Youi maps project management

Insurance firm, Youi, has deployed mind mapping technology applications as a part of its project management strategy.

Head of information technology at the Queensland based company, Doug Inman, chose to deploy using Mindjet and said it has allowed the department to achieve cost savings across the business.

“We looked at other solutions but it was probably the most intuitive solution,” he said. “It integrates with SharePoint, MS Project and Excel.”

Youi has exported mind maps into more creative software packages in addition to Microsoft products.

“In terms of using the tool and mind maps, you can export it to Flash, play around with it and publish it.”

The software, which maps information visually, is used by some 1.5 million people worldwide. Inman said he continues to use mind mapping as a tool for the business at the executive level.

“I’ve been using mind mapping as a tool for a very long time, and when I entered this company I was informed that they also use it as a way to map ideas and do project management,” Inman said.

“From a project management point of view, most of our management use it as a tool to map out ideas and strategies and break them down into smaller parts.”

Concept or high level ideas can easily be broken up into smaller, manageable parts, he said.

“Without the tool its back to whiteboards; it’s a very powerful communication tool.”

Inman admits it is difficult to quantify the impact of using the tool in monetary terms, but said it can help communicate complex issues within the organisation.

“If there’s a project that’s being considered which is complex and involves many different parts of the organisation, it’s probably the initial tool we use to break it down to see how it can be implemented.”

Youi develops many of its software programs in-house to stay agile, but Inman said he was there was no point reinventing software when tools were already available.

“It makes sense for us to build tools that the business can use…in this case, it didn’t make sense for us to build a tool when we had Mindjet that works perfectly well,” he said.

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