Highlights of Summer Blogging

I hope that everyone has had a great summer! I have been busy blogging this summer and I hope I can keep up the pace as I move into my Fall schedule. It has been a lot of fun writing about new applications and having the opportunity to meet and talk to some of the developers of the programs. But along the way , I have met some great folks who not only have a vision as to how these programs can be utilized but are passionate about the work they do.

For those of you who may be new to this blog, I have spent a fair amount of time talking about assistive technology, mind mapping, visual learning, project management, as well as talking about Web 2.0 applications that are both innovative and useful. Along the way I have also written about some interesting programs which I would like to highlight for you. If you have the opportunity take a look at the Archived articles, I’m sure you will find something of interest.

Review of MindManager 7 Mac
MindSystems ThemeReader & Text to Speech
InspireData from Inspiration
Odiogo- Adding Accessibility to Blogs
Teacher’s Guide to Mindmapping
TouchGraph Visual Search Engine
FastTrack Schedule 9.2
NovaMind 4 for Mac Released
IntelliGantt Add-in for Mindmanager Pro 7
PersonalBrain 4 Macintosh Released
JVCGantt Pro 3 & MindManager 7-Perfect Together
Vernier’s Labquest Handheld Data Analysis Tool
XMIND for Mindmapping
Hyperstudio 5 to be Released this Fall
LiveScribe- This Isn’t an Ordinary Pen
theRealizer-Mindmanager Add-in
ConceptDraw Mindmap 5 for Macintosh Shipping August 28


Enjoy and let me know what you think-your comments are always welcomed!

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Posted in: ConceptDraw,FastTrack,hyperstudio,inspiredata,IntelliGantt,JVCGantt,livescribe,MindManager,mindmapping,NovaMind 4,Odiogo,PersonalBrain,Schedule,ThemeReader,theRealizer,TouchGraph,XMIND

IntelliGantt Update

FYI
IntelliGantt for MindManager Add-in has been updated. See the Post below that John Milan wrote up for the details.


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We just posted an update to IntelliGantt on our server tonight, mainly for maintenance reasons. I'll list some of the bug fixes shortly but also wanted to touch on which platforms are garnering the most attention. As you might expect, most IntelliGantt customers are using it with SharePoint. And the trend is accelerating (stay tuned to this space for exciting SharePoint developments in the near future).

But you knew that already.

So what do you think is the second most used collaboration platform? If you think the title of this post gives it away, you are right-- the Local Workgroup.

We've recently had a wave of people looking for a simple way to collaborate on a project schedule with their colleagues-- even simpler than setting up a web server. Because IntelliGantt can use a humble file server to collaborate (essentially a 'multi-user' mode) people have been dusting off some basic hardware and letting the tasks fly on their intranets. With IntelliGantt's Local Workgroup, you don't have to repeatedly send email to everyone or copy files hither and yon. It's one location that everyone synchronizes. I'll have to get a better screencast showing it off, but in the meantime here is a peek at it, and an FAQ.

Project management with a file server... who knew? :)

Here are the major fixes/improvements in this update:

1) The Local Workgroup wasn't providing useful error messages when one or more users did not have permission on the file server to update projects. This has been corrected with better reporting when you join and synchronize projects.

2) When using SharePoint, IntelliGantt wasn't handling the absence of a column very well. For example, many people don't need the 'Priority' column int the basic SharePoint task list. When they removed that column, IntelliGantt got confused. Now it looks at the task list schema to see which columns are available and nimbly stays on top of things. (This also lays a bit of foundation for our next SharePoint features).

3) Both the MS Project and MindManager Add Ins had a problem getting user lists from the WSS 2.0 or SharePoint Portal Server 2003 collection. It only affected MS Project 2007 and MindManager 7. The problem would manifest itself by acting as if a project is being published to a SharePoint site, but then falling back to the Share wizard screen. Thanks very much to our friends in the Netherlands for helping us track this one down!

4) If a member was listed as "last name" comma "first name" (ie. Smith, John), MS Project didn't like this. As a result we look for resources with commas and make them acceptable to MS Project so Export and Synchronize work correctly.

5) Finally, we seriously improved the help files for all the products. Thank you Jeff! Visit this page for help file reading pleasure.

Now we're off working on the next great IntelliGantt features. It will be geared toward SharePoint since that is our burgeoning market, but we'll see if we can throw a few things into the Local Workgroup community as well, since that is our fastest growing.

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Posted in: IntelliGantt,IntelliGantt Add-In for MindManager,project management

IntelliGantt Add-In for MindManager Pro 7

I had the opportunity this past week to talk with John Milan from TeamDirection which publishes IntelliGantt Add-In for MindManager, an easy to use project management software application with full synchronization with MindManager Pro 7. During my LiveMeeting session, one of the key features that came into sharp focus and that differentiates IntelliGantt from some of the other project management software with links to MindManager, is the ability to share and collaborate on your projects with your project management team.

Using MindManager Pro 7 on a Windows platform you are able to brainstorm your tasks for a specific project and with a click of the IntelliGantt button synchronize all of the tasks to IntelliGantt Add-In for MindManager. IntelliGantt seamlessly synchronizes all of the data and now you are able to work with the tasks in a project management software application. Once you are in IntelliGantt you are able to drag the timeline bars in the Gantt View and set the percentage of the task completed as well as assign a person to a particular task. While this is important, IntelliGantt takes the process one step further and allows you using either a hosted SharePoint or Groove network to invite your project team members so that they are able to share the project data using nothing more than a browser. IntelliGantt Add-In for MindManager can also be configured to run from a file server right out of the box. Team members can see your topics in a task list, update their priority, percent complete and notes. If your team is more accustomed to using Mindjet MindManager Pro 7 you can publish and synchronize changes to your mind map with your team!. When they are done collaborating they can simply click on a button and see the results right in their mind map.

During my LiveMeeting session with John I was impressed by the ease of use and how well IntelliGantt Add-In for MindManager was integrated with MindManager Pro 7. More importantly this is a tool that will allow your team to collaborate and focus on the tasks at hand as you move through the project. What a great way to keep on top of things in a truly collaborative work space with everyone having access to the pertinent information. One of the missing pieces that is not found in IntelliGantt is the ability to keep on top of costs and expenses for the project. As we know, collaboration is the key, and if you can get everyone on the same track moving in the right direction then projects are more likely to be done on time and in an efficient manner impacting on the bottom line. If your team is one that uses MindManager Pro 7 on a regular basis then you should definitely explore the benefits of using IntelliGantt Add-In for MindManager with your next project. You can download a free trial version of IntelliGantt Add-In for MindManager from the TeamDirection website and give it a try.

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Posted in: IntelliGantt,IntelliGantt Add-In for MindManager,mind mapping,MindManager,MindManager Pro 7,project management

IntelliGantt MindManager Add-In Release Candidate

TeamDirections recently posted information about IntelliGantt on their blog and I thought that you would be interested in finding out more information about this MindManager Add-In.

TeamDirection is just about ready to release its IntelliGantt Add In for MindManager 7 Pro, but we'd like a few volunteers. So far we've confirmed it works in the Netherlands and in South Africa, but there are a lot more countries and PCs out there.

If you'd like to try it out, you can first see what the Add In is about. I could describe it, but the visuals are much more compelling.

OK, I will describe it-- Take you basic MindMap, add an intuitive, interactive Task List and Gantt Chart, mix SharePoint Workspaces and Members and fold in the ability to bi-directionally synchronize updates. Voila, you have an IntelliGantt MindManager Add In.

Hmm... maybe its better to check out the screencast.

Then download it from our site. We do ask you to register, but we will do a 25% discount to all downloaders when we release next week.

Thank you very much for your interest!

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Posted in: IntelliGantt,MindManager