[topicmapmail] Topic maps vs. mind maps

[Rich Morin]

Pranav Lal said:
> ... I started using mind maps to document organisational processes.
> I go department by department and have been interviewing various
> process owners. I am wondering whether it would be better to document
> these processes using a topic map instead of sticking to just mind
> maps?

I would suggest that you look for a convenient tool which can handle
arbitrary graphs, rather than just hierarchies.  Modeling systems and
organizations will bring up situations where arbitrary relationships
must be handled.  Hierarchies, even with multiple inheritance (which
most mind mappers don't allow :-/), don't handle every situation.


You should also give some thought to what you're going to do with the
relationship information that you're collecting and whether you'll be
able to pour it into arbitrary follow-on applications.


As one possibility, consider the idea of creating a set of web pages
(one for each element in your model), with links to related pages and
image-mapped diagrams for context and navigation:

  http://www.slac.stanford.edu/exp/glast/flight/web/a_pnp/Pack_QSE.shtml
  http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/MBD/mbd_cs_fsw.php

This could be usefully folded into a mechanically-augmented wiki:

  http://www.cfcl.com/~rdm/weblog/archives/001002.html


Here are some general notes on (my view of) modeling:

  http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/MBD/mbd_modeling.php

-r


P.S.  I took the liberty of replying to this publicly, as I think it
      is an interesting discussion topic.
-- 
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm            Rich Morin
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/resume     rdm at cfcl.com
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/weblog     +1 650-873-7841

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