**BACKGROUND**
I run my 3 companies off of whatever the latest version of MindManager (MM) is and Microsoft OneNote. I put the action items and links to external resources in MM and link it to pages in ON where I create content. I then filter the current week's must-do's using the filter.
But it's all in one huge, honkin' uber-map which is awkward as hell to find quickly anything .
For years I used a great (at the time) MM add-in called ResultsManager. RM solved the problem of the uber-map overload by allowing multiple maps, maps for projects that are so large, they warranted their own maps, and RM would sweep all the maps for action items and bring them into one dashboard.
It was a GREAT program and to this day, there's a part of me that still mourns its loss.
I think RM had 2 problems: 1) cost. This "add-in" was nearly the cost of a MM license at that time $300+. But the nail in the coffin for me was the smart guys who created it couldn't seem to keep pace with MM updates and broke every time MM released an update and then I spent time setting everything back up to work with RM instead of it working with me.
**CHALLENGES**
From a multi-project management perspective, the Mindjet trainings and webinars aren't much help because I feel that Mindjet focuses exclusively on corporate users who only have to manage one aspect of a project or only have one project to manage. When I see the simplistic maps used in their demos, I don't know whether to despair or laugh because they don't look anything at all like mine.
For example, my posting this came out of the frustration of wanting to use a 100 day book project map that I could just filter by week and know what task had to be completed that week in order to arrive at a finished and published book by the end of the 100 days...
For 2015 I have an aggressive book and product release schedule -- a new book and new product every quarter. Just the book map alone has so many moving parts over time that it should have its own map. Same with the product creation/release map. And that's to say nothing of the ongoing social media map elements and products for my existing lines.
But to put that into my MM uber-map which is already distractingly overpopulated with ongoing other projects and initiatives...
It just becomes all too much...
So while yes, I could filter by week. But here's the problem with filtering and using it: if I decide to search for something that is not included in that week's filtered view, then I have to remove the filter, go search for what I want , then reapply the filter so as not be overwhelmed by all the items I keep my focus on just what needs to be done...
It's cumbersome.
So I think one of two things are in play...
Either I'm doing it ALL WRONG or... there's a sizable hole of usage that Mindjet is not addressing.
Personally, I'm hoping it's me and not them. Because I can always learn the right way to do it. In other words, I can fix me and the way I'm doing it. But if MM is not set up to work this way... I'm barking up the wrong tree.
I've used other solutions like MS Project etc and I always come back to MM because as crippled as it seems to be in this area, it's what works best for me. My mind seems to work visually better than any other way.
So, suggestions? Best practices? For those here who run multiple projects, how do you do it? Appreciate the feedback.
Walter Terry
Evernote is a non-starter for me for several reasons, not the least of which is lack of digital ink capability. Besides, it doesn't solve the sweep across multiple maps. Thanks for the MyThings suggestion but I didn't see anything there that solves the problem.