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Hi all,

[i]BLUF[/i] : has anybody writen summaries of the main ideas of the podcats that could be shared (preferably in mindmaps form) ?

I really enjoy listening to the podcasts, and I often find a couple of ideas I would like to write down... but most of the time I am driving when listening...
Hence the "bluf"

Thanks,

Olivier
PS: greetings from a rainy Geneva, Switzerland.

itilimp's picture
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Hi there, I take notes from the podcasts using Mindjet's Mind Manager. They aren't nice pretty mindmaps with images and colours - just the basic points to help me remember things and refer back. I haven't worked my way through the entire archive yet, but as long as it's okay with Mark and Mike to be sharing notes then you're welcome to copies of what I have so far.

olivier's picture

Hi itilimp,

I'll be glad to use your notes, and could maybe help with taking notes for a couple of podcasts you have not been able to adress yet.

I let you check with the Ms ;-) and come back to me.

Thanks,

O.

sholden's picture
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I have made a couple of MindMaps of some podcasts. I'm not sure how or if they should be shared.

I'd be willing to do this and share them if there was a good procedure and MT was OK with it.

Steve

garyslinger's picture
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[quote="sholden"]I have made a couple of MindMaps of some podcasts. I'm not sure how or if they should be shared.

I'd be willing to do this and share them if there was a good procedure and MT was OK with it.

Steve[/quote]

I did the same with a couple of the casts when I was updating my website regularly - www.garyslinger.com. They're still up there. I have a lot more, but for obvious reasons haven't pushed them all out to the web.

I'm pretty sure Mark was OK with the limited publishing though - http://garyslinger.com/blog/2006/01/31/manager-tools-managing-your-boss/... :)

I should really get back on track with updating that site - maybe after a MT 'cast on procrastination!

G.

M.Briesen's picture

Hi all!

[quote="olivier"]
[i]BLUF[/i] : has anybody writen summaries of the main ideas of the podcats that could be shared (preferably in mindmaps form) ?
[/quote]

I have got some mindmaps too, but I'm also driving or cycling while listening therefore I don't do it regurlarly. Then I thought sharing mindmaps would be a good idea. We could collect information from all podcasts together as a comunity. MindMaps are great and I like them but it is difficult to setup "shared mindmaps". Maybe a wiki could help...

Mark, Mike, how about setting up MT-Pedia? I am sure that all your listener (including me) are going to help filling it up with usefill summary information to your podcasts. All the already existing MindMaps could be linked from there as well.

So, what do you (and the other listeners) think?

Marcus.

P.S.: And thank you very much for the site and all your very helpful information. I really enjoy listening to you.

itilimp's picture
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Don't get me wrong, I'm all for sharing.

However, given that Mark and Mike have premium membership coming which includes the collateral materials (slideshows, transcripts, etc.) I wouldn't want something like a MT wiki to impinge on their ability to maintain Manager Tools as a business venture. If, as you'd want of a wiki, it became a really excellent resource for Manager Tools notes, hints, tips etc., then I suspect that might reduce the number of people who would pay for premium content.

Thoughts?

garyslinger's picture
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[quote="itilimp"]Don't get me wrong, I'm all for sharing.

However, given that Mark and Mike have premium membership coming which includes the collateral materials (slideshows, transcripts, etc.) I wouldn't want something like a MT wiki to impinge on their ability to maintain Manager Tools as a business venture. If, as you'd want of a wiki, it became a really excellent resource for Manager Tools notes, hints, tips etc., then I suspect that might reduce the number of people who would pay for premium content.

Thoughts?[/quote]

Thus my comment about "for obvious reasons"... I can't remember the timing exactly, but I think the "Managing Your Boss" map I put up predated the premium content being fully locked in, concept wise (or at least, announced to us lot). That's why I've kept the others I've done private.

G.

cincibuckeyenut's picture

Quite frankly, I don't think membership providing added value in this way would hamper MT as a business venture one bit. In fact, it is the way of the net and works incredibly well for many business ventures. I would think the kind of content you mention would increase the value and would therefore increase membership and the business proposition, not to mention, help further their true goal of making managers better or whatever the exact words they use are.

Check with them first, but I would be shocked if they said no. And there are some great ideas on here.

aspiringceo's picture

Hi guys,

I'm enjoying this discussion but need to ask what "BLUF" means as its not an expression i have heard this side of the atlantic

itilimp's picture
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Good Question. As far as I know it is short for "Bottom Line Up Front". I don't know if there is another definition that was intended?

olivier's picture

You're right itilimp, it is one of the recommendation from a podcast about using emails : always state the most important point in the first line of the email "Bottom Line Up Front".

My 2 cents about sharing notes.
I do not mean to do any wrong to Mark and Mike, but, or rather "and" as Mark would recommend ;-), I consider that sharing my own notes do not interfer with anything M&M would like to sell, simply because my notes are mine (even if they are from M&M "production"), and their supporting publications that could be sold are theirs.
And according to Mark's very positive reaction to garyslinger post (see above), we might be overeacting a bit...

Maybe Mark, you could give your though about that point here ?

Thanks to all !

aspiringceo's picture

thanks, and once you said what it was I remembered the podcast, now theres a good argument for using mindmaps

RayShan's picture

I'm also pretty good with MindMaps, and would love to help if we were to aggregate maps for all podcasts for sharing. Of course we need OK from Mike and Mark beforehand.

Mark's picture
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All-

Mike and I have been discussing this at length, trying to balance many competing factors: community, copyright, and economics, to name a few. Sorry this has taken a few days.

[b]We're going to ask you not to provide this service to your fellow members.[/b]

Before I address this request specifically, I thought I'd share a post that I wrote the other night:

[i]A couple of thoughts on premium content:

Podcasts will always be free.

FREE.

FOREVER.

We're growing subscribers pretty well, and don't think of paid subscriptions as driving more listeners.

We will NOT EVER do some something like a cliff hanger. I'll go back to making myself rich and anonymous first. I like who I see in the mirror now, and am not willing to become someone I'm not to pay my bills.

Premium content is, for now, to be PowerPoints, transcripts and related documentation for all casts.

15 bucks, we think, is tolerable. That will allow you to build the best managerial how to book EVER.

We figure there will be a lot of folks who never subscribe, and still get the podcasts. Lucky them! We don't consider that at odds with our values or our mission... QUITE THE CONTRARY.

Sure, we need income. We could go get venture capital...and lose control. That worries us... for your sake. We actually... care.

We do maintain tight copyrights on our material. Our podcasts are free only for your personal use.

It's possible that we won't get too many subscribers. That would endanger our future. We'll see.

Just to be clear, if we were in this for the money, we wouldn't be in this.

And we think that the value we deliver ought to be recognized economically.

AND...Podcasts will always be free.[/i]

That shared, Mike and I agonize over these issues pretty regularly. In this case, we simply feel that:

(A) We would be allowing the violation of our dearly acquired copyrights, to the point where our ability to defend them would be eroded, and we already have problems there, sadly. Remember that our podcasts are free for your personal use only - posting or emailing derived notes violates that copyright.

(B) We could be seriously damaging our revenue model, reducing the amount of premium subscriptions we would get. Insofar as our pricing is quite low, and based on volume, an easily available free alternative is a significant threat. We need to make some money. We have both taken enormous financial risks to make this work - we have no other income. The costs here are mounting... there's a time issue at work as well.

(C) While the community model is something we love, and try to create and maintain, the fact is that we are not a community in the purest web sense often used today... that usage implies total libertarian equality (often web/tech enabled, like Digg) amplified through aggregation. In our case, while it may sound elitist to say so, we're not all equal - Mike and I bring special value to the table. So, the open source model breaks down a little at some point, and we think it does so about now for this activity.

We're thrilled that the sense of community has evolved (read about how to do it - it's delicate) to the point where such offers are being made. We hope that our request for restraint here is seen not as limiting that, but as attempting to avoid the tragedy of the commons.

We're open to feedback on this, and further discussion. We also know that premium content being available will make things easier for you. We want to do that, but also want to do it well.

Respectfully,

Mark

garyslinger's picture
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No worries.

For exactly the reason that I stopped posting maps in the first place - you hadn't disclosed your future plans at the time; once you had, it wouldn't be fair, reasonable, whatever.

As soon as you have the premium model worked out, I'm interested....

See you in Tampa early next year, hopefully....

G.

Mark's picture
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Gary-

Tampa will either be January 21 (Sunday) or 23 (Tuesday). I am with a client Monday the 22nd.

Any thoughts on location?

Ybor City? :wink:

Mark

garyslinger's picture
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[quote="mahorstman"]Gary-

Tampa will either be January 21 (Sunday) or 23 (Tuesday). I am with a client Monday the 22nd.

Any thoughts on location?

Ybor City? :wink:

Mark[/quote]

Heh. Whatever date works for you - Ybor's where we send the tourists though! Your (and my!) prediliction towards cigars has been noted - I'll see what I can have waiting. Tampa isn't known as CigarTown for nothing.

Terrible that life is, I'm going to be in Key West 25-29 Jan :) It's taken a while, but I think I'm adjusting to this living in America thing....

G.

itilimp's picture
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*nods* I understand and respect your decision on this so won't share my mind maps of your podcasts with others.

On another note though, any chance that you and Mike would provide mindmaps as one of those other forms of documentation? I find it much easier to absorb information that way than in prose.

Thanks!

RayShan's picture

Your copyrights shall always be respected by the community.

It's the first time I heard about the Tampa event. Timing and location should work out for me. I'd love to be there.

sholden's picture
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Thanks for the clarification. No worries from this listener.

Keep up the good work.

Steve