mind_mapping v1.0.0

name: "mind_mapping" description: "Builds mind maps that stay useful: start from a core question, enforce branch discipline, turn study maps into notes and recall practice, turn project maps into owned actions, and review maps on a schedule so they keep changing with your understanding. Triggers when someone asks to mind map a topic, organise a subject visually, plan a project on one page, or fix a map that has become a messy poster." metadata: { "includeInPrompt": true }

Mind Mapping

Purpose

Use a mind map to think on one page: one centre, a small set of branches, keywords instead of sentences, and links across branches. This skill covers two jobs that share the same discipline. A study map organises a topic so it can be recalled and explained. A project map organises work so it can be checked for missing pieces and converted into actions. A map that is never converted and never reviewed is decoration. This skill prevents that outcome.

Workflow

1. Write the core line first. For a study map, write one core question the map must answer, ending with a question mark. For a project map, write one goal line with scale and time in it. Put it directly under the centre. If the core line cannot be written, stop and clarify the topic before drawing anything.
2. Choose 3 to 7 main branches. Each branch answers a different part of the core question or covers a different part of the goal. Typical study branches follow the structure of the topic: inputs, stages, outputs, limits, examples, disputes. Typical project branches are scope, people, logistics, money, risks, timeline, and follow-up. Merge any two branches that would hold the same leaves.
3. Fill branches evenly, two levels deep. Use one idea per line. Branch labels get 1 to 3 words, leaf labels get 1 to 5 words, and full sentences go in notes, never on the map. Fill every branch to two levels before going deeper anywhere. Cap depth at 4 levels under a branch. Past that, split the branch into its own map.
4. Add cross-links with reasons. Add at least one link between two different branches and write why it holds, in the form "Cross-link: A affects B because ...". In a study map, cross-links are the points worth testing. In a project map, read cross-links as dependencies and give each one an owner.
5. Write the map in the text format and lint it. Follow the format shown in references/study-map-photosynthesis.md: a # Centre line, a Core question: or Goal: line, ## Branch headings, and indented - keyword lines. Run python3 bin/mindmap.py lint <file> --mode study or --mode project. Fix every error. Fix warnings about long labels and duplicates before adding more detail.
6. Convert the map, do not just keep it. For a study map, run python3 bin/mindmap.py to-notes <file> to get linear notes grouped by branch plus recall prompts for each branch. For a project map, mark finished planning leaves as - [ ] action in the map, then run python3 bin/mindmap.py to-actions <file> to extract the action list grouped by branch. Add an owner and a date to every extracted action before calling the plan ready.
7. Plan the reviews at creation time. Run python3 bin/mindmap.py review-plan --start YYYY-MM-DD --mode study or --mode project and put the dates where the user keeps commitments. Study reviews are recall work: redraw the map from memory on a blank page, answer the prompts without looking, teach it out loud, then check against the original. Project reviews are checks: coverage against scope, owners and dates on actions, risks and dependencies, then pruning finished branches.
8. Revise the map at each review. Add missing branches in a different colour on paper, or as new lines in the text file. Split branches that grow past 7 sub-branches. Delete branches that turned out to be wrong and note why in the notes file. A map that looks identical after a month of study or work has stopped tracking reality.

Output Contract

A finished delivery contains:

• The map itself, in the text format, passing bin/mindmap.py lint with no errors
• The core question or goal line, stated at the top of the map and repeated in the delivery message
• The conversion output: notes with recall prompts for a study map, or an action list with an owner and a date per action for a project map
• Dated review sessions from review-plan, with the review method named for each date
• A short note on what was left off the map and where it lives instead, such as full definitions, long explanations, or sequential procedures

Operating Rules

1. Accuracy rule: every factual claim in a map or its notes must trace to a verified source. See references/research-brief.md for the evidence base used here. Never invent numbers, dates, or quotes. Unverifiable material gets cut or labelled as opinion or open question on its own branch.
2. Report the evidence honestly. Mind mapping has support, with limits. Farrand, Hussain, and Hennessy (2002) found a small recall advantage that held after a week in 50 medical students, with a wide confidence interval and lower motivation among new users. Say that when a user asks whether mapping works. Never promise a fixed percentage gain in retention or grades.
3. Review means recall, not rereading. Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) rated practice testing and distributed practice as the two high utility study techniques, and rereading as low utility. A review session that only looks at the map again does not count as a review in this skill.
4. Pick the right tool for the job. Use a concept map when links between ideas must be labelled and judged as claims, a plain outline when material is strictly sequential, a table for comparing the same fields across many items, and a question bank for isolated facts. State the switch and the reason when you make it. Detail is in references/mapping-rules.md.
5. Keep visual claims in their place. On paper, follow the classic guidelines: central image, colour per branch, images and symbols, curved lines. In a text map, carry the same jobs with headings, structure, and cross-links, and say plainly that the text version is a working draft. If a map will be studied for weeks or shown to other people, recommend one redraw with colour and images.
6. One map, one job. Never combine a study map and a project map in one file. Build two maps and reference each other by name.
7. Worked examples are starting points, not templates to copy blindly. references/worked-maps.md explains why the photosynthesis study map and the repair workshop project map are branched the way they are. Copy the reasoning, then choose branches that fit the new core question.