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Is anyone aware of an application that allows you to visually map out your relationships?

I work for a Fortune 50 organization and am trying to look across the organization to understand where I have strong relationships, and where I don't but should. Because our organization is so large, this will be a big effort and it seems to me that documenting this might help. I'm thinking of something along the lines of a mind map, and in fact if I can't find anything else, I might go that route.

Curious if anyone else has done something similar and has any ideas. Thanks!

stephenbooth_uk's picture

 If you're looking for something that will just let you visually map out your relationships, not pull information from a backend databaseand build the map, the presumably something like Visio using an Organisation Chart template might do it.

I have a vague recollection of seeing an online tool that would interface to LinkiedIn and let you visually navigate your connections.  Obviously this was limited to your first and second level connections and only that part of your network that is also on LinkedIn.  I don't know if it's still about or has disappeared, it didn't seem that useful so I didn't keep up with it.

If there is a tool out there to do this then I suspect that it would be in the Sales/CRM space.

 Stephen

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Skype: stephenbooth_uk  | DiSC: 6137

"Start with the customer and work backwards, not with the tools and work forwards" - James Womack

 

akinsgre's picture

Here is a video that demonstrates the InMaps functionality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC99Nw2JX8w&feature=player_embedded

Not sure I see a lot of value in the way this displays information.  There are some tools that can map relationships of anything if you create the appropriate data structure (Thinking GraphViz http://www.graphviz.org/Gallery.php but that might be a bit much depending on your technical aptitude)

 

 

 

royd's picture

if you can get the data into a csv format - maybe from the internal phone book - then you can import it into visio as an organisation chart plus you could code extra info that could be represented as colours or shapes on the org chart - i did this a few times to show a large project structure (30 sub projects 5 countries etc) with info on status spend and hours worked for e.g.

Having said that I would actually do this by hand with a big piece of paper - I find the act of writing helps to reinforce the structure and the names for me.

YMMV

Roy

jclishe's picture

Visio is an interesting option, I hadn't thought of that. I think I'll do a quick mock up in both Visio and in something like Freemind and see which, if either, I like better.

I'm not looking to create an org chart. In fact my company provides an online org chart tool on our portal so I can quickly look anyone up and see their reporting structure. But we have 100,000 employees so I'm not going to put this into Visio. :)

Thanks

Jason

stephenbooth_uk's picture

I wasn't suggesting reproducing your company's org chart, just using the template.  The kind of image I had in my mind was you at the top of the structure then the people you know directly and below them the people you know but only through the people you know directly.  Maybe group people by department/function/company so you can see where your network is strong and where it needs some work.

Stephen 

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Skype: stephenbooth_uk  | DiSC: 6137

"Start with the customer and work backwards, not with the tools and work forwards" - James Womack

 

superjac's picture
Training Badge

Just recently I was creating some mind maps though for a different purpose. Perhaps you will like these.  I used Lucid Chart (http://www.lucidchart.com/) I just have the free plan, since I'm not collaborating with anyone. Another good one, is Mind Meister (http://www.mindmeister.com/) which I used to dump the taks on my mind in a sorta visual GTD way.

 

I hope they might be interesting.

Jaclyn

rsshilli's picture

I've been using Mindjet's MindManager Pro for years (http://www.mindjet.com/).  A previous manager of mine kind of forced me into it, and now I use it almost daily.  Mapping all of my relationships (and then looking to see where I need to improve, often with the help of a mentor) is something I do regularly and highly recommend.

stephenbooth_uk's picture

 If you don't have MIndManager for other reasons and don't want to spend to cash on spec then you may be interested in FreeMind:  http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Whilst it's not as fully featured as MindManager is a reasonable basic mind mapping app, and it's free.  Try it, if it works you can consider switching to a commercial product like MindManager.  I have no connection with Freemind or MindManager other than a user of both.

Stephen

 

--

Skype: stephenbooth_uk  | DiSC: 6137

"Start with the customer and work backwards, not with the tools and work forwards" - James Womack

 

rfxvgm's picture

Persoanl Brain will do what you want and much much more in a very easy to use and flexible manner. In my opinion it's great software.

 http://www.thebrain.com/products/pe

Regards

Vince

tedtschopp's picture

What you want is NodeXL.  This might be a bit more than what you are looking for, but it's the tool that professionals use for analysis of social networks.  

http://nodexl.codeplex.com/

Ted Tschopp

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jamesanderson6553's picture

have you tried humanconcepts? I loved it the first time I used it. Visual mapping of relationships of large organizations is made simple with this org chart software. You can allocate values to each individual in a specific department. It will also help you identify areas where you will have to focus on to strengthen relationships. Check this humanconcepts tour

jeffmohr's picture

If you are still looking for a solution, we recently launched a web-based tool to do exactly what you are asking. It allows you to create graphs of your relationships and then change the decorations for the elements and connections based on the data you store for each. Give it a shot and let us know how you like it.

You can see a quick 2 minute overview of the main features here: http://vimeo.com/kumu/welcome

And if you are interested in more, here is a link to the site (http://www.kumupowered.com) as well as a sample map (http://www.kumupowered.com/jeffmohr/the-power-of-kumu/web-2-0).