Idea Map #106 - Franklin Templeton Library Mid-Year Results

Larisa Brigevich is the Director of the Global Research Library at Franklin Templeton. In April 2008 she completed the 5-day Idea Mapping Certification workshop. Her first contribution to this blog was January 7, 2008. I'll let her explain this idea map in her own words. I know her map is quite large, so if you would like the original MindManager map, email me and I will send it to you. For those that don't have MindManager, the pdf version is available on my website. Thanks Larisa!

"This map is a visual summary of the library team's mid-year accomplishments. In the pre-idea mapping past, I'd put this summary in an Excel spreadsheet, ranging between 3 and 5 pages, with information organized by corporate objectives. This time, I've created an idea map instead. I enjoyed working on it more than working on a spreadsheet. Using images to substantiate key concepts such as "raising the bar" made the process more fun.

From the business view point, presenting our numerous accomplishments in a visual format on a single page makes it easier for both, the team and senior management to review (and admire our success :-)). In fact, when I showed the map to the team, the first reaction was "we had no idea how much we'd done during this period". Of course, with a map it is easier to draw connections b/w various activities and add supporting documentations as attachments.

At the top of the map I included corporate priorities, marking them with numbers from one to four. I wanted to attach these numbers or their combinations as images next to various activities/initiatives to link them to corporate priorities."