Thx for this great post. I see a lot of value in your approach. Especially with regard to giving structure during problem understanding and ideation which might help in some situations. (Yes, also ideation as in my experience, mind mapping is indeed a good tool to open up the idea space and generate novel approaches).

On the other hand I feel, that the structure (via the 5 branches) dampens the free association aspect of mind maps (you call it random associations). Connecting unrelated, random thinking paths and thoughts very often lead to creative outcome. Where do you see this aspect in your novel map?

Could you please elaborate more on what makes the better mind map better in your experience? For which use cases would you use the better mind map or the “traditional” one respectively?

Thx for your thoughts as I currently think a lot about novel twists on this technique, too.