Published on 4 July 2013.
Today’s thought is about using mind maps to keep track of work.
When programming, we often need to keep track of what do do next:
When we pair program, we can’t always do what we think of immediately, so we write it down on a piece of paper to deal with later.
When we do TDD, we might have a list of tests that we want to write or refactorings we need to do. The list is updated as we go along.
When we work in scrum teams, we have a backlog of user stories that should get worked on in the future.
All lists. Linear boring lists.
Can we use mind maps to make these lists more interesting and also give us a clearer view of what needs to get done? I think so.
I tried it today at work when working on a task. I broke down the tasks in sub-tasks and wrote them on different branches of the mind map depending on category. As I worked on the items, I came to think of new tasks that I added to the mind map. I worked quite well. I found that it was more clear what I needed to do and when I was finished, and it was definitely more fun than linear lists.
I think mind maps can be used in many contexts in software development.
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