There is no limit to the number of Thoughts and connections you can make in a single Brain.

This unique ability of PersonalBrain makes it ideal for visualizing and organizing large information networks as well as moving beyond standard mind mapping applications

Many users take advantage of PersonalBrain’s scalability and create an all compassing Brain for everything. While others opt for smaller, separate Brains. In this article I will explore each approach to creating a Brain and provide some guidelines for what might be best for you. 

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How to Ensure your Best Thinking is Leading the Way.

Today we are all under pressure to do more with less, and to do it quickly. This is why getting the big picture on projects and not losing sight of new ideas is challenging. Visualizing key decision points, company objectives and business processes can ensure that higher level goals are reached and that you are taking the best approaches now and for the future.

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Clear Your Mind. Get It Out of Your Head and into Your PersonalBrain.

“First of all, if it’s on your mind, your mind isn’t clear. Anything you consider unfinished in any way must be captured in a trusted system outside your mind, or what I call a collection bucket, that you know you’ll come regularly back and sort through.”

David Allen, Getting Things Done

A central premise of David Allen’s Book and cultural movement, Getting Things Done, is that you can experience a tremendous sense of relief and control by moving your tasks and ideas outside of your mind and recording them externally in a place you can trust and where you will review them regularly. This frees your mind from remembering and allows you to focus on completing your tasks. Capturing and improving your thinking of course is what PersonalBrain is all about.

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Using PersonalBrain for Project Management

Driving your ideas to completion can be a challenge especially when you are dealing with multiple data sources, complex and sometimes ill-defined requirements in addition to many stake holders. However, creating a complete context for all your project goals and information makes it easy to manage everything and bring projects to a successful completion.

With PersonalBrain’s visual interface you can create an all encompassing view of your project to see even the most complex relationships more intuitively. Your project brain will help you take control of your information and execute more effectively. PersonalBrain and BrainEKP can be used from the initial stages of a project all the way throught to completion. Here’s how:

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One of the most powerful features that PersonalBrain offers is Instant Activate. Just type in the first couple letters and up pops the Thoughts you need. Then simply click on that Thought and you’re exactly where you need to be in seconds.  The power of this feature should not be underestimated. It gives you the ability to get to any Thought and its related content in seconds. This is especially critical for users juggling multiple projects or tasks. Anyone who needs to shift contexts, respond and bring up information quickly will love this feature.

Instant Activate

Just type in the first couple letters of what you need and a list of your Thoughts appear.
Click on the Thought and get your information instantly.

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Many of our users ask if PersonalBrain is mind mapping software, file management software or something else… According to Mac|Life Magazine this month, PersonalBrain is the “most compelling computer adaptation of mind mapping encountered”. So I thought it only fitting to blog about: whether or not PersonalBrain is in fact “mind mapping software”, what exactly is PersonalBrain, and where does it fit into the array of desktop applications that you have running on your computer.

Flexible Knowledge Mapping – Networks Versus Hierarchies
Before we get into what PersonalBrain does, I think it’s important to reference some current issues with information management and your computer desktop. Almost all interfaces today, with the exception of TheBrain visual user interface, are limited to organizing information into hierarchies, where a piece of information can only be categorized into one place. For simple applications this is fine, but for users engaging in more complex business processes, it is simply inadequate. A document will have a variety of different issues or people associated with it – with hierarchies one cannot show all these relationships without multiple copies of the information.

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