Mind Maps: Expose your thoughts before the research begins
George Shewchuk
Mapping stakeholders, objectives, biases, desires. (reversed out of black for display purposes)
Before you stand on the shoulders of giants, think for yourself.
Whatever tools you use, there is no wrong way to do it. That’s the beauty of thinking out-loud by mapping thoughts around your problem space.
These types of maps or cognitive scaffolds should be developed even before you conduct any formal research. Your personal expertise and tacit knowledge can be fragile when buffered by "expert" opinion and the prevailing research. The point is NOT to be correct but to expose your biases and initiate a conversation about them. A personal bias may in fact point to a very interesting gap. So it’s critical to create these maps in an uninhibited, but thoughtful fashion. (This is of course just one tool of many that you can use while engaged in the early stages of a design-thinking exercise.)
NB: The map segment above was created in Mindnode. It marked the beginning of an awareness program for SUDEP (Sudden, Unexpected Death in Epilepsy).