Early Reviews for MindManager Add In

We're still finalizing the press release, but two early reviews for the IntelliGantt Add In for MindManager are in. Chuck Frey and Brian Friedlander, Ph.D, have both taken a look and have liked what they've seen. We are really pleased here at TeamDirection that our Add-In is hitting the mark.

Dr. Friedlander hits the nail on the head by observing

"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."

We do believe IntelliGantt software takes project management to the next level by including the team. What's more, we are very happy to use either our own rich desktop application or an industry leading web solution like SharePoint. Whichever works for your team.

We're especially happy to have a Mind Mapping expert like Chuck Frey give us what we consider to be the ultimate compliment:

"The application's design is simple and straightforward; you don't have to be be a project software guru to figure out how to use it."

What good is a whiz-bang tool if nobody knows how to use it? It's the same theory that Mind Maps are based on, we've just given it a little nudge into the collaborative project management realm.

Thank you Mr. Frey and Dr. Friedlander. We look forward to working with you and the Mind Mapping community.

IntelliGantt MindManager Add In Released

We started thinking about an Add In for MindManager way back in January. Call it a 'New Years Resolution'. I'm very pleased to announce this is one resolution we have kept!

We just released our Add In for MindManager and the results are quite impressive. Not only can you schedule topics like some of the other MindManager Add Ins, but you can Share them with your team and Synchronize the updates in your map. We think its a perfect left-brain/right-brain marriage.

We have a few screencasts, of course. You'll also notice this Add In is treated as a 'top tier' product-- meaning all our web navigation had to be updated.

Many thanks to the team for putting in an outstanding effort with this one. It's a very nice complement to our MS Project Add In. MindManager, MS Project and our own IntelliGantt application all represent different ways to create rich project content. Where we bring the added value is by adding a multiplier: making that rich project content interactive for your team. The larger the team, the larger the multiplier.

Consider a team of ten. How much easier will it be when you can create and schedule in the tool of your choice and include your team without having to constantly be on the phone, walking the halls or even recovering from double-entry (or worse, overwrite) mistakes?

We think enhancing team productivity is hugely valuable too. Now I suppose the question is, what Add In should we do next? :)

IntelliGantt MindManager Add-In Release Candidate

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!

IntelliGantt Add-In for MindManager

Another new product from TeamDirection. It's an Add-In, only this time its for Mindjet's MindManager. Much like our Add-In for MS Project, the IntelliGantt Add-In for MindManager hooks seamlessly into the tool bar (yes, even the new ribbon), lets you publish topics and subtopics to a SharePoint task list and synchronizes everyone's update back into the original map.

If that sentence was a mouthful, check out the screecast and see it in action. In it you will see how we incorporate our nifty task list and interactive gantt chart into the MindManager environment. This lets you easily schedule topics and subtopics to harness and organize out-of-the-box free-form thinking.

What's more, using our IntelliGantt sharing capabilities, its just a couple clicks to share a scheduled map in to a SharePoint or Groove task list. But that's not the end of the story as all IntelliGantt projects maps are bidirectional. This means the topics and subtopics you publish to SharePoint and Groove can be modified by people using only their browser or a Groove client. Best of all, these updates can be incorporated back in to the original map.

If you haven't already, go scroll back up and view the screencast. We're shooting to release it in the near future. If you'd like to test it for yourself, contact sales at teamdirection.com.

The IntelliGantt Add-In for MindManager works with WSS 2.0 and WSS 3.0 (learn what I learned about SharePoint versions). This means it will work with the core (free, as in beer) SharePoint services and the top-of-the-line Portal Servers (2003 and MOSS; not free).

No more import/export, double-entry or other machinations to put your maps into a collaboration system. TeamDirection has made it as easy as drag-n-drop scheduling and 1-2-3 click to share and synchronize with your team.

Polling Our Audience

If you've been to our home page recently, you probably noticed our poll. If you didn't notice our poll, then you must have been talking on your cell phone and driving 'cause its pretty hard to miss. But just in case:

Take Our Poll

I thought it would be both fun and useful to see what customers and potential customers have to say with respect to projects currently underway in house. What I'm quite pleased about is the top two poll answers are the two projects closest to completion. How's that for marketing serendipity!

There should be a demo of the MS Project Add In next week, which is good timing as we are going over to Microsoft next week to talk to the project group. I'm hoping for general availability in the third week of January with a price point of $199.

The Basecamp integration is going well, but since its a bit more complicated, look for a demo by the end of the month with general availability in February.

I also noticed the MindManager Add In is quite popular, so we probably shouldn't wait too long for that. In fact, it's possible it may pass Basecamp integration as the second most requested feature.

Unless the Basecamp audience has something to day about that :)

Here's to an exciting 2007!

A Face For Radio, A Voice For Writing

Just created a couple of flash demos for our beta narrated by yours truly. It was fun. Trying to distill an incredibly powerful feature into 20 or so shots with a crisp storyline and helpful commentary was a bit more difficult than I thought. Throw in a sore throat, lots of tea and a few lozenges and you get two demos.

Sorry about the voice, though. Would you believe I took an acting class while in college? Amazingly enough, I actually remembered a few of the ennunciation exercises. Who knew it would come in handy as a senior architect at a software firm.

Demo #1 shows TeamDirection publishing MindManager topics and subtopics to a SharePoint server-- and a hosted one at that (free publicity for you, Apptix). Team members then use their browser to update an assigned task in the task list. TeamDirection gathers the latest data and reports back to MindManager. We still have to package it nicely with our site layout, but you can get a direct, sneak peak here.

Demo #2 is similar, but this time TeamDirection publishes MS Project tasks and subtasks to a Groove workspace. Groove doesn't actually ship with a Task List, so TeamDirection provides one for you. It's similar to the SharePoint Task List, and only people with proper permissions can update their tasks. Once again, TeamDirection gathers the latest data and reports back to MS Project. Again, nice packaging to follow, but you can get a direct, sneak peak here.

These demos show TeamDirection Project Plus 2007. If you like what you see, go download the beta here and share a task or topic today.

And to show our appreciation for taking the time try out our beta, we are providing a special discount. Its weighted such that the sooner you try the beta, the better the discount will be when you purchase.

I know it will start at 30% on Nov 6, and decrease 1 basis point per day until we release. I'll update this post as soon as I know the link.

Thanks to everyone for making this a great product!