
Mind mapping
Get ideas and thoughts out of your head onto paper, in to the open.
1-8 people
10 minutes
Guidance
Why
You can use mind mapping to:
- encourage thought and direction that might of been missed
- visualise your thinking
- highlight key themes
- explore a challenge that you are working on as a team
Who
Mind mapping works on your own or as a team activity
When
You can use it throughout a project, especially when:
- there is a lack of direction for a particular problem
- a team needs to encourage collaboration
Things you need
- Paper
- Sharpies/pens
Tips on running the session
- Allow yourself to go off in different directions, try not to filter your thoughts
- If you’re working as a group, make sure that you leave time to talk about the mind maps together
Steps
- Agree the challenge or problem you are exploring in your mind map
- Take a sheet of A3 paper
- Write the challenge or problem you are exploring in the centre
- Write out your thoughts as they come to mind and link these with lines
- Allow yourself to go off on tangents, try not to filter your thoughts
- When the time is up, look over your mind map and highlight any key themes by marking them with a different colour pen
- If you’re working as a group take turns to read out your mind map and discuss themes together
- Next you might do a round of Crazy eights to develop your thoughts into ideas.