ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY BLOG | INVENTIONS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

In this post, I will conclude my interview with Brad who discusses some of the advantages and features of TPAssist2007. If you are involved in project management and are using MindManager Pro 7 then please take advantage of the free trial version of TPAssist2007 which you can download.
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Brian: How will using TPAssist 2007 with MM help someone keep on top of projects?

Brad: Effective Project Management, in my opinion has two distinct stages: Planning and Management. Project Management tools, like Microsoft Project, are great for creating the initial project plan and for capturing the process that will be used to deliver the project. Unfortunately once past the planning stage, these tools can be cumbersome in relation to managing the project delivery for two reasons. Firstly, no project goes exactly to plan, there will always be changes and also new activities that weren't identified initially. The second reason is that projects need to be tracked. As well as knowing what has to be done, you also need to know what has been done so if something goes wrong you can quickly and efficiently track down the root cause.

TPAssist 2007 adds capabilities in both the "planning" and also the "Management" stage. These aspects will be explored further below.

In reference to the "planning" stage, MindManager is a great place to initially develop project plans. MindManager has most of the planning capabilities that you would expect, like dates, duration and resource allocation. However it is limited in the area of "Levelling", whereby task dates are automatically derived from duration and dependencies on other tasks (i.e. "Predecessors" in Microsoft Project terminology). TPAssist 2007 Levelling provides the means to create complex project plans of interdependent activities, whereby dates will move automatically when related activities and tasks are updated and completed.

TPAssist 2007 also addresses some of the challenges in the "Management" stage of project management. The tracking capability allows project managers to record progress, status and details associated with any project task. This tracking provides history for analysis as well as reporting. TPAssist automatically "journals" changes made to MindManager Resource Assignment so you have a history of where resources are added or removed from your project. The Tree Summarization capabilities of TPAssist provide the means to quickly find the tasks by due date proximity, priority, flags and also resource.

And finally, the "Publishing" capability of TPAssist 2007 can be used in all stages and allows for fast and efficient dissemination of information to project team members and other stakeholders.

Brian: When will TPAssist 2007 be available and how can someone order it?

Brad: The official launch date of TPAssist 2007 is the 1st of September. Anyone wishing to explore its capabilities can download it directly from www.tpassist.com/downloads and use it free for a period of 30 days.

Brian How will you price TPAssist 2007?

Brad:TPAssist 2007 will be available as a subscription or product license. The yearly subscription license is just less than US$40 and gives you access to all updates and new TPAssist product releases. The product license will be priced at just under US$100 and includes all updates to TPAssist 2007.

Brian: In summary- what are the key points and features of TPAssist 2007:

Brad: The mission of TPAssist is Time Utilization and Productivity Optimization Made Easy. The aim of TPAssist 2007 is to assist you achieving a sense of accomplishment on a daily, hourly or even minute-by-minute basis.
TPAssist 2007, an integrated solution using Mindjet® MindManager® and Microsoft® Office, leverages the power of mind maps to give you a flexible and effective productivity management tool.

TPAssist extends the power of MindManager, adding capabilities like automated task tree summarizing, structured journal management, brainstorming to task tree creation, powerful project team tracking, plus automated integration with Microsoft Outlook® and Microsoft Excel®.

Brad-thanks for the interview and I hope that all of you will have the opportunity to download TPAssist2007 and give it a try.

I had the opportunity to speak with Brad Allen the developer of a new MindManger Add-in called TPAssist 2007, which will be released on September 1. TPAssist 2007 is an integrated solution using Mindjet® MindManager®, Microsoft® Office, and leverages the power of mind maps to give you a flexible and effective productivity management tool.

TPAssist extends the power of MindManager, adding capabilities like automated task tree summarizing, structured journal management, brainstorming to task tree creation, powerful project team tracking, plus automated integration with Microsoft Outlook® and Microsoft Excel®.

In the course of my interview, I was able to learn how Brad came to use MindManager and how he developed TPAssist 2007, to help him with the projects that he was working on. I trust that you will enjoy the interview and have a chance to download the trial version of TPAssist 2007. I would like to thank Brad for taking the time to do the interview and I trust you will find TPAssist 2007 a valuable tool.
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Brian: Can you share with us a little bit about your background and how you are started using MM for the work that you do?

Brad: By trade, I am an IT professional with over 14 years experience in IT management and consulting roles. Initially I was involved in driving and managing technology adoption from inside corporations and since 1999, I have focused on roles in the management and provision of IT consulting.

Right from the word go with my first job after college, I have looked for efficient and effective ways to manage my daily work activities. I've explored everything from word documents, to spreadsheets, to databases and eventually with the arrival of Microsoft Outlook I settled into Tasks and Appointments. To manage my activities I use a disciplined process to capture, process, dispatch and revisit needs and requests. Whilst effective for seeing what needed to be done, Tasks and Appointments lacked "context" which make it difficult to see and measure progress towards project and goal completion. I eventually extended my process to take advantage of Outlook categories, which when structured correctly can be used to see some progress towards my goals.

Using Outlook Tasks and Appointments alone, whilst effective, wasn't efficient. It just isn't practical to put everything in Tasks. Small activities, like "Phoned Joe" or "Emailed Kim about the latest proposal" didn't warrant a separate task so they ended up as notes within a Task item. This process was relatively time consuming.
My re-introduction to mind mapping came in 2003. Whilst I was aware of the technique, I hadn't really used it in my work because being in IT I needed to have it on my computer and not on paper.

At the time I was just starting my MBA. It was during a study group meeting that a fellow student showed me MindManager. I was hooked instantly. Within 1 week I was capturing all my lecture notes and research. It wasn't long before I discovered the Outlook integration and immediately began exploring MindManager's application in Task tracking and management.

Brian:What were some of the features in MM that you use most often in the work that you do?

Brad: I think of MindManager as my control tower. I use it to plan, track and act. I use the brainstorming capabilities, the topic task capabilities, the topic styles, the map styles, the multi-map capability and I couldn't operate without the TabletPC integration.
I use MindManager to see what needs to be done and in what order. I also use MindManager at the end of the day, week and month to review my achievements and then plan where I am going next.

I start my work day by opening my high-level mind map. This map has five topics, each representing a key part of my role (i.e. People, Process, Service Delivery, Sales and Company activities). Each of these five topics is hyper-linked to another map. Each of these sub maps has a further five or so main topics, with each topic representing a key facet of that aspect to my role. From there I branch out into projects and major activities. I also typically split major project off into separate maps and link these to the appropriate main topic. In this way I have a hierarchy of maps for managing my activities, tasks, project and goals.
The project related maps are the central source for the projects I manage. Not all those that I work with use MindManager, so I often export maps to Excel and Microsoft Project in order to disseminate information to my team and my customers.

In addition to managing my own activities, I use map topics to record activities I have assigned to team members, I also at times track interdependent activities whereby my ability to perform is in some way linked to a colleague or customer.

In terms of non task activities, I use MindManager for preparing meeting agenda, capturing meeting minutes, structuring proposals, writing papers and of course brainstorming. The results of my work is typically exported to Microsoft Word in order to share it with others.
I have a very mobile work day, often out of the office in meetings and workshops and in that context I couldn't operate without the TabletPC capabilities and the built-in hand-recognition.

Brian: How did TPAssist evolve as you were working with MM?

Brad: My initial use of MindManager for task management involved one large map. I linked Outlook items and was able to solve the "context" problem. MindManager had the added advantage of being very visual, so it was easy to see at a glance the priorities of the day. However it wasn't too long before I was looking for more efficiencies.

MindManager has great support for task capabilities with-in topics (i.e. priority, percent complete, start- date, due- date, resources and duration), however these properties are localized, therefore status with-in a particular project or even goal is not easily tracked without manually updating each topic in the hierarchy.

Also, whilst MindManager supports Topic notes these are also localized, therefore it is difficult to easily see what I have been doing on each activity at a project or goal level.

Very quickly the single map I was using became too difficult to manage. It was too complex and didn't easily provide an idea of where I was going or even been. My decision to split the map created two new challenges. Firstly the Outlook integration wasn't as easy anymore and also it was difficult to see overall activity status because the information was now buried with-in these sub maps.

Brian: How did you come to develop TPAssist 2007?

Brad: TPAssist 2007 started out as MindManager macros. Initially these macros just rolled-up task information so I could easily see that status of activities buried deep within a map. My next addition was a rudimentary "Journalling" capability so I could easily make notes about my progress on any given activity. This capability included some basic Outlook Integration, whereby my MindManager topics would be synchronized with Outlook Tasks and Appointments so I could take advantage of the excellent notification features of Outlook. The final area I explored was Microsoft Excel integration. By this stage I was using MindManager to manage projects and I needed a way to discriminate information to my team and customers.
Eventually I needed more than the macros could offer, particularly in relation to integration and user interface. The obvious conversion path at the time was Visual Studio 2005 and so development began to build the integrated tool that is now TPAssist 2007.

Brian: What are some of the key features and benefits for someone using TPAssist 2007?

Brad: The key features of TPAssist 2007 can be summarized as follows:

1.1 Automated task tree roll-up and summarization.

The Tree Update capability of TPAssist 2007 provides you with the visual means to track and manage the various requests and activities that fill your day. The ease at which individual topic status is rolled- up to a centralized view ensures you can quickly see what has to be done and give you instant satisfaction regarding what you have already achieved.

TPAssist 2007 has a straight-forward reporting tool that can be used to easily identify and manage your tasks based on due date proximity, priorities and flag.

1.2 Structured Activity Journal Management with multi-map support.

Tracking is crucial if are you to be effective at seeing what has been done, what has to be done and in what order.

TPAssist 2007 automatically records or "journals" your actions and task configuration changes in a semi- structured format with-in the topic and parent topics to which the action relates.
TPAssist 2007 also builds and maintains a journal summary tree. This tree tracks your activities by date and is grouped by year, month and day.

TPAssist 2007 is multi-map enabled supporting task status rollout and also tracking of task and activity progress.

1.3 Brainstorming to task tree creation.

MindManager already has some great task management capabilities, TPAssist 2007 extends these and provides easy to use tools like the ability to take Brainstorming ideas and turn them into Task maps ready to track and act-on.

1.4 Automated Task, Calendar & E-mail integration with Microsoft Outlook®

TPAssist 2007 Outlook Integration synchronizes information between your mind map topics and Outlook Task and Appointment items. You can use this capability to drive reminders and also get instance access to your current activities outside of MindManager.

Outlook Tasks and Appointment items created by TPAssist 2007 can be used to "jump" directly into your mind maps.

TPAssist 2007 provides the means to track your e-mails, appointments, notes, tasks etc within your mind map. This integration not only automatically creates journal entries but it also allows you to open the item again from within your mind maps.

TPAssist 2007 also offers the ability to auto-create mind map topics directly from your e- mails, appointments, notes, tasks etc.

1.5 Powerful project team tracking.

TPAssist 2007 Levelling provides the means to create complex project plans of interdependent activities, whereby dates will move automatically when related activities and tasks are updated and completed.

TPAssist automatically "journals" changes made to MindManager Resource Assignment so you have a history of where resources are added or removed from your project.

The TPAssist 2007 task tree summary capability has a "Resource Filter" which can be used to identify tasks assigned to one or more individuals.

1.6 Integrated with Microsoft Excel® for publication of Work Breakdown & other Project Management reports.

TPAssist 2007 facilitates effective publishing of your project plans through a series of pre- formatted Microsoft Excel® spreadsheets. The included templates can be used to display Work Breakdown Structures (WBS), team To- Do lists, a Resource Planner/Schedule, project Gantt Chart and issues list. Also, TPAssist 2007 adds the ability to capture resource costs and then publish the resulting plans into a "quote" style spreadsheet.

Brian: Can you share with us how TPAssist 2007 can be integrated into the workflow?


Brad: I think the best way to answer this question is to take a real world example and illustrate where TPAssist 2007 would be used.

The area I suggest exploring is recruitment, particularly new hires. I have built a simple five topic template that I copy and rename each time I get a new candidate.
When I copy the topics, I rename the group topic title and then use the "Reference" capability to expose the candidate's initials to TPAssist 2007 so my tasks in Outlook provide a hint as to which candidate this task relates. I also use the "Levelling" capability to automatically adjust the dates as the recruitment process progresses.

The workflow begins immediately because TPAssist 2007 has automatically recorded the topic title changes and therefore the workflow now has history. Also the Levelling has setup the dates based on my predefined durations. This plan could be "Published" to Excel for communications to HR or others in my team.

Now I use the Outlook Integration to create myself a Task that will remind me when the specific task is due. I will also use the Outlook integration to link in the original e-mail containing the candidates Resume, so I can quickly relocate it again as the process progresses.
As I progress each step, I use TPAssist 2007 to record conversations, emails and thoughts. As each step completes, I "activate" the next step and turn-on the Outlook Integration so at all times I have a Task which will remind me automatically as to my next step.

The template and process ensures each step in the recruitment process is followed and within the required time-frames. In addition, because I've been capturing my progress, I can export the map topics to Microsoft Word for inclusion in the new hire's file.

Part 2 of the interview with Brad will appear tomorrow-so stay tuned! If you would like to trial TPAssist2007 simply click here to take you to the download page,

August 28, 2007

CS Odessa today announced the general availability of ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5 for Macintosh. ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5 is an easy-to-use software tool that supports mind mapping, brainstorming and other personal productivity methodologies thus providing businesses and individuals with an engaging and creative way to increase efficiency and productivity when organizing ideas and projects.

ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5 is compatible with all major Mac OS X project management software titles and MS Office. Complete support of MS Project XML file format allows data to be transferred between ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5 to project management applications and back again; MS Word export is helpful for preparing business documentation. All export features require only ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5 installed without the need of any additional software.

ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5 is Universal Binary application and requires Mac OS X 10.4 to run. ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5 is available at the price of $199 USD for the professional edition and of $119 USD for personal edition

Look for an upcoming review of ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5 for the Macintosh here in the next couple of days. I have had a chance to quickly take a look at it and am impressed with its features and its look and feel. More to follow so stay tuned.

One of the handiest utilities that I use to capture screen shots with, is SnagIt from TechSmith. One of the features which is really fantastic is SnagIt Outputs. I just recently found out that TechSmith updated the SnagIt output that can now be used with MindManager 7. If you have MindManager 7 open when you are using SnagIt you can use the MindManager Output that will copy the screen shot and place the image right within your mind map. It is very easy to use and very handy to have in your toolbox. I created a short screencast to show you how it works. If you need more information about SnagIt just go to TechSmith.

I hope that everyone has had a great summer! I have been busy blogging this summer and I hope I can keep up the pace as I move into my Fall schedule. It has been a lot of fun writing about new applications and having the opportunity to meet and talk to some of the developers of the programs. But along the way , I have met some great folks who not only have a vision as to how these programs can be utilized but are passionate about the work they do.

For those of you who may be new to this blog, I have spent a fair amount of time talking about assistive technology, mind mapping, visual learning, project management, as well as talking about Web 2.0 applications that are both innovative and useful. Along the way I have also written about some interesting programs which I would like to highlight for you. If you have the opportunity take a look at the Archived articles, I’m sure you will find something of interest.

Review of MindManager 7 Mac
MindSystems ThemeReader & Text to Speech
InspireData from Inspiration
Odiogo- Adding Accessibility to Blogs
Teacher’s Guide to Mindmapping
TouchGraph Visual Search Engine
FastTrack Schedule 9.2
NovaMind 4 for Mac Released
IntelliGantt Add-in for Mindmanager Pro 7
PersonalBrain 4 Macintosh Released
JVCGantt Pro 3 & MindManager 7-Perfect Together
Vernier’s Labquest Handheld Data Analysis Tool
XMIND for Mindmapping
Hyperstudio 5 to be Released this Fall
LiveScribe- This Isn’t an Ordinary Pen
theRealizer-Mindmanager Add-in
ConceptDraw Mindmap 5 for Macintosh Shipping August 28


Enjoy and let me know what you think-your comments are always welcomed!

For those of you who would like to do a web search using a mindmapping metaphor then take a look at WikiMindMap. Simply select your language and type a keyword into the search field and within seconds you will have a mindmap with interactive links. Just click on a link to bring it to the center.

I came across a new service for bloggers called Odiogo which converts all of the posts that I have written into MP3 files. This is a very exciting product and one that makes blogs more accessible for individuals on the go or for those with reading disabilities. Now with a click on the Odiogo badge on my blog you can go to a page where you will find all of the posts are now available in a MP3 format. If you like you can listen to individual posts being read in high quality text to speech (TTS) voice or you can subscribe to the podcast version using iTunes. It was very easy to get started using Odiogo and it makes for a nice touch to make blogs more accessible. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

It is really incredible how the mind mapping marketplace has exploded in the past couple of months with all kinds of new offerings and products. If you have been following my blog, software publishers have been coming out with new versions of their software at a record pace. We have seen a flurry of new mind mapping applications that are web based as well as some new entries from companies that are just breaking into the marketplace. I had the opportunity to connect with Stephen Zhu from Mango Software which is located in Beijing, China. Mango Software has recently published XMIND a visual mind mapping application that runs on Macintosh OSX, Windows XP, and Linux. XMIND allows users to create traditional mind maps complete with icons, graphics, boundaries, auto-numbering and relationships. You will find lots of ways to customize your mind maps by using the Properties panel.




Properties Panel

When you first open XMIND you will be presented with the opening dialog screen that lets you select from 8 different styled templates to start your mind map. The startup screen is visually appealing and is a quick way for you to get started on your mind map. If you have used other mind mapping applications you will feel right at home with XMIND since it uses a lot of the same conventions. Starting out at the central topic you can easily create a subtopic by pressing the Return key. Using the Tab key you can easily create a detail off of a subtopic. XMIND allows you to collapse and show different levels which is fairly standard practice. XMIND come with a small library of graphics that you can add to your mind maps. If you like you can create your own marker groups and add individual graphic markers that then become available to your mind maps. XMIND supports the use of relationships and boundaries and gives you a fair amount of control as to the shapes, color fills and line types. XMIND does support the ability to add notes to your topics and subtopics but does not currently support the ability to attach files to your topics. XMIND currently does not support the linking of URL’s to your ideas in your mind map. XMIND does support the exporting of your mind maps to images, Word doc, Text, Adobe PDF, and Powerpoint formats. XMIND supports the use of Map Association, which lets you open a Topic in a new mind map window. XMIND does not presently include spell checking. This is certainly a feature that I hope will be added shortly-since this is crucial. Overall, you will find XMIND easy to use and Mango Software has built a good foundation for future releases. You will find XMIND easy to use and the interface is clean crisp and inviting. You can download a 30 trial version of XMIND at their website.

FYI
IntelliGantt for MindManager Add-in has been updated. See the Post below that John Milan wrote up for the details.


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We just posted an update to IntelliGantt on our server tonight, mainly for maintenance reasons. I'll list some of the bug fixes shortly but also wanted to touch on which platforms are garnering the most attention. As you might expect, most IntelliGantt customers are using it with SharePoint. And the trend is accelerating (stay tuned to this space for exciting SharePoint developments in the near future).

But you knew that already.

So what do you think is the second most used collaboration platform? If you think the title of this post gives it away, you are right-- the Local Workgroup.

We've recently had a wave of people looking for a simple way to collaborate on a project schedule with their colleagues-- even simpler than setting up a web server. Because IntelliGantt can use a humble file server to collaborate (essentially a 'multi-user' mode) people have been dusting off some basic hardware and letting the tasks fly on their intranets. With IntelliGantt's Local Workgroup, you don't have to repeatedly send email to everyone or copy files hither and yon. It's one location that everyone synchronizes. I'll have to get a better screencast showing it off, but in the meantime here is a peek at it, and an FAQ.

Project management with a file server... who knew? :)

Here are the major fixes/improvements in this update:

1) The Local Workgroup wasn't providing useful error messages when one or more users did not have permission on the file server to update projects. This has been corrected with better reporting when you join and synchronize projects.

2) When using SharePoint, IntelliGantt wasn't handling the absence of a column very well. For example, many people don't need the 'Priority' column int the basic SharePoint task list. When they removed that column, IntelliGantt got confused. Now it looks at the task list schema to see which columns are available and nimbly stays on top of things. (This also lays a bit of foundation for our next SharePoint features).

3) Both the MS Project and MindManager Add Ins had a problem getting user lists from the WSS 2.0 or SharePoint Portal Server 2003 collection. It only affected MS Project 2007 and MindManager 7. The problem would manifest itself by acting as if a project is being published to a SharePoint site, but then falling back to the Share wizard screen. Thanks very much to our friends in the Netherlands for helping us track this one down!

4) If a member was listed as "last name" comma "first name" (ie. Smith, John), MS Project didn't like this. As a result we look for resources with commas and make them acceptable to MS Project so Export and Synchronize work correctly.

5) Finally, we seriously improved the help files for all the products. Thank you Jeff! Visit this page for help file reading pleasure.

Now we're off working on the next great IntelliGantt features. It will be geared toward SharePoint since that is our burgeoning market, but we'll see if we can throw a few things into the Local Workgroup community as well, since that is our fastest growing.