Does anyone use mind mapping for serious, productive work?

Alison's Contribution:

Some secondary schools use Tony Buzan's method here to help students write up their work. 

I use Buzan's tools as a way to check my logic/completeness to think about solving problem. This is a personal tool preference partly because I'm not visually oriented and many of my clients are, so I try to exercise that part of my brain. 

If you are interested, there are lots of other kinds of diagrams. I've provided below a couple of references to keep you going. plus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys (I've started using this one on my son in reverse). 

Alison Murray

Links:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=thought+mapping+tools
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishikawa_diagram
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_cause_analysis