MindJet MindManager for project planning and more

For project planning, documentation and work breakdown purposes I started using MindManager from MindJet back in 2009. I really like it’s overall features and the connection to Office software. When starting a project I always start with a general layout of the main topics and project highlevel goals or milestones that need to be achieved in order to complete the project and it’s documentation. The software allows me to add all project topics and elements in a structured manner and it’s easy to add or modify things within the project map.

A feature I really use a lot is the “notes feature”. This allows you to describe a topic in detail and together with the topic duration input field I can generate a full Word document that contains the topic’s estimated time of completion, it’s progess, stakeholders and a full description or report about it, it generates the Word document headings based on the map’s structure. Great stuff and pretty usefull! And it mostly looks similar to this:

MindManager basic project layout example
MindManager basic project layout example

By entering startdates, expected duration and relations between topics you are able to generate a Ghantt chart overview of the project, which can be very useful to determine project bottlenecks and other potential risks. Besides using it for project management, control and documentation you can also use it for Getting Things Done and all sorts of other purposes as you can find on the Maps for that! site.

Another great option is to implement MindManager in a business environment in order for people to share maps and collaborate within a map, by adding documents, ideas their own personal maps. Especially suited for Microsoft business environments to use in combination with the Office suite.

How to give a technical training to create a website without creating FTP accounts…

FTP servers to use during multiple training sessions can be a pain in the ass to manage. Creating users, provide them the right credentials by CHMOD them. Assign website root folders to them and what not. Especially in a recurring training for different people this can be quite a hassle… But a solution is near…

Weapon of choice: CODIAD

CODIAD is a web-based IDE framework and is built with simplicity in mind. Allowing for fast, interactive development without the massive overhead of some of the larger desktop editors. That being said even users of IDE’s such as Eclipse, NetBeans and Aptana are finding Codiad’s simplicity to be a huge benefit. While simplicity was key, we didn’t skimp on features and have a team of dedicated developer actively adding more.

  • Support for 40+ languages
  • Plugin Library
  • Error checking & notifications
  • Mutliple user support
  • Editor screen splitting
  • LocalStorage redundancy
  • Advanced searching tools
  • Smart auto-complete
  • Real-Time Collaborative editing
  • Over 20 Syntax color themes
  • Completely Open-Source
  • Easily customized source
  • Runs on your own server
  • Quick-Download backups
  • Maximum editor screen space

Besides all the marketing terms in that one. It actually delivers.

Click here for a Codiad demo or download information.

Learning online with Moodle

ON-LINE OR ONLINE?

Although a few stodgy editors and style guides still recommend the 1990s-style on-line (with a hyphen) for the computing-related adjective, the trajectory of the language favors online. The latter is now considered acceptable by most dictionaries and English usage guides, and most major publications have changed with the times. Perhaps and perhaps more important, online is far more common in popular usage. 
(Grammarist is definitely on to something here)

Online it is. Rightfully as well. Let’s continue…

You can learn all kinds of stuff in your own pace and on your skill level. The fact that there are a lot of sites and tools available through the wonders of the World Wide Web (why web addresses need the // in the URL also leaves me in the dark) definitely helps as well. God dammit I already start to sound a bit (lol) like some nerd already before we even got started. Oh well, you’ll just have to deal with i and it will be better. ok? You with me? I will attempt to remove any clutter from the things I write and get to the point as soon as possible if possible. Starting from.. Now. In my professional life I create on-line learning portals and programs myself.

Weapon of choice? There can be only 1:

MOODLE

It’s open source. Has the biggest active community (Proof me wrong). Actually looks pretty cool now in comparison to the early days, even by default (See the screenshot at the bottom of the post) It takes a bit of time to get around it in an natural way, but when you do it serves your educational needs. Although the huge amount of options (especially in administrator or editing mode) might get you lost sometimes. Once you get around. You get around and take some little quirks for granted.

I installed one on http://www.mauricebakker.nl/learn/ when I modify things I’ll add it to the blog.

Old Moodle used to look like this.. Pretty slick.