Mind Maps Get Smart -- ThoughtOffice Adds Intelligence to Popular Brainstorming Solutions

Portland, OR (PRWEB) December 27, 2007 -- Organizing ideas and the creative process is the domain of mind mapping solutions. Tony Buzan's technique to visualize each separate thought or component of a brainstorm has helped thousands of corporations make sense of creative chaos. But how do companies develop novel ideas in the first place? A new program makes it easy by connecting the dots between disparate concepts, crystallizing ideas.

"ThoughtOffice provides the brains within the brainstorming process," says Mark Alan Effinger, CEO and founder of ThoughtOffice Corporation, makers of ThoughtOffice Innovation Software. "We add associative thinking and smart questions to mind mapping's visual display. Users can quickly multiply their creative output."

Associative thinking software is relatively new - pioneered by Marsh Fisher, Century 21 real estate's founding father. The original program, IdeaFisher, started development in 1976 and was eventually released in 1988 to rave reviews and a receptive audience. The software application used the familiar 6-degrees of separation process to help users find distant but powerful associations based on a word or phrase. To help clarify ideas, Marsh Fisher discovered a system of using questions to drill down on an issue. Then he asked industry leaders to provide their questions to the process.

At about the same time, Tony Buzan published his thesis on visual thinking. Buzan (who has trademarked the name "Mind Map") showed how starting from a central point of focus and spidering out with major topics, then forking into increasingly granular detail can help clarify an idea.

Many firms, including Buzan's. have developed software around the mind mapping process, helping to visualize information.

"ThoughtOffice intelligently expounds on the visualization process. The program provides deep and wide access to up-to-the-minute information and associations critical to the brainstorming and creative process" says Dave Lockman, Product Specialist with ThoughtOffice Corporation. "Working side-by-side with mind mapping software, ThoughtOffice provides the critically important idea-generating elements. It provides breakthrough references necessary to move from problem solving to true innovation".

The ThoughtOffice software application presents three simple interfaces:

1) An outliner to organize "thought particles": the many bits of ideas and concepts generated by ThoughtOffice.

2) A "Topics Browser", loaded with up to 13,755 questions and comments across 16 separate topical areas, from Advertising and Marketing to Product Naming, Speaking, Conflict Resolution and even Private Investigation.

3) Finally, the IdeaBrowser taps real-time linguistics and image databases, providing over 7,690,000 word associations, lyrics, quotes, images, definitions, synonyms and hypernyms.

Combined, these elements work together to quickly solve problems and expand on ideas.

"Working with clients using mind maps has been an excellent experience," says Effinger. "Adding intelligence to their visual diagrams completes the picture for users looking to create smarter results."

ThoughtOffice Innovation Software can be found through dealers and distributors worldwide, and by visiting the ThoughtOffice Innovation Software web site.

About ThoughtOffice:
ThoughtOffice Corporation was founded in 2005 as a solution to individuals and corporations needing to generate lots of real, effective and creative innovations quickly and thoroughly. Founded by one-time developer and apprentice to Marsh Fisher, the company's solutions are used by most of the Global 5000, hundreds of advertising agencies, NASA, Homeland Security, executive coaches and Emmy award-winning screenwriters. based in Vancouver, Washington, the company can be reached at http://www.ThoughtOffice.com or by phone at 360-609-9272.

Mind Maps is ©The Buzan Organisation

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