It was some time towards the end of 2013 that I decided to write a book on bringing together the two subjects I am extremely passionate about: Mind Maps & Project Management. Being a first time author the journey seemed long but as someone has said “A thousand miles journey begins with the first step” and a 30,000 words book must start with the first word…but no ..even before I penned down the first word for my book I worked on the above mind map. Answering the 5W and 1H questions for each of the branches gave me sufficient clarity and much needed confidence to start my book “Mind Maps for Effective Project Management”. I would seriously recommend authors who are feeling stuck with a book idea and not progressing to build this simple Mind Map to get a holistic view about your book project. Let’s quickly browse through the various main branches of this Mind Map to explore it better.
The first “WHY” was very important for me to capture the reasons for writing this book. For me it was sharing a knowledge which I strongly believe would help a number of organizations manage projects better, will create a new pedigree of Project Management techniques, help maximize opportunities for mind mapping while managing projects and of course personal reasons like recognition and finance are important. The clarity of “WHY” has power to motivate and help overcome obstacles that might come in the way of any initiative.
The next is the “WHAT” which helped capture the top level view of the book contents. This was extremely helpful in giving me directions for subsequently building my detailed Mind Map of the book content. In addition this question gave me the critical idea to include a number of ready to use Mind Map templates for those interested to kick start their Mind Mapping journey in their projects.
The “WHEN” was the project manager in me trying to capture the milestone for the major activities. Your project is already dead if it does not have deadline associated with it hence for any new initiative the “WHEN” is extremely important.
The “WHERE” part was simple since the book is about two subjects Project management and Mind Maps which already have a global appeal.
The “WHO” helped in the stratification of the audience thus helpful for building a marketing strategy for the book release.
Finally the “HOW” which clarified the platform for the book which would available both as an e-book and a paperback. And of course I would need the support of a publisher for doing a professional job of it all.
As I finished writing my manuscript I now have two drawing books full with Mind Maps some for the templates which have been included in the book and others for generating ideas while writing the book! And it has been a wonderful journey where Mind Maps literally helped me generate the book and my Project Management skills kept me on track to deliver.
If you are interested in purchasing the book “Mind Maps for Effective Project Management” it is now available at :
FOR INDIA:
FOR OUTSIDE INDIA:
Click here to book a complimentary guest lecture on Mind Mapping at your organisation/institute.
