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MindSights helps knowledge workers find the best thinking tools for the job

A product review by Chuck Frey of InnovationTools.com - 11/22/2004 - reprinted with permission

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MindSights contains over 150 thinking tools that can help you with everything from problem definition and idea generation to strategic planning and process improvement. These tools were created by developer Dennis Heindl as "softbooks" -- a cross between an e-book and a word processing document.

Each facilitated thinking technique is presented in a Microsoft Word template, and contains three parts: An explanation of what the tool is and how it can be used, instructions for using it, and a worksheet that `the user can fill in with his or her ideas.

In many cases, the thinking tools in MindSights can take on the role of a facilitator or coach, prompting the user to think through situations, alternatives and potential solutions. They can also be used with a facilitated work team to provide a focused ideation process. The tools in MindSights create what Heindl calls a "facilitated thinking environment" (FTE).

Heindl envisions three main types of applications for MindSights: As an individual ideation, problem-solving and decision-making tool, as a catalyst with work teams, to direct their efforts in productive, structured directions, or as part of a corporate innovation environment, where all employees have access to a common set of problem solving and planning tools.

Extensive collection of thinking tools

The MindSights facilitated thinking environment includes these thinking tools:

• Improve-it: Improve the performance of a business process, using the Six Sigma methodology.
• Create-it: Use this tool to develop many new ideas.
• Innovate-it: Turn ideas into profit and value.
• Plan-it: This tool contains guidelines to help you plan your next project and prepare for the future.
• Fix-it: Restore the current situation to its past condition.
• Solve-it: Strategies for resolving complex situations.
• Solve it Fast: Tools and strategies to solve any problem in 90 minutes or less.
• Change-it: Personal thinking strategies for change management.
• Observe-it: Find unseen opportunities.
• Define-it: Tools and strategies to help you accurately define a problem and gather relevant data about it.
• Analyze-it: Understand the parts of the current situation and how they relate to one another.
• Systems: Understand the whole.
• Subconscious: Tap into the enormous power of this part of your mind (for ideation and problem solving)
• Decide-it: Make better thought-out decisions.
• Team think: Access the collective intelligence of your team or other group.
• Manage-it: Tools and strategies to help you bring projects in on time and on budget.
• Meetings: Tools and strategies to help you conduct shorter and more effective meetings.
• Question-it: find the right question to ask.

Customize Contents

Because MindSights tools are based on Microsoft Word documents, you can easily customize them to meet the unique needs of your project, team or organization. For example, a particular tool may contain 35 questions; you can easily edit that down to the top 10 questions that most closely match your needs.

Help to select the right tool

One potential challenge of using MindSights is that users might not know which one of the 150 thinking techniques to utilize for the project they're working on. To solve this, Heindl has created the FTE Navigation Grid, a table with clickable links that shows the types of thinking tasks and strategies needed, with hyperlinks to the appropriate thinking tools -- a real time saver.

In addition, the home page of MindSights contains a "What would you like to do?" section, which leads to lists of general and specific problems that users may be trying to solve, and links to the facilitated thinking tools that are best suited to solve them.

Companion workshop

In addition to selling the MindSights facilitated thinking environment soft book, Nth Degree also offers a 2-1/2 hour workshop that teaches you how to utilize its principles. The cost is $65 per person per workshop.

Conclusion

MindSights is an impressive collection of tools and resources, well thought out, clearly written and well-organized. Like a construction worker, who has many different tools in his belt that he can utilize to handle specific tasks, developer Dennis Heindl realizes that today's knowledge workers need a similar "tool belt" of creative problem solving techniques that are specifically tailored to handle specific types of thinking tasks.

The softbook format takes a little bit of getting used to it first (whoever heard of using Microsoft Word as a creative problem solving tool?), but this hypertext/word processing environment quickly feels familiar, and behaves the way you would expect it to. This “open” format also makes it easy for you to copy and paste your ideas into other applications, such as e-mail messages or spreadsheets – a big plus.

The full, integrated set of all of the MindSights softbooks costs $185; it can be purchased from the Nth Degree Website. Individual softbooks for each thinking tool are also available.