function presents you an IP address you can enter into your PC’s web browser where you can access and download the maps in either native .immap format or MindManager .xmmap format. You can also upload mind maps from your PC to the iPhone application via this interface. I was a little disappointed that there was no option to sync mind maps back to your PC via iTunes, but being able to save maps via Wi-Fi makes up for it somewhat.

You, Mind Maps and Your iPhone
If you are like me, your smartphone is a major conduit for your ideas, plans, and other random synaptic misfirings. MindJet for iPhone is an ideal application for this kind of a user because it is nimble, so you can be productive after a short learning curve.

Do you create mind maps while on the road? What tools do you use?

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Mind mapping tools inhabit a curious boundary between tools that need to be as fluid and unstructured as doodling with a pencil and those that can harness the structural and processing power of computers to enhance the creative and mental processses.

Mind mapping tools range from the GTD-like methodologies of the Compendium Institute, to the opensource FreeMind and lightweight knowledge management such as DeepMehta; incidentally mind-mapping guru Peter Russell has created a useful roundup of tools.

MindJet’s MindManager 8
One of the more prominent companies in the space is MindJet, who today released the latest edition of their flagship tool, MindManager 8. With the new release, the company is seeking to integrate mind mapping into user’s existing workflows and help create mechanisms for collaboration.

Though MindManager has been oriented around a desktop experience, the new edition blurs the line between MindManager Web (an entirely web-based edition of the application – pictured) and its desktop counterparts by including integrated web searches, and online database queries from within the desktop app.

For web workers, the web edition’s most useful feature appears to be the ability to invite other users to view and/or collaborate on a mind-map or project workspace.

Free Trial

MindJet has kindly provided Web Worker Daily with a couple hundred 1-year subscriptions to MindManager Web (not Mind Manager 8!), worth around $120 each. Hop over to this page to sign up and take advantage of this offer.

The link will take you to the new trial page for MindManager Web. Users who click on the link will be taken to a signup page for a free trial.  The first 200 registrations will be converted from free 30-day trials to free 1-year subscriptions; subsequent users will still be able to sign up for free trials, but limited to 30-days.

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