RunsheetFacilitation

Mind Mapping

ComplexityLow

Time15-45 min

Participants1-10

FormatWorkshop + async

MaturityCanonical

Preparation

What needs to be ready before start

Materials

Whiteboard, A3 paper, or Miro/FigJam board with central node; pens in at least three colors; timer; prepared guiding question as one sentence; a list of sources participants can open in parallel.

People / roles

A facilitator who holds the guiding question and clustering rules; one to nine co-thinkers with expertise related to the question; one optional scribe for post-session digital redraw.

Pre-read

Guiding question in one sentence; context and target artifact (for example backlog input, glossary, stakeholder brief); known terms or tags already established and intended to be reused.

Time needed

15-45 min

Setup

Write the guiding question in the center. Create four to six main branches or leave them empty depending on maturity. Set timer for first phase. Rule: start silently, no evaluation in first 5 minutes.

Core question

The one question this method answers

Which terms, subtopics, and relationships around the guiding question are relevant, and which gaps become visible?

Flow

Marker: Minute

Step	Duration	Action	Hint
10-3 min	3 min	Place the guiding question centrally and sharpen it to one sentence. If the question contains more than one idea, split into two maps.	Vague questions such as "our products" create arbitrary maps. Sharpen until a concrete decision or learning objective is central.
23-13 min	10 min	Collect main branches silently or in rotation. Limit to up to seven branches, with one noun or short phrase each. No sentences, no evaluation.	If a branch already contains a solution ("Migration to X"), place it as subtopic under a broader theme, not as a main branch.
313-30 min	17 min	Add sub-branches two to three levels deep. Mark cross-links with arrows or a second color. Park open questions separately.	At more than four levels of depth, the map loses purpose. Better open a new main branch or move detail to a follow-up artifact.
430-40 min	10 min	Mark clusters and gaps. Select three to five relevant areas for next steps with owner and follow-up artifact.	A mind map without selection is still only brainstorm output. If no three areas are marked, the result is not translated into next work.

Artifact

What comes out at the end

Form

Digitally redrawn mind map with guiding question, labeled branches and sub-branches, marked cross-connections, separate list of open questions, and selection of three to five prioritized areas with owner.

Versioning / ownership

Use date and guiding question slug in filename. Store follow-up iterations as copies with version number; do not overwrite prior maps. Keep selected prioritized areas separately in a markdown outline.

Tool alternatives

Miro or FigJam with mind-map template
XMind or MindNode for pure mind-mapping
Obsidian Canvas or Whimsical for persistent knowledge maps
Photo of analog whiteboard with redraw in markdown outline

mind-mapping-working-template.md

Compact working template for Mind Mapping with central topic, branches, clusters, and open questions.

Mind Mapping Working Template

Goal

Expand a central topic into branches, clusters, and related ideas.

Context

When and for what do we use this method?

Input

Which data, observations, decisions, or materials are available?

Working area

Central topic:
Main branches:
Subtopics:
Clusters and relationships:
Open questions:

Output artifacts

Mind map:
Topic clusters:
Follow-up questions:

Open questions

Next step

Owner, date, and success signal.

Example output

Concrete filled scenario, fictional example

mind-mapping-beispiel.md

Concrete filled scenario, fictional example

Mind Map: Onboarding friction for new B2B customers (12.05.2026)

Guiding question: Where do new B2B customers lose momentum in the first 14 days, and what levers does the team have?

Main branches:

Account setup (Sub: SSO, role rights, domain whitelist, missing self-service imports)
First data imports (Sub: CSV errors, API limits, unclear mapping documentation)
Training (Sub: video course outdated, no live onboarding after plan S)
Support (Sub: ticket assignment days 1-14, Slack Connect not enabled for all)
First success moments (Sub: dashboard empty, no demo dataset)

Cross-links: Training -> first success moments, data imports -> support.

Symptom

The map looks like a tree without cross-references, although themes are clearly connected.

What to do

Plan a dedicated phase for a second color. The facilitator asks "which node also belongs to...?" and enforces at least three cross-links.

Stop criteria

Done signals checkable in under a minute

The guiding question cannot be stated in one sentence or contains multiple independent topics.

No participant has subject-matter familiarity with the question, all contributions are hearsay.

The goal is a decision with clear options, then a Decision Matrix or Decision Jam is better.

Substantial prep already exists (glossary, domain map), and new map only duplicates content.

Group is larger than twelve, parallel contributions become hard to moderate.

The result must be persistently versioned and traceable; then a more structured format such as Concept Map or Knowledge Map is better.

Finished the runsheet?

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