MindManager is a mind mapping and project management tool that aims to boost usersā productivity. It is designed to facilitate a wide range of project types, and includes cross-platform functionality and 3rd party integrations.
$105
per year
Plutio
ScoreĀ 8.5Ā outĀ ofĀ 10
N/A
Plutio is a project management application from the UK company of the same name, featuring configurable shareable task lists, task notifications and alerts, and a client portal.
I love to outline in MM and its ability to link related maps. Great help to me as a writer! I don't love the export of the outlines. Needs to be a cleaner, simpler look. I work around it, though. I rated the above question 6 only because it's too expensive. I've had it for years and, until recently, got almost every upgrade. I can't afford it now and may have to look for an alternative to keep updated software. Bummer!
Plutio is great for the individual who is constantly on the go, managing a wealth of online information and projects. I can see those who work in education, such as administration, or technology coaches/teacher coaches using a platform like this to stay organized. Freelance or consultants would also benefit as it can manage your digital self.
Task management is excellent. It can be broken down into so many levels and makes it easy to keep track of what needs to be done.
The ability to customize your method of using it is key. Setting it up to both look and work in a way that fits your company and employees is very important and Plutio does this very well.
I find formatting a challenge. Example, make all the boxes the same format and fonts so when you add a box, it understands the format of the top level box.
I have played around with some of the templates but find creating my own each time is better route. The project plan template is very good but I find myself deleting boxes and again, takes more time than creating a new map every time.
I try to get colleagues to use MM but they are intimidated by the UI. I am really comfortable with it but to them it can look more complex than it really is.
The design of the invoices, when I used it, was not as sleek as I would have wanted it to be. There wasn't a proper template that I could use.
Similar to the design of the invoice, there wasn't a proper email template I could use.
The app itself didn't seem to be very secure, when I used it, it seemed to be buggy/clunky in some areas, not updating properly, etc.
When I used this, there wasn't a professional-looking contract, and there was no auto sending of the contract once an action was taken by a client, such as payment. It didn't make for a smooth enough workflow for me.
I feel the main issues of the old Mindjet seem to be gone with the Corel purchase. With the huge advance of sharing via browser HTML even 1 user can affect many. And, actually, using MM kind of forced my rigid brain to rethink how I categorize and classify information/projects.
The idea of paying $69USD for an annual cost is more than fair and a great model for Corel/Mindjet to keep rolling out improvements!
MindManager is very intuitive. The user interface is not cluttered and the ribbon icons are easy to understand. Several excellent "how-to" videos are available on the MindManager site as well as on YouTube. MindManager starts quickly and the user interface is very responsive. Launching other programs from MindManager such as Excel is very fast and issue free. The browsing feature is lightning fast. The drag-and-drop capability is also very fast and reliable.
The GUI is not always so intuitive for non IT people, like some customers. The GUI is still being developed constantly. Leo is very committed to taking this platform forward and making it more and more professional
The application is quick and responsive. We are able to produce mindmaps and reports with ease. The program is not complicated at all and integrates well with software and programs like Microsoft Outlook and Teams, which we truly appreciate.
I have called technical support a few times. During the COVID Crisis, I called a few times repeatedly due to a rush request. The technical support guy called me back in minutes. He somehow knew that I had called repeatedly and wanted to make sure my issue was resolved immediately
I have only needed to reach out for support once and got a quick response. There was an issue with the Mac app, but I knew it was in beta. Leo, the owner, was quick to reply thanking me for letting him know about the issue, that the Mac app is still in beta, and that I can use the web version in the meantime until the bug was fixed.
The videos are not well categorized...I had to do a bit of digging to get what I wanted and many videos on older versions. If Mindjet was to improve the titles used that would help.
Both are equally good. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is used to get the models in a more technical format in comparison to the MindManager. MindManager is easier to use in comparison to Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect. MindManager makes collaboration easy and can be understood by a layman and does not need to have specific software training.
I have tried Suite Dash, Agiled, FlowLu throughout the process of finding a tool that fits our business the best. Plutio was the easiest to deploy and use by far. The other systems had more features and capability but was pretty difficult to learn how to use and set up. We were up and running with Plutio in a matter of hours with a business process, rather than a spreadsheet and an independent proposal and invoicing process.
When scope planning before I was introduced to this tool, I needed to make one master Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for the entire project and move on. With MindMapper, I typically generate about 20 WBS-like charts throughout the project, which encouraged conversation with staff members. The major key in such ease of use has been some well thought out and very intuitive keystroke planning that allows me to keep up with the free flow of ideas.
This software's cross-functional capability allowed 10 engineers to create their projects directly within their own environment without use of a virtual machine.
