Productivity App of the Month - June: XMind

Sometimes, creative jobs can drum up more questions than they answer. As a result, the creative mindset can be a tangled web of images, phrases and ideas, making it difficult to navigate.

You’ve guessed it - this month’s App is a piece of mind-mapping software.

If you’ve used online hosts such as Mindmeister before, then using XMind won’t be a challenge. A large chunk of XMind’s success is in its ease of use, which leaves your mind free to wander.

There is a reason that XMind stands out, though, and that’s because it’s a downloadable App, rather than a website. Therefore your work is always on your devices, rather than simply floating in the ether.

It’s also a lot easier to manage and edit multiple projects on the go. Xmind allows you to produce Gantt and Fishtail charts – project management tools that are overlooked by its online competitors.

Once you’ve got the bare bones of your map, you can collate themes or relationships through the XMind annotation system, which is more sophisticated then colour-coding, but still easily discernable at a glance.

Finally, being an App rather than a website, you can export your maps into a larger variety of read/write formats (including Word or Powerpoint documents), rather than constantly downloading updates in PDF format.

In short, it’s a simple, clutter-free App that could make a big difference to your project management.