Dashboard Maps

ResultsManager 2
© Gyronix 2003 - 2007 All Rights Reserved
Table of Contents
The Basics
What is ResultsManager?
Getting Started
Using Express mode
What is Express mode?
Getting started in Express mode
Entering Activities
Creating a Dashboard
Working from your Dashboard
Implementing 'GTD' with ResultsManager
About "Getting Things Done"
How do you plan your day?
Get in control of MindManager
Choose where to use ResultsManager
Terminology Basics
Tell ResultsManager who you are
Review the Implementation Plan
Setting up your Master Lists
Organise your maps
Add Activities
Visualise your Projects
Create a Dashboard
Take Action
Review and refine
Purchasing License Keys
ResultsManager Standard and Professional compared
Purchasing License Keys
Using Power User mode
What is Power User mode?
Configuring ResultsManager
Configuring Options
Creating and Editing Activities
Inserting a new Activity
The Edit dialogue
Project, Result or Next Action?
Committed or Someday-maybe?
Setting start and due dates
Priority, Duration and Status
Assigning Contexts
Assigning Owners
Assigning Categories and Areas
Setting activities as Lists
De-activating Activities
Finishing the Edit
Editing multiple Activities
Working with Dashboard maps
What is a Dashboard map?
Generating Dashboard maps
Regenerating Dashboard maps
Default Dashboard maps
Working from your Dashboard map
Customising Dashboard maps
Dashboard configuration options
Managing Dashboard maps
Editing Dashboard definitions
Dashboard templates and filters
Adding filters to Dashboard maps
Reports in Dashboard maps
Synchronising with Outlook
Outlook synchronisation overview
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How the MindManager connection to Outlook works
How ResultsManager handles synchronisation with Outlook
Getting started with Outlook Synchronisation
How extra information is handled
How completed tasks are handled
Advanced topics
Appendices
A: Glossary of terms
B: MindManager Essentials
C: Menu commands and shortcuts
D: The List Picker Dialogue
E: Dashboard Filters
F: Dashboard Report Keywords
G. Dashboard Template Properties
H: System Requirements
J: Installing and uninstalling
K: MindManager 6 and Categories
Frequently Asked Questions
Installation and Licensing
Editing Activities
Creating and using Dashboards
ResultsManager and 'GTD'
Microsoft® Outlook and PDAs
Other questions
Try the demonstration maps
Tips and Tricks
Other Stuff
About Gyronix
Keeping up to date
Obtaining support
Disclaimers
ResultsManager License Agreement
Copyright and Trademarks
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The Basics
What is ResultsManager?
Using MindManager® software for brainstorms, project planning, meeting notes, problem
solving or creative thinking is highly productive, very addictive and a lot of fun. You quickly
discover that you and your team know a lot more than you thought you did, and you can
rapidly create sophisticated concepts from a few initial ideas. This is the real power of
visualisation and focus, and is the reason that MindManager is the market leader.
In all of these maps, some items will require action to deliver them. Some of the more
complex maps will contain not only multiple actions, but sequences of things that must be
done in a certain order, by different people, with deadlines.
So what happens when you have ten, twenty or more of these maps alive at the same time,
each containing something that is important to you embedded in them? How do you keep
track of your commitments without re-entering and reorganising them somewhere else, and
losing your project focus in the process?
Gyronix Dynamic Planning System
ResultsManager provides the best of both worlds - graphic visualisation of projects and all
their related information and thinking, and dynamically created action lists for taking action
and managing your time.
ResultsManager sweeps maps looking for incomplete activities, and dynamically creates
"dashboards" that give you an immediate overview of all your open action items. These
dashboards are designed to help you take action on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Each
day, you can focus on what you need to do next to maintain momentum. Each week or
month, you can review and re-prioritise your projects and workload, to keep aiming at your
longer term outcomes.
ResultsManager is perfect for visually implementing David Allen's internationally renowned
productivity system, Getting Things Done. It does this by
 Helping you visually define the successful project, outcome or action that you want to
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achieve
Choosing completion or review dates for time-critical activities
Identifying where you can complete this activity (e.g. on the phone, at the office, or on
the train)
Creating "Dashboard" maps that draw together all your projects and next-action items,
reorganised into lists, so that you can easily review, prioritise and schedule your work.
ResultsManager gives you timely answers to very practical questions such as
 What is my next action on the Cost Reduction project?
 Do I have next-action items on all my committed projects?
 What issues from the last month do we need to address at the next marketing team
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meeting?
What phone calls must I make today?
Which of my "Someday-Maybe" projects should I activate?
But what happens when your projects involve other people? How can you keep track of
responsibilities or delegated actions without using complex project management software?
ResultsManager also tracks who is doing what, and who they are doing it for, so that you
can share maps with colleagues. You only need one project plan that everyone accesses,
not a separately maintained to-do list for each member - ResultsManager creates these
dynamically.
Getting Started
If, like most people, you want to see something happen, then try the following:
 If you have not run the Express Setup Wizard yet, then
o Click the ResultsManager tab | Options group | ResultsMerlin
o Select the "Express Setup Wizard"
o Provide answers to the Wizard's questions. When it asks you if you want to create
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a Map Central map, select "Yes", and also answer "Yes" when it asks you if you
want it to create a first Dashboard map. ResultsMerlin will create a personalised
demonstration map using some sample projects.
If you have already run the Express Setup Wizard, then click on the ResultsManager
tab | Help group | Demonstration, then click the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard
group | Create Dashboard.
Go to the section on Using Express mode to start working with the Daily Actions
Dashboard.
Daily Actions Dashboard example
ResultsManager v2 and "Getting Things Done"
ResultsManager is much more than an Add-in for the leading visualisation software,
MindManager. It is a complete process for managing activities, and can replace to-do lists in
many cases, together with project plans drawn on napkins, envelopes and whiteboards.
Although ResultsManager is fairly simple to use, the challenge of getting all your activities
organised consistently should not be underestimated - and neither should the rewards.
The chapter on Implementing Getting Things Done with ResultsManager takes you a step at
a time through the process of organising your activities and using ResultsManager to help
you focus and deliver them.
Using Express mode
What is Express mode?
Express mode is designed for users who are new to ResultsManager, and who want to
understand its capabilities and use it productively without too many options and details.
When you are comfortable with Express mode, you can migrate to Power User mode for
more advanced features and options.
To select Express mode, click the ResultsManager tab | Options group | User Mode, then
select Express mode:
Selecting Express mode
Selecting Express mode and clicking OK will automatically open the Express mode options
dialogue, so that you can update your options for working in Express mode.
You can run the Express Setup Wizard from the Express Mode Options dialogue or by
clicking the ResultsManager tab | Options group | ResultsMerlin.
Express mode provides:
 Simpler dialogues for entering Activities, creating Dashboards and editing Dashboards
 Simpler Option configurations
Express Mode temporarily overrides the Power User mode option settings. Refer to the
Dashboards FAQ section for details of the settings used.
Getting started in Express mode
Getting started in Express mode will only take a few seconds.
First, check you are in Express mode. Click on the ResultsManager tab | Options group |
User Mode, and check that Express mode is selected:
Checking you are in Express mode
When you click OK, ResultsManager will display the Express mode Options:
Express mode Options
Type your name into the box labelled "Me", check that the other three options are as
shown, and click OK. You are now all set to start working in Express mode. If you want to
configure other options for Express Mode, click the Express Setup Wizard button.
In case you were wondering, the other options control the following:
 Any Activities that do not have a specific owner assigned to them will be assigned to you
 ResultsManager will automatically follow Multimap links when looking for Activities to do
 Any overdue Activities or Activities with no date will be rolled over to today, so that you
still see them as something you should do.
Entering Activities
When you are creating brainstorm maps, meeting minutes or planning maps in
MindManager, some of the Topics in your map will represent activities that you or someone
else needs to complete.
You can either
 Convert an existing Topic into an Activity, or
 Add a new Topic as an Activity.
Start a new MindManager map, or open one that has some Activities already in it. To
convert an existing Topic into an Activity, select it and click the ResultsManager tab |
Activity group | Edit Activity.
To add a new Activity to your map, select the parent Topic and click the ResultsManager
tab | Activity group | Insert Activity.
The ResultsManager Edit dialogue will then appear:
The Express mode Edit dialogue
Begin by typing your intended outcome in the "Successful outcome" box.
Then, decide if this is a Project (that will have Actions of its own), or an Action that you can
do. Selecting the radio button will change the Icon.
If this activity must be completed by a deadline, then choose the due date. Click the
shortcut list button (
) to choose dates such as today, tomorrow, one week's time and so
on. Or click the browse button (
) by the date to choose from a calendar. If it is just
something that needs to be done as soon as possible, leave the date blank. In Express
mode, if you set a date on an Activity, it is automatically regarded as having a deadline, so
you will see the Deadline icon on the topic after editing it.
If you have already made some progress with this activity, you can enter it here.
Otherwise, leave it set to "Not started" if this is a new Activity.
Next, choose where you can do this. Type in the Context, or choose one by clicking the
Browse button (
). When the list of Contexts appears, double-click in the left-hand
column on the ones that apply, then click OK. You don't need to put "@" in front of Contexts
- ResultsManager will deal with this automatically.
Lastly, ResultsManager needs to know who is responsible for this Activity. Click the List
button (
) by the Owner box, and select your name from the list. You are now the owner.
That's it! ResultsManager now has everything it needs to know about this Activity to include
it in a Dashboard map, so that you can see everything organised by Context and Project.
Creating a Dashboard
A Dashboard map is a map that ResultsManager creates, containing Activities that it has
found in your maps, but organised so that you can easily decide what to do next.
Open a map that contains Activities that have been created with ResultsManager, then click
the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Create Dashboard. The Dashboard
dialogue will appear:
Creating a Dashboard in Express mode
Click the OK button to start creating the Daily Actions Dashboard. This Dashboard will
reorganise your Activities to help you decide what to do today:
Daily Actions Dashboard map, dynamically created by ResultsManager
Working from your Dashboard
Once you have created your Dashboard, you can use it to work through your to-do lists, or
review your projects.
As an example, let's suppose that one of your action items was to purchase your
ResultsManager license. It might appear in an original "Project" map like this:
An action in a project map
When you create your Daily Actions Dashboard, including this project map in the sweep,
this action item appears in the Dashboard map organised either by date and/or context. It
will probably appear twice (once in each list).
Activity shown in a dynamic Dashboard map, in the Context list
So, the next time you speak with your Boss, you can get the go-ahead to purchase your
ResultsManager license. If you had five other things from different projects (in different
project maps) that were also labelled with "Boss", these would appear here as well.
An action item taken in isolation might not be completely clear - if you had an action to
"Call Jim", for example, you might not immediately recognise what this was about. While
you are viewing your Dashboard map, click on View | Show/hide | Callouts, and you will
be able to see where action item "belongs":
Action item with parent activity shown in a Callout
In the dynamically-generated Dashboard map, there is a Hyperlink Icon on every action
item. Clicking on this Hyperlink Icon will take you straight back to the original copy of the
action item in the project map, so that you can see it in the context of the whole project
that it belongs to:
Going back to the original activity in the Project map
You can work straight from the Dashboard map as well - you don't need to keep returning
to the original project maps to update activities. Let's suppose that you have purchased
your ResultsManager license, and now you want to check this item as done. In the
Dashboard map, select the Activity and click the ResultsManager tab | Activity group |
Edit Activity:
Editing activities in the Dashboard map
Change the Progress to "Finished" and click OK. ResultsManager now updates all other
copies of this activity in the Dashboard map (as it might be listed in other places too), and
also sends the change back to the original Project map:
Updates sent from the Dashboard to the original Project map
So the next time this Dashboard is created, it will contain the latest status information.
Implementing 'GTD' with ResultsManager
About "Getting Things Done"
"Getting Things Done" is the leading personal organisation system created by David Allen.
Visit the David Allen Company Web site for a definition of GTD.
If you haven't read "Getting Things Done" yet, then we recommend that you do. (See the
FAQ for links). David and his associates also present regular seminars and provide coaching
to help busy people get organised and stay organised, by focusing on outcomes and
thinking through activities before doing them.
You don't need any knowledge of "GTD" to use ResultsManager. You can achieve real
benefits from ResultsManager without knowing GTD, but you will gain more in the long term
by understanding the GTD process as well. In this documentation, we will not teach you
about GTD itself, but will show you how to implement it with ResultsManager.
ResultsManager converts Mindjet's MindManager® software into a tool for implementing the
Getting Things Done process.
For those already aware of GTD, ResultsManager adds some new dimensions:
 ResultsManager provides a systematic and supportive way to implement GTD.
 You can visualise projects graphically in MindManager maps to communicate their focus
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and objectives. Visualisation of successful outcomes is critical to success.
Projects lists are automatically created by defining projects. You don't need to keep
separate lists of projects and action items.
You can mix information together with actions in the same MindManager maps. This
reduces the need to keep separate project files.
You can share joint project maps with colleagues, and ResultsManager will extract just
your activities to dynamically build your lists ("dashboards"). In this way, GTD can grow
from being an individual discipline into a team activity.
You can work from either your dynamic lists or from the original project maps. Ideas for
new or different activities often occur while you are doing something else.
If you are experienced in GTD and have suggestions for improvements to ResultsManager,
we would love to hear from you.
How do you plan your day?
"There are management solutions to technical problems,
but no technical solutions to management problems"
Don't you have enough technology in your life already? Why would this system be more
effective than the others?
The short answer is that the secret of good prioritisation and execution of your
ever-increasing workload is the visualisation of successful results. The better you are at
visualising your outcomes and projects, the clearer your day to day decision-making process
gets. There is no technological "magic bullet" - the initiative and will-power come from you,
not from the technology. So almost any system can be made to work, provided you are
committed to it and use it consistently.
But what MindManager and ResultsManager do (that other technologies don't) is visualise
your ideas and outcomes so that you can see them, work with them and work on them.
In this chapter we will show you how to use ResultsManager to effectively manage your
workload, so that you are in a position to make informed decisions, judge priorities and stay
focused on what is really important. We will show you how to:
 Identify key projects, and set up your Master Lists of people, areas, categories and
contexts
 Organise your information within MindManager (this is useful whether or not you use
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ResultsManager)
Sweep up your activities and add them to working maps
Use MindManager to think through and visualise projects and outcomes
Generate "dashboards" that keep you on top of what has to be done next
Use review techniques stay focused and productive in the long term
So, how do you plan your day? (Or your life?)
The top 5 mistakes in daily planning
 A-B-C priorities and four-quadrant prioritisation are too simplistic to reflect a wide
enough range of thinking and focus, from core strategies down to individual actions
 Daily to-do lists are usually dominated by short term issues and do not give insight into
projects
 Chronic reactive mode ("greasing the squeaking wheel") simply teaches everyone that
to get your time they just need to make a fuss
 The Busy Trap is sometimes hard to see, as you are certain that you will "have more

time" next week, or after the current crisis, or after the restructure, or after your
vacation, or...
Lists of action items that aren't action items - it is likely that four- fifths of "action
items" on to-do lists do not qualify as action items. An action item is something you can
do. Anything else is not an action item. It's a project, a dream, or a fantasy. How many
of the items on your to-do list for today are actionable in full, given the right setting or
resources? Or how many really need to be broken down into smaller steps?
Our implementation programme shows you how focusing on your projects, charting simple
routes to successful outcomes, and reviewing your workload from different perspectives will
help to create a system that you can use every day, and trust to help make good decisions
about how to spend your time.
ResultsManager has been carefully designed to support the implementation of David Allen's "
Getting Things Done" system. If you haven't read David's book of the same name, buy it
now. If you are already familiar with "GTD", then you will know that a lasting change in
habits does not happen overnight, and that in the early days, it is easy to regress. Your
colleagues may not appreciate your new focused approach, and were happier when they
could abuse your time and good will. ResultsManager provides a platform for implementing
GTD using MindManager, with some key advantages over simple lists - you can focus on
and visualise projects much more easily, and you can manage and track shared activities
and projects with team members.
ResultsManager takes you from graphical brainstorms to organised action lists in one step,
accelerating the mechanics of GTD so that you can spend more time focusing on and
visualising outcomes. If that sounds like Californian daydreaming, prepare yourself for a
nightmare - you are going to have to think about and decide on things that your "busy trap"
has kept hidden from you for too long.
Get in control of MindManager
Before we get going on organising activities, it is important that you are comfortable with
MindManager. It's difficult to learn two new things at the same time.
MindManager is a very powerful tool, but like most sophisticated software, you don't need to
know all of it to use it effectively.
If you are new to MindManager, then take few moments to work through the MindManager
Essentials section in Appendix B. You might find it useful to print it out and make your
own notes on it.
Choose where to use ResultsManager
In this section, we will choose one or two areas as a starting point for implementing
ResultsManager.
The optimum way to use ResultsManager is to track as many of your activities as possible
with it. In this way, you will be able to take balanced view of where your effort is being
expended, and where you need to increase focus for more effective results or to deliver
longer term objectives. However, for practical purposes it is better to start small and widen
your horizons as you become familiar with not only the software, but the concepts behind it.
We recommend choosing perhaps one or two areas at most where you have a series of
activities to complete over the next month. Examples of this might include
 a short term or mid-term project at work, such as a big meeting, a presentation, or a
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new initiative
planning for a holiday, a party or a wedding
a personal health improvement programme
acquiring a new skill or knowledge
Examples that are not so useful to begin with include
 Stuff that you have to get done today
 Things you can do in a few minutes anyway, without writing them down first
 Unsolicited things such as customer requests or minor crises
These kinds of activity could be integrated later, but are not the best place to begin. You
don't need the additional stress of urgent decision-making on top of learning a new tool,
otherwise you won't have the time to understand how to get the best from it by
experimentation.
So before continuing, select one or two short to mid-term projects to manage with
ResultsManager.
Terminology Basics
We will frequently use five different names for elements of planning and managing
activities. so it is worth getting to know them:
 Activity - a general name for something that you intend to do. Specifically, an Activity
will be one of the four different types listed below.
 Project - a set of related Activities that are focused towards an outcome.
 Result - an intermediate step within a project, that has a defined outcome or
something that is delivered. Project Managers would recognise these as "milestones"
and "GTD" users as "Subprojects".
If you prefer to use the term "Subproject", there is a setting in the ResultsManager
tab | Options group | Options | ResultsManager Options dialogue to select this.
(Power User mode only).
 Action - a step in a project that creates progress
 Next Action - a particular type of Action that is ready to be done. Next Actions are not
waiting for anything else to happen, and can be started straight away.
Some of the other terms are listed in Appendix A, but those listed above are the basic ones
that are used frequently.
Tell ResultsManager who you are
To distinguish your activities from things being done by other people, ResultsManager needs
to know who you are. Now is also a good time to configure the basic options.
We will assume that you have already tried ResultsManager in Express Mode. This section
will describe the use of ResultsManager in Power User mode to implement GTD.
1. Open MindManager and click on the ResultsManager tab | Options group | User Mode.
Select "Power User" mode and click OK.
2. You can use the Power User Setup Wizard to complete your Power User configuration
by clicking the button. If you prefer to use manual configuration, set the options as
shown below:
3. Now click the button labelled "Dashboard Options":
4. In the box labelled "Me", type your name (without using commas or semicolons).
ResultsManager will ensure that your name is always available so that you can assign
activities to yourself.
5. Configure the rest of the options on the left hand side as shown. Do not add or delete
any Dashboards, as your default list may vary from the above screen shot.
6. Click OK to return to the main Options dialogue.
ResultsManager now knows you who are, and can use this information to create dashboards
that are personalised around your perspectives.
Review the Implementation Plan
As part of the installation package for ResultsManager, we have included an Implementation
Plan for ResultsManager itself. As the implementation ResultsManager is a project in its own
right, it acts as both an example of using ResultsManager, and is something you can
actually use straight away.
Have a look at the plan and the Dashboards it produces now. You might not follow all of it
now, but you can return to it in the following sections to understand how it works, and
experiment with changing it.
To view the ResultsManager Implementation Plan:
 Click the ResultsManager tab | Help group | Implementation map
 The ResultsManager Implementation Plan will open. (It will also open another Help

window - you can close this).
This is a plan for starting to use ResultsManager. It contains all the activities in the rest
of this section, wired up in the order in which they can be done.
ResultsManager Implementation Plan
 Click the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Create Dashboard
 Select the "Daily Actions Dashboard (Express User)", and check the option for creating
the dashboard from the whole map, then click OK
 ResultsManager will create the Daily Actions Dashboard for the Implementation Plan,
showing you what can be done next
 You can link this Implementation Plan into your own Map Central later, so that these
activities are integrated with your own projects.
Daily Actions Dashboard for ResultsManager Implementation Plan
Try the "Calendar" dashboard too, to see how ResultsManager can create different views of
the same activities.
Setting up your Master Lists
Creating a master list of Owners
One of the ways that ResultsManager lets you track activities is by the name of the person
responsible (the "Owner"). As you start to add activities to your maps, it will be useful to
have a list of frequently used names ready. Do the following:
1. Open MindManager and click on the ResultsManager tab | Options group | Options |
ResultsManager Options:
2. If you prefer, click the Power User Setup Wizard button. The Wizard will take you
through setting up your Master Lists. If you would rather do this manually, follow the
rest of the instructions below.
3. In the box labelled "Manage Master Lists", click the button labelled "Export".
ResultsManager will generate a new MindManager map containing the lists of Owners,
Contexts, Categories and Areas that it knows about.
4. Save this map in a safe place where you can find it again. We will need it again later, so
leave the map open.
5. In this map, there is a Main Topic called "Owners". The subtopics are a list of all the
people to whom you can assign activities, or who might be waiting for things from you.
Add subtopics under here with the names of other people that you work with or deal
with frequently, who might be responsible for activities you have asked them to do, or
who might be waiting for things from you. Think about work colleagues, managers,
direct reports, friends, family or professionals such as your accountant, consultants or
contractors. You don't need an exhaustive list - just the ones that come to mind the
most frequently. Add them to this map as subtopics of "Owners".
6. After you have entered a few names, click on the ResultsManager tab | Options
group | Options | ResultsManager Options again, and click the "Import" button while
your Master Lists map is in view in MindManager, with the Central Topic selected.
ResultsManager will read the lists back in and add any new entries. You can confirm that
ResultsManager has read them correctly by clicking on the ResultsManager tab |
Options group | Options | ResultsManager Options, then clicking the "Manager
master Owners list" button. You should see your list of names in the right- hand column
of the list picker dialogue.
Creating a master list of Contexts
Next, consider the places where you can work, and how the location affects what you might
be able to do. If you are learning to play the trombone, then you will probably make some
time every day for practice. "At the library" might not be the ideal place for this, but there
probably are some activities that can only be done at the library, such as a piece of
research. So the location (the "Context", in Getting Things Done terminology) has an
important part to play in deciding what you can do when at a certain place or when you
have specific resources to hand, such as the telephone. Think about the different places
that you can work on things on your lists, and edit the list under "Context" in the Master
Lists map to reflect them. By default, ResultsManager puts some on there already, and you
can add to this list by adding them to the map and importing it again, like we did for the list
of Owner names.
Another very useful type of Context is when you are next speaking to a particular person.
For example, if you create a context named "Sarah", and assign activities to this context,
then you can see at a glance all the things you meant to speak to Sarah about. The next
time she calls you can spare her the usual syndrome of "I'm sure there was something else
I meant to tell you". However, you should only add the names of people you are in regular
contact with; don't add lots of people who you might only contact occasionally. The chances
are that contacting them about something will be an activity with a specific purpose, and
you are less likely to be chatting to them at the coffee machine anyway.
Creating Master Lists of Areas and Categories
You can use Areas and Categories in any way you like, including not using them at all. They
are more useful for reviewing your workload than for taking immediate action on. You
should use them for aspects of your activities that cross project boundaries, and are
ongoing processes rather than projects with a beginning and an end. For example, you
could use Areas to label areas of improvement, such as improved cash-flow or improved
employee satisfaction. There may be projects or certain activities within other projects that
contribute to this area, and you will be able to see these grouped together in a special
dashboard so that you can visualise the balance between these areas of improvement; your
dashboard might show you at a glance that you haven't got anything planned that
contributes to employee satisfaction, for example. So you might decide to do something
about this, unless this status is already compliant with company policy.
Categories can be used to group together similar projects so that you can focus your
reviews. For example, making a distinction between major and minor projects will help you
split them up between monthly and weekly reviews respectively.
Think about different perspectives on your activities that could help you understand (and
amend) the balance and focus of what you do.
ResultsManager adds some default Areas and Categories to the Master Lists map, and you
can add some more of yours under the Main Topics and re-import the map again.
Save your Master Lists map
Don't forget to save your Master Lists map when you are done. You might need it again if
you need to re-install ResultsManager.
Organise your maps
In this step, we will set up some useful maps to organise project- related activities, and a
single starting point so that you can find things easily.
If you are already using MindManager, you will most likely have some maps related to
current projects, such as brainstorm maps, planning maps, minutes from meetings and so
on. ResultsManager can use these maps, provided that it can find them. We will set things
up so that it can do this.
Let the Wizard create a Map Central map
ResultsMerlin, the ResultsManager Wizard, can create a Map Central map for you. Click the
ResultsManager tab | Options group | ResultsMerlin and select the "Express Wizard".
Follow ResultsMerlin's instructions and allow it to create a new Map Central map for you.
You can then extend and update this map by hand. Note: if you have already created a Map
Central map, and you run ResultsMerlin again, it will overwrite your previous map if you
allow it to. It will warn you of this, so it doesn't happen entirely automatically - you need to
agree to let it do this. But if you do, there is no way to recover your original Map Central
again once it has been replaced (unless you have a backup copy somewhere else).
If you prefer to create your Map Central map manually, follow the instructions below.
Create a "Map Central" map manually
Start by creating a new MindManager map, and call it "Map Central". (You can call it
something else if you prefer, but we will refer to it as "Map Central" in these notes). Spend
a little time making it attractive, as you will be looking at it a lot. You can make it very
personal if you wish, unless you think you might need to show it to your manager, and you
don't want to spend much time explaining the ornate graphics. But do remember that the
key advantage of using MindManager to implement this system for delivering objectives is
to visualise success, so your maps should be memorable and high-impact for maximum
effect. When you are done, save your map somewhere where (a) you can find it again, and
(b) it will get backed up when you make backups. You do make backups, don't you?
The next step is to make a shortcut to your Map Central map so that you can always find it
in a few seconds. Click on the "My Maps" task pane tab in MindManager, then right-click on
the "My Projects" collection, and select "Add current map". Next, click on the Mindmanager
button | MindManager Options, click on "View", and enable the option for showing the
"My Maps" task pane at start-up. This will mean that every time you start MindManager, the
My Maps task pane will be in view, and you can click on the "Map Central" entry to open
your Map Central map without hunting around for it. So within a few seconds of launching
MindManager, you are straight into your working maps.
Map Central is where ResultsManager starts when it collects together your current activities
to create Dashboard maps. It will not be practical to put everything you are doing into one
map, so we can use MindManager's Multimap features to create links to all the brainstorm
maps, project plans, vacation ideas, meeting minutes, design ideas and other maps that
reflect your workload. This is done by adding Hyperlinks pointing to the Topics in your
maps.
Link to Multimaps from Map Central
If you are already familiar with MindManager, you can skip the next paragraph. If not, let's
create a Multimap for one of your projects:
1. Select the Central Topic in your Map Central map and press the INS key.
2. Now type the name of one of the projects you are working on, then press F2.
3. With the Topic for your project still selected, right-click on the Topic and select Send To
| New Linked Map.
4. In the dialogue that opens, check that the option "Assign selected topic to new Central
Topic" and "Delete original topics and create hyperlinks to exported topics" are both
selected, then click OK.
5. MindManager will then prompt you for a location to save your new project map.
If you followed this part, you have now (a) created a new map and (b) made a Hyperlink
from Map Central to this new map, all in one operation. ResultsManager will now be able to
find your new project map from Map Central by following the Hyperlink.
If you already have some project maps or maps that you would like to link up from Map
Central, add Topics to Map Central for each map and add Topic Hyperlinks to them.
ResultsManager will only follow Topic Hyperlinks, not Hyperlinks in the Notes pane.
A very simple "Map Central" map
In the above example, our user has an enviably simple life consisting of involvement in two
projects ("MK II Widget" and "Q2 Marketing"), and a "Bits and Pieces" map that contains
everything else that is not organised into collaborative projects, such as getting the light
fixed in their office. Their "Map Central" map links to these three maps, and if
ResultsManager is asked to sweep for open action items, it can find them all by starting at
Map Central.
Linking to folders
You have a whole collection of maps in a folder that you would like ResultsManager to check
through for action items, but you don't want to make a Hyperlink to each individual one.
You can add a Hyperlink to the whole folder and ResultsManager will look for any
MindManager maps in the folder. So you can throw more maps in there later, and
ResultsManager will still find them without your having to update Map Central. Use the
folder browse button in the Hyperlink dialogue instead of the file browse button.
Using a "Bits and Pieces" map
So, what about things that are not part of a project, or don't really "belong" anywhere? We
recommend that in addition to project maps that are focused around an outcome, you also
have a map for stray dogs. Then when you remember that your cat needs vaccination
(while you are in the middle of planning a marketing campaign, naturally), you will have
somewhere to add this. We call this map the "Bits and Pieces" map, as it contains assorted
odds and ends whose only common feature is that they don't belong anywhere else. (Some
of the things in mine are "Stationery list", "Things to buy from Screwfix.com", "Interesting
web sites" and so on).
Using the Multimap View in MindManager
If you have added some links to other maps from your Map Central map, you can now use
MindManager's Multimap view to scare yourself. Select the Map Central map and Click the
"Multimap" button in the Action Bar to see a page of preview images of all your project and
other maps. The good news is that this is not nearly as scary as it's going to look in a
month's time when you have really started to work this way, and ensure that everything is
accessible through Map Central.
Controlling what ResultsManager scans
ResultsManager follows Hyperlinks in Topics to discover maps to scan for action items.
When it opens a map linked from Map Central, it will then explore the Hyperlinks in that
map, and just keep on going, looking for more linked maps. So you do not need a link to
everything from Map Central - the sub-maps can have further links in them. If
ResultsManager finds a link to a map that it has already looked at, it just ignores it the
second time around, so don't worry about having multiple links to the same maps. You can
even include links back to the Map Central map.
You might be thinking that the Map Central concept is a nice idea, but you don't need
ResultsManager to search through all the maps in there. You might have some projects that
are not active yet, or projects that are finished but you still want to keep a link to them.
Fortunately, you can both have your cake and eat it. You can tell ResultsManager to ignore
a Topic and everything underneath it, including any Multimap Hyperlinks, by adding the "No
Entry" Icon to the Topic. Click on the Library task pane tab and select the Icons folder.
Scroll down until you find the No Entry Icon
and add this Icon to any part of any map
that you don't want ResultsManager to visit. When ResultsManager finds this Icon on a
Topic, it ignores this Topic and all subtopics or Callout Topics connected to it.
A Hyperlink blocked to ResultsManager
This Icon stops ResultsManager from exploring this Hyperlink or any of the Topics under
here in the map. You use this to prevent ResultsManager from sweeping projects that are
finished or genuinely dormant.
Add Activities
In the previous step, you created a "Map Central" map and some placeholder maps for
gathering action items to keep track of. Now we will add some actions to these maps, or
convert existing action items into ones that ResultsManager can track.
We recommend that you don't put activities in your Map Central map, but only in linked
Project maps or the "Bits and Pieces" map. This is so that the Map Central map stays fairly
clean - because it is not a project map, it does not necessarily have a focus and purpose
that drives the activities it contains.
If you are also following the Getting Things Done method, you will know that sweeping up
all your action items is one of the first parts of the process. Places where you find
commitments include








Your in-tray - letters, faxes and memos
Your e-mail inbox
Project files and project maps
Meeting minutes
Voicemail
Post-it notes
Your conscience
Your subconscious
It can take weeks or even months to gather together all your commitments into a single
place, as like most people, many of them are not even written down. This is why we
suggest that to evaluate ResultsManager, you just pick one or two projects at most, and
only handle the activities from those to start with. You can use ResultsManager in parallel
to your existing planning and activity management systems, which helps you to make a
comparison between them.
The key data that ResultsManager needs to know about an activity is




Who is doing it
When it is due, if it is dated
How much progress has been made, if any
Where it can be done (the context)
In fact the above information is also optional, but you will get more out of using
ResultsManager if you give it a little more information to work with.
In this section, we will just dump activities into maps without building in any planned
structure, and in the next section, we will rearrange the activities so that ResultsManager
understands the sequence of work.
ResultsManager lets you specify information about Activities from drop-down lists and
recently used information. When ResultsManager runs, some information about Activities is
automatically inherited from parent Topics in the map, unless otherwise specified. So to
make life simple, if you assign your name to the Central Topic in a map, then you will own
all the activities in the map by default, unless you explicitly assign certain ones to someone
else.
Begin by opening one of your project maps, select the Central Topic and click the
ResultsManager tab | Activity group | Edit Activity. Click the list button next to the
"Owners" box, and you should see your name on the pop-up menu that appears. (Entering
your name in the Options dialogue earlier means that your name will always be in this
shortcut list). Click on your name, then click OK to close the edit dialogue. You have now
made yourself the default Owner for everything in this map, unless you use a different
owner name elsewhere.
Select a Topic (any Topic) and click the ResultsManager tab | Activity group | Insert
Activity. When defining an activity, describing the successful outcome is a key to achieving
it. David Allen says, "You won't see how to succeed until you can see yourself succeeding".
So instead of writing "Call Barry", write "Barry agrees to new pricing". It may sound silly,
but half the challenge in any task is your perception of it.
Begin by clicking the "Action" radio button. We will look at the others in the next session,
but for now, we will enter Action items.
Next, always write down the purpose or reason for this activity. If your reaction to this is
that it is an unnecessary waste of effort, because you already know it, then you should
regard this thinking as a danger signal. There is no escape from the trap of being too busy
doing things to think about why you are doing them. If you have any discretionary time at
all, and are responsible for deciding what you do next, you must evaluate the reasons for
doing it. The Pareto principle tells us that 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts;
if we are too busy delivering the other 80% of tasks to evaluate which 20% is the really
important stuff, then we can never escape from trying to do every single thing that presents
itself to us.
Next, decide on whether this activity requires dates. ResultsManager understands several
different patterns of dates, for example:
 No start date and no due date: this is something that you want to do "as soon as

possible", where the definition of "possible" is "when you get around to it". In reality,
this means that you will do it when nothing more important or more attractive is
outstanding. It will probably get done when the alternatives to doing it are worse.
A start date on its own: this is the electronic equivalent of the "bring forward" or
"tickler" file system. You are telling ResultsManager that you don't want to think about
this activity again until the date entered as the Start date. ResultsManager will display it
in your Dashboard maps starting on that date.
 A due date, without the Deadline marker (
) : this is an activity that you would prefer
to finish by a certain date
 A due date, with the Deadline marker (

) : this is a dated item you are entering into
the Deadlines list, and is something that must happen on that date. If it doesn't, then
there will be a price to pay.
A start date and a due date with the deadline marker: this is something that is deferred
until the start date and must finish by the due date. An example would be the
preparation for a presentation; it is essential that you are properly prepared, and the
presentation must happen on a certain date. In fact, showing up unprepared may be
worse than not showing up at all. ResultsManager will display this activity in your
dashboard starting on the start date, as a reminder.
Note that you should not use due dates for Deadlines to indicate when you would "like" to
do something. You should only use them for deadlines that have consequences. Otherwise,
your calendar contains optional activities, you will become accustomed to ignoring them or
rescheduling on the fly, and eventually you will overlook something that really is a deadline
date. If you do use due dates to schedule a "meeting with myself" to complete something,
then you must actually do it and not break the promise.
Next, select the Context where you can do this activity. When you click on the list picker
button next to the Context field, you should find the ones you created earlier in the master
lists. You can also add others as you go, and ResultsManager will prompt you for permission
to add them to the Master list if it finds new ones.
If you defined any Categories and Areas, you can add these as well, and click OK to save
the new Activity in your map.
Add as many of the open Activities as you can think of for your project. You might find it
easier to simply brainstorm, and then convert Topics to Activities afterwards. Select a Topic
or Topics, and click the ResultsManager tab | Activity group | Edit Activity, and
ResultsManager will present each one in turn for editing. You will probably find that the
more you think of to do, the more things will come to mind. This is because you can only
hold a limited number of things in your head at any time, and moving them out makes
space for others to come to the surface.
It is very likely that by focusing on one project, you will start to think of things to do in
other areas. When this happens, switch over to your Bits and Pieces map and add them
there, and we can clean them up later.
In the next section, we will rearrange the activities you have gathered into a Project, so
that you can visualise the path to a successful outcome.
Visualise your Projects
In this section, we are going to take the Activities that you gathered in the previous
session, and reorganise them to represent a project flow.
A key concept in David Allen's "Getting Things Done" method is the "Next Action". A Next
Action is something that can be done without waiting for anything else, or doing any other
preparation or information gathering. If something else needs doing first, then it's not a
Next Action by definition. One of the biggest weaknesses of typical to-do lists is that many
of the "action items" listed are not actionable.
For example, "Get car serviced" is not a Next Action, because it is made up of several
distinct actions, such as finding the telephone number for the garage, picking a suitable
day, arranging a courtesy car and so on. So "Get car serviced" is really a little project in its
own right, and splitting it up into action items that really are actionable is the secret of
making progress. Otherwise, you will look at this action item many times and think "I really
must do something about that". Defining the "something" is the way to start.
In addition to Action items, ResultsManager understands two other organising items:
"Projects" and "Results". A Result is an intermediate stage in a project, and a Project is a
collection of action items and Results. In the above example of getting your car serviced,
we could say that getting the service booked in at the garage is a "Result" - a milestone or
clearly defined point within the whole project. Working towards a series of shorter term
Results is often easier than trying to stay motivated towards a more distant outcome.
ResultsManager also understands the distinction between "Actions" and "Next Actions". An
Action is something that needs to be done as part of a Result or Project. A Next Action is
something that can be done now. ResultsManager usually only shows you Next Actions, and
does not show other Actions on your to-do lists until they become Next Actions themselves.
It does this by understanding the structure of your project when you draw it in a
MindManager map. So by visualising projects in MindManager maps, you score a double
benefit; not only do you get to "see" how your project flows and fits together, but
ResultsManager can look over your shoulder and work out which bits can actually be done
next.
You can separate your project thinking from delivery of the individual elements, and you
can go back to review, re-organise and re-prioritise your projects.
When ResultsManager reads MindManager maps, it looks for Project and Result Topics,
and understands a technique called "Funnel timelines". This is a way of drawing activities in
MindManager maps so that you can see what has to be done before something else can be
done, which is the key concept in project management. If you have ever thought that
project management software was more complex and cumbersome than the projects it
manages, then you will enjoy project planning in MindManager - you can create a solid,
workable and reasonably sophisticated plan for a project in an hour, or maybe two for a
bigger project. But the real bonus is the amount of thinking that the plan captures, and the
way that you can mix activities with information. Project Management software rarely
allows you to also keep brainstorms, half-baked ideas, undecided issues and research
material in the same document as the "plan". In the world of project management, a plan is
a plan. In the slightly more practical world of planning with MindManager, the plan is just
one part of a collection of related information and work in progress, something that is alive
and being constantly updated or developed. ResultsManager keeps track of the activities
embedded within MindManager maps, so that you can manage their implementation
through the GTD process.
How Funnel Timelines work
1. You add a Topic to a map that represents an outcome or achievement, near to the
Central Topic.
2. As children of that outcome (i.e. further from the Central Topic), you add the Activities
that must be completed before you can start the parent Activity.
3. You can then read the map from the outside inwards in an approximate time line, so
that in general activities furthest from the centre will be the ones that need to be done
first. As you move towards your objectives, the project "funnels in" nearer completion as
you move further in towards the centre of the map.
Funnel Timelines in MindManager
The example above is part of a small plan to prepare for a Conference event. The final
completion point is at the right of the picture, called "Conference Ready". Actions are
marked with the "Task not started" Icon, as none of them have been completed yet. They
are connected up so that dependency of one on another is shown by their relative positions.
For example, the action "Set budget for conference" cannot start until "Review last year's
costs" is complete. We can also cross-connect across the tree using Relationships, so that
"Check venue facilities and cost" cannot start until we have finished "Define what facilities
we need", "Make venue shortlist", and "Set conference dates".
By using this simple convention, we can represent reasonably complex project structures in
a very accessible format. The "logic" of a project, showing what depends on what, can be
used to answer the question "What can be done next?". In the above picture, we can see
that there is nothing preventing the activity "Review last year's costs" from starting today.
However, it would be premature to begin with "Visit at least 2 potential venues", since we
have not done enough homework to make this a worthwhile activity. The diagram visualises
this in a simple form, and is very quick to construct and negotiate with the project team.
ResultsManager understands maps drawn in the above way, so it can easily work out what
the Next Actions are within a project. You can draw several sub-projects inside the same
map, or can have a map per project. By default, ResultsManager expects a map to contain
one or more complete projects or sub-projects.
Applying Funnel Timelines
You can now use this technique to reorganise your Project maps. So far, you have just
gathered activities in your maps, without organising them very much. Now you can
reorganise them to visualise the way your project flows towards its outcome.
1. Add a new Main Topic on the left of the Central Topic.
2. Right-click on it and choose Edit Activity.
3. Configure this Activity as a Project ( ). Describe the project outcome and reasons.
Click OK when you are done.
4. Ask the following question: What needs to be in place (completed) for the project to be
completed? Identify the main Results within your project. For each one, select the
Project Topic and click the ResultsManager tab | Activity group | Insert Activity, and
configure the Activity as a Result ( ).
5. For each Result, ask yourself the same question as above. You can now start moving the
Action items from elsewhere in your map, and positioning them as subtopics of the
Result that they contribute to.
6. When one activity depends on another one, position the one that must be done first as a
subtopic of the one that can only be done second. ResultsManager will then be able to
keep track of Next Actions.
7. If one Activity depends on another one that is somewhere else in the map, you can draw
a Relationship from the Activity that must be done first, pointing to the one that can
only be done second. To insert a Relationship, click the Insert tab | Insert group |
Relationship. Click on the first Activity Topic, then drag to the second one and release
the mouse button. ResultsManager checks for these Relationships when working out
what can be done next.
8. Don't forget to save your map when you are done.
Working with lists of Activities
If you have a lot of activities that must be done in order, the Funnel Timeline technique can
make maps wide and thin, and not very easily viewed.
ResultsManager also allows you to define lists of actions that are treated as a top-to-bottom
sequence, instead of as parallel activities. You tell ResultsManager that the subtopics of an
Activity are a list by adding the word "(list)" to the topic text. (Although an icon or some
other visual marker seem more obvious, we chose this method to ensure that the logic was
always visible regardless of where the activity is exported to, e.g. the Tasks folder in
Microsoft Outlook).
Identifying lists in your maps
In the above example, the word "(list)" tells ResultsManager that the subtopics of the
activity "Complete tax form" are to be executed in order, from top to bottom. When
calculating what the next actions are, ResultsManager interprets the sequence of work as
follows:
The actual sequence of activities
So in this part of the map there is only one Next action: Collect last year's figures. None of
the others can be done until this is complete.
The Power User mode Edit dialogue provides a shortcut for adding or removing the word
"(list)" from topic texts.
ResultsManager ignores any non-activity (information only) topics in lists. You can include
items in lists that are not activities, and ResultsManager will just skip over them.
Create a Dashboard
You are now ready to create a Dashboard map from your Activities. The Dashboard map will
let you quickly see what needs to be done next, across multiple projects, without
re-thinking the logic of each project every time you check your lists.
1. Open your Map Central map, and select the Central Topic to ensure that
ResultsManager scans the whole map.
2. Click the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Create Dashboard
3. In the Dashboard selector drop-down list, choose "GTD Lists Dashboard", and click OK
4. ResultsManager will scan all the maps linked from your Map Central map, and build a
set of "GTD" lists
5. If you have everything set correctly, you should see a new map called "GTD Lists", with
today's date in the Central Topic:
The "GTD Lists" Dashboard map
The "GTD" Lists Dashboard map is personalised for you and contains only your action items.
If you were sharing some project maps with colleagues, your Dashboard map picks out your
activities, while theirs will pick out the ones where they are the owners of actions.
The GTD Lists Dashboard, like any of the Dashboard maps in MindManager, can be viewed
as an Outline if you feel more comfortable with to-do lists:
"GTD" Lists Dashboard viewed as an Outline in MindManager
What ResultsManager is doing here is creating the GTD lists automatically, from project
plans drawn inside maps. You don't need to maintain these lists directly as ResultsManager
will regenerate them each time you create a Dashboard.
Take Action
Once you have created a Daily Actions Dashboard, you are in a position to use it to manage
your day. But remember that you have only collected action items from a couple of projects
so far, so there will be gaps in the coverage, and the lists will not be completely reliable there may be higher priority activities elsewhere that are not yet known to ResultsManager.
As you expand the coverage of the actions in your maps, the lists in ResultsManager's
dashboards will become more and more dependable.
The first place to look in your Daily Actions Dashboard is the section marked "Deadlines I'll
Accomplish". This contains activities that have a deadline today or are already overdue.
If you entered due dates on activities as dates that you would like to complete things, then
you have already undermined this due date list. It must contain only things that must be
done on the dates shown, otherwise you will start to ignore it and re-prioritise dynamically.
Now is not the time to re-think your projects. You will do that separately, during the project
reviews.
When ResultsManager shows an Activity in a Dashboard map, it usually adds a Callout Topic
to the Activity to show which Result or Project this activity belongs to. This helps you
recognise the Activity "out of context" and recall what it is a part of. If Callout Topics are
not visible, click View | Show/hide | Callouts to display them.
You can jump back to the original project map by clicking on the Hyperlink Icon
in the
copy of the Activity Topic in the Dashboard map. This takes you back to that Activity in its
context in the original project. You can also jump straight to the Result or Project by
clicking the Hyperlink Icon in the Callout Topic.
You can also now see that the Notes for a Result or Project are a very handy place to add
information that you might need at any time, such as a client's telephone number. This will
be in view above any Activity in that Project or Result.
Explore the rest of the Dashboard map to see how ResultsManager has listed the same
Activities in several different ways, so that you have a number of options for deciding what
you need to do next. The default Dashboard contents are configurable so that you can
display and organise your to-do lists in almost any way you wish; the dashboard is created
from a template map that tells ResultsManager what to write where.
When you complete or update an activity, right-click on it and select Edit Activity. Change
it to reflect its new status (e.g. changing it to 100% complete), then click OK. What
happens next will depend on how you have configured ResultsManager to send updates
from the Dashboard maps, and is described in more detail here. ResultsManager will either
send the new status back to your original project map immediately, or it will wait until you
click the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Send Changes.
You can also change the status of an Activity by editing it with normal MindManager
commands. For example, if you right-click on the Task Icon, you can choose a different Icon
(e.g. Task Complete). Don't forget to use the Send Dashboard changes command to
update your original project maps after editing them with normal MindManager commands.
Review and Refine
Congratulations! You have made it to the last part of our implementation process. If you
have been keeping up, then by now you will have created your first Dashboard maps and
used them to take action. The last and most important stage is the regular review of
activities.
Reviewing and refining your commitments and focus is at the heart of the "Getting Things
Done" process, and is made easy by the dashboard maps that ResultsManager generates. In
addition to the daily dashboard maps, you can use Review dashboard maps that are
designed to support these critical reviews. They are organised differently than the one you
use every day, because you only want to see some things weekly or monthly, and not daily.
The main purpose of reviews is to check that you are making progress on the things that
are really important, and not letting them slip - either because of other interruptions, or
because they are not well enough defined to take action on. Even when you use the Daily
Actions dashboard map, you are making a mini-review of some of your activities. You can
set up reviews in any way you wish; it matters more that you review your workload, than
the precise process that you use. We suggest three levels of review; daily, weekly and
monthly.
The Daily Review
Preparation
 Complete an "emergency scan", looking for things

Purpose of
Daily review
 To keep track of deadlines
 To make the best use of your time by using

How to review 



Time budget
that are about to fall on your head
Sweep up all loose ends and new activities
Contexts
To check that your next actions are actionable
Look for next actions that are not clearly enough
defined to take action on
Look ahead for the contexts that you are likely to
be able to use today
Look at today's bring-forward or tickler file
Look ahead to tomorrow's calendar and
bring-forward file to check whether you need to
make any additional preparations
 A few minutes
The Weekly Review
Preparation
 Sweep up all loose ends and new activities
 Get your in-boxes and in-trays to zero
Purpose of

Weekly review

To check that you are making progress with
Projects and Results
To identify the Next Actions in your Projects and
Results for the next week
The Weekly Review
How to review 



Time budget
Check the Next Action for each of your current
Projects and Results. Check that it is actionable
and does not need any additional preparation such
as a decision or some extra information. If it does,
add it
Consider whether the Next Action on each of the
Projects or Results is the one that is the most likely
to deliver the outcome you want; if not, change its
status to "uncommitted", go back to the original
project map, and review the project again for a
more productive Next Action. Remember, 20% of
your actions create 80% of your achievements
Look for Committed projects and Results that have
no Next Action. If you have used a Context for the
next Weekly Review, look through these activities
and decide what kind of activity they are, and
whether you need to take action on them
If you have used a "Weekly Review" Context, check
through the new ideas or inputs and decide
whether to make them projects - do they
contribute towards your higher level objectives?
 A couple of hours
The Monthly Review
Preparation
 Sweep up all loose ends and new activities
Purpose of
Monthly
review
 To check that you are working on the right Projects,

and that the Results and Actions you have
identified in each Project are the best ones to take
you forward
To add new Projects or close down old ones. The
monthly review sets your main priorities for the
month, against which any new opportunities or
requests are evaluated
The Monthly Review
How to review 





Time budget
Look for uncommitted projects that should be
activated
Look for projects that are running out of steam that
you can deactivate
If you have used a "Monthly Review" Context,
check through the new ideas or inputs and decide
whether to make them projects - do they contribute
towards your higher level objectives?
Review each of your committed projects in detail,
and add or discard Action items and Results to keep
the project focused on its outcome
Check that the project outcome statements reflect
what you need the project to deliver, and that the
Actions and Results are the ones most likely to
deliver the outcome effectively. Re-prioritise them
if necessary
Defer unimportant things until the next review, or
put them on a bring-forward list or tickler file for
consideration at a later date
 A few hours - this review and refocusing process is
the most important work you will do each month,
so it has to be worth your best quality time.
Schedule the Monthly Review for a time when you
are likely to be alert and inspired, not burnt out
Purchasing License Keys
ResultsManager Standard and Professional Editions
ResultsManager v2 is available in two editions: ResultsManager Standard and
ResultsManager Professional.
ResultsManager Professional contains all the features of ResultsManager Standard, plus
additional features for collaborative use and more advanced Dashboard operations.
Feature
ResultsManager ResultsManage
Standard
r Professional
Edition
Edition
Accepts ResultManager v1 license
key
•
28-day trial
Configuration & support Wizards
•
•
Express and Power User operating
modes
•
•
Define Projects, Results and
Actions in MindManager maps
•
•
Generate predefined Dashboard
maps
•
•
Maintain, import and export
master lists of Contexts, Owners,
Categories and Areas
•
•
Configure Dashboard options
•
•
Implementation plan map
•
•
Demonstration maps
•
•
Complete set of default Dashboard
maps
•
•
Suppress confirmation messages
for rapid use
•
•
Log completed Activities
•
•
Rapidly edit Activities in blocks
•
Edit Dashboard maps and send
updates back to project maps
•
Mark Activities as complete and
update project maps with one click
•
Directly add new Activities to
Dashboard maps
•
Add, delete and configure
Dashboard maps
•
Create templates for custom
Dashboard maps
•
Filter tool for adding Filters to
custom Dashboard maps
•
Feature
ResultsManager ResultsManage
Standard
r Professional
Edition
Edition
Automatically support maps on
shared drives or servers
•
Support Digital Ink in Dashboard
maps (MindManager X5 Pro / Pro 6
only)
•
Synchronise Dashboard maps with
Outlook
•
Choosing your edition of ResultsManager
ResultsManager Standard Edition will fulfill your needs if:
 You acquire action items in project maps, meeting minutes and brainstorm maps and
need to keep track of your commitments across multiple sources
 You need a basic system for implementing David Allen's "Getting Things Done"
methodology
 You can work from the default dashboards (Action Dashboards, Review Dashboards or
Maintenance Dashboards)
 You are not sharing maps with colleagues, or working together with colleagues on
shared projects
ResultsManager Professional Edition will support you best if:
 You acquire action items in project maps, meeting minutes and brainstorm maps and
need to keep track of your commitments across multiple sources
 You are already familiar with David Allen's "Getting Things Done" system
 You use MindManager frequently for planning and organising
 You are working collaboratively with colleagues on some projects
 You need to make on-the-fly decisions while working from your Dashboard maps
 You use a Tablet PC and MindManager X5 Pro / Pro 6
 You need customised dashboard maps for analysis of your workload and other people's
activities. Examples of customised Dashboards include
o Automatic collection of meeting agenda items
o Analysis of stagnant projects
o Progress / status reports on projects
o Review of other people's activities
o Group project reviews
Purchasing License Keys
ResultsManager will work for 28 days without a license key. After 28 days, the OK buttons
will be disabled in the dialogues. You will not lose information already entered, but you will
not be able to use ResultsManager to create new Activities or Dashboard maps.
If you would like help with your purchasing decision, click the ResultsManager tab |
Options group | ResultsMerlin and choose the "Purchasing & Support Wizard". This will
guide you through your decision making process and offers you further options.
To purchase a license for ResultsManager, click the ResultsManager tab | Product group |
About ResultsManager and click "Purchase license". This will display a local page in your
web browser showing your purchasing options. You can purchase a license for
ResultsManager on its own if you already have MindManager software, or you can purchase
it together with MindManager X5 Pro / Pro 6 as a bundle. Gyronix recommends
MindManager Pro, as MindManager standard does not contain any task management
features or Microsoft Office integration.
When you receive your license key, click the ResultsManager tab | Product group | About
ResultsManager, then click the Enter Key button:
Entering your license key
Enter your license key exactly as received, and click OK. You can check that the license was
correctly loaded by launching ResultsManager again and checking that it shows "licensed
version" in this license dialogue.
Using Power User mode
What is Power User mode?
Power User mode is designed for users who are familiar with MindManager and are
comfortable with ResultsManager in Express mode. Users who prefer to see the full set of
options and gadgets will also enjoy Power User mode.
You can select Power User mode by clicking the ResultsManager tab | Options group |
User Mode, then selecting Power User mode:
Selecting Power User mode
Selecting Power User mode and clicking OK will open the Power User mode options dialogue,
so that you can configure your options for working in Power User mode. You can also run
the Power User Setup Wizard from the options dialogue.
Power User mode gives you access to:
 More detailed control over Activity settings
 Additional configuration options
 Additional dashboards and options when creating or refreshing Dashboard maps
 Dashboard configuration (ResultsManager Professional only)
Configuring ResultsManager
Configuring Options
The ResultsManager Options dialogue lets you manage your master lists of Contexts,
Owners, Categories and Areas, and gives you access to the Dashboard Options.
Options are stored in the Registry on your system. If you move ResultsManager to a new
system, you will have to recreate your options again. The Master Lists can be exported and
imported to aid this process.
To view the ResultsManager Options dialogue, click the ResultsManager tab | Options
group | Options | ResultsManager Options in MindManager.
The main ResultsManager Options dialogue
Click on a heading below for details.
Run Power User Setup Wizard
Clicking this button will launch ResultsMerlin (the ResultsManager Wizard), starting at the
Power User setup Wizard. This will configure the principal settings for this dialogue and
establish defaults for the others. The Wizard gives you more explanation of the settings and
takes you through them one at a time. Changes made by the Wizard are reflected in this
dialogue the next time you open it, and changes made in this dialogue become the default
settings for the Wizard.
Manage master Contexts List
Clicking this button displays the master Contexts list containing the choices for Contexts
that can be used in any map. You can add or delete items from the Contexts list using a List
Dialogue.
Manage master Owners List
Clicking this button displays the master Owners list containing the choices for Owners that
can be used in any map. You can add or delete items from the Owners list using a List
Dialogue.
Manage master Categories List
Clicking this button displays the master Categories list containing the choices for Categories
that can be used in any map. You can add or delete items from the Categories list using a
List Dialogue.
Manage master Areas List
Clicking this button displays the master Areas list containing the choices for Areas that can
be used in any map. You can add or delete items from the Areas list using a List Dialogue.
Import (Master lists)
The Master Lists can be imported from an open MindManager map, for example from either
a Dashboard map or from a map that has been created using the Export function below.
This allows you to archive, transfer and restore Master lists, and also create them in a Map
for import into ResultsManager. When importing, ResultsManager looks for Topics labelled
"Contexts", "Owners", "Categories" and "Areas", then imports items from the subtopics
below these. The easiest way to see how this works is to first export the Master lists, then
re-import them again. The import only reads the map below the selected Topic, so select
the Central Topic first if you want to import the whole map.
Export (Master lists)
Clicking this button exports the current Master Lists to a new MindManager map. This allows
them to be archived and re-imported later, or transferred to another user or system by
sending the MindManager map. You should periodically export and save the Master Lists in
case your system Registry gets restored to an earlier status, which would cause the Master
lists to be lost. The export includes:
 The Master Contexts list
 The Master Owners list
 The Master Areas list
 The Master Categories list
 The Master Dashboard Filters list (Pro version only)
 The Dashboard Templates
 All other settings in this dialogue and the Dashboard Options dialogue
Reset
Clicking this button will reset all your Master lists to their default settings. This operation
cannot be undone, so use it carefully. You have the choice of making an archive of all
Master lists before resetting them. Tip: if you lose your Master lists, you can recreate most
of them by creating Dashboards from your maps. Any Contexts, Owners, Categories or
Areas that are not already on a Master list can be added automatically when the Dashboard
is generated - see below.
Automatic updates to Master Lists
When a new Activity is edited, or a Dashboard map is generated, ResultsManager checks to
see if any new Contexts, Owners, Categories or Areas have been used that are not on the
existing Master Lists. If it finds any new entries, you have the choice of adding them to the
Master Lists for use next time. You can configure the default behaviour for this:
 Never add to master list does not check for new entries
 Prompt me for permission checks for new entries and asks if you want to add them to

the appropriate Master list. You are prompted for each new entry in turn.
Always add to master list checks for new entries, but does not prompt you for
permission to add them to the Master Lists - they are added automatically.
This mechanism means that if you receive a MindManager map from another user that
contains ResultsManager Activities in it, you can automatically acquire the Contexts,
Owners, Categories and Areas for use in your own maps, where they differ from your
existing lists.
Do not create Local lists from maps
The ResultsManager Activity Edit dialogue automatically creates "local" lists of Contexts,
Areas, Owners and Categories used in the current map when it is launched. This allows
quick selection of a previously-used item in the map that may not be included in the related
Master List. However, very large maps with many hundreds of topics can slow down access
to the Edit Activity dialogue, because ResultsManager reads all the topics in the map each
time the edit dialogue is opened. This can make the edit dialogue slow to respond. Checking
this option disables the building of these local lists. This speeds up access to the edit
dialogue for large maps, but does require that any frequently-used items are maintained in
the Master Lists. Normally, you would leave this option unchecked unless you frequently
experience slow response to the Edit dialogue.
Working Week starts Sunday
Checking this option will display calendars starting on a Sunday instead of Monday.
Use fewer confirmation messages
Enabling this option will suppress most of the confirmation messages that appear when
ResultsManager is sending Dashboard updates and at other times. Use this option only
when you are comfortable with ResultsManager's behaviour and do not need confirmation of
the actions it takes.
Label "Results" as "Subprojects"
If you prefer to use the term "Subproject" instead of "Result" in ResultsManager, setting
this option will change it in the dialogues and dashboard maps. No other functionality is
changed, and Dashboard maps containing filters for either Results or Subprojects will work
in either mode. Tip: fixed texts in the Dashboard templates are not affected by this option.
If the Dashboard templates contain the word "Result" then this is not automatically updated.
Allow commas as list separators
This option lets you also use commas to separate Contexts, Areas, Owners and Categories.
This is required if you are using the Outlook Synchronisation feature, otherwise it is
optional. Note that if you enable this option, then any names of the form "Smith, John" will
be regarded as two separate people. This option is automatically enabled if the option for
storing Contexts and Areas is enabled.
Support MM/Outlook Synchronisation
(ResultsManager Professional Edition and MindManager X5 Pro / Pro 6 / Pro 7 only)
Enabling this option will allow ResultsManager to generate Dashboard maps that can be
synchronised with Microsoft Outlook, using MindManager's built-in synchronisation features.
Refer to the section on Synchronising with Outlook for more details.
Store Contexts and Areas in Categories
(ResultsManager Professional Edition only) This option makes ResultsManager keep the
Context and Area information for each Activity in the Categories list, and means that all the
information about an Activity is visible in MindManager. This option is normally required
when synchronising with Outlook, as it makes the Context and Area accessible in the
Outlook Task list. If you do not want to see extra information in the Categories field, turn
this option off.
Shared Drive and folder list
(ResultsManager Professional Edition only) Enter the drive letters or folder paths of
shared storage locations, where you keep maps that other people have simultaneous access
to. ResultsManager will check whether a map or template is in a shared location before
opening it automatically, either during the generation of a Dashboard or when updating or
inserting Activities in original project maps. You can specify more than one shared location,
separated with a semi-colon. Drive letters should have the colon appended (e.g. "W:\")
otherwise any path beginning with "W" would be treated as a shared storage location.
Private lock files
In normal use, when ResultsManager accesses maps in shared locations, it looks for the lock
file written when MindManager edits a map, and will not open the map if the lock file is
present. This is usually a hidden file of the form "~$mapname.mmap.~$lock". However,
there are some sharing environments that work by replicating folder contents in the
background, and some do not replicate lock files or hidden files, which prevents the
MindManager-generated lock file from being used to protect against multiple simultaneous
access. In these cases, define the shared folder location after an empty list item, and
ResultsManager will generate a non-hidden text lock file that will be synchronised and
replicated. For example, if "C:\GrooveSpace\" was a shared folder that worked with
synchronisation that excluded hidden files or normal lock files, specify it as
";C:\GrooveSpace\" in the shared drive and folder list. Note that this requires you to
manually close this file with the command File | Close and unlock shared map
(MindManager X5 and 6 only) in order for ResultsManager to delete its own lock file. This
mechanism is private to ResultsManager and is not honoured by other systems.
If a lock file is encountered when ResultsManager attempts to open a map in a shared
location, and you do not already have the map open in MindManager, ResultsManager will
display a warning message and will show the contents of the lock file. You should manually
delete the lock file or ask the other user to close the map and remove the lock file.
ResultsManager does not require a "lock" when scanning maps for dashboards, as no write
permission is needed for this operation. If a map is already open for edit in the same
session of MindManager, the current state of the map is used without re-opening it. If a
map is already open for edit by another user, then the last saved state of the map is used
for the dashboard.
Automatically close shared maps
(ResultsManager Professional Edition only) Enabling this option forces ResultsManager
to automatically close any shared maps that it opens while sending updates from edited
Dashboard maps. Note that this only applies to maps that ResultsManager opens itself. If
you already have a shared map open in MindManager when ResultsManager needs it,
ResultsManager will not try to close it when it has finished. Disabling this option means that
ResultsManager leaves any shared maps open, so that you can close them manually later.
This is helpful if you need to make a number of changes and you want to keep a shared
map locked for further updates.
Dashboard Edit Mode selector
(ResultsManager Professional Edition only) Selects how and when ResultsManager
sends changes from Dashboard maps back to Project maps.
 "No Editing from Dashboards" will not permit you to launch the Edit dialogue from within
a Dashboard map that ResultsManager has generated. This is the default setting for
ResultsManager Standard Edition. You can only make updates in your original


project maps, by clicking on the Hyperlink Icons
in the Dashboard to access the
original activity.
"Edit in Dashboards, defer updates" gives you the most flexibility. You can make
changes in a Dashboard map using either the ResultsManager Edit command or
MindManager's regular features (e.g. changing Topic Icons). All changes are replicated
within the Dashboard map and posted to the original Project maps when the Send
Dashboard changes command is used. See also When would I used deferred updating?.
"Edit in Dashboards, immediate update" lets you edit items in Dashboard maps, using
the Edit dialogue. As soon as the Edit dialogue is closed, ResultsManager updates all
copies of the edited activity in the Dashboard map, and posts the changes back to the
original Project map, so that everything stays updated.
Dashboard Options
Clicking this button will open the Dashboard Options dialogue, where you can configure
Dashboard options and manage the list of available Dashboards.
Automatic Completion Logging
This option configures the automatic logging of Activities when their status is changed. The
choices are:
 Do not log anything: completion logging is turned off
 Log when finishing (100% complete): when an Activity is changed to 100% compete by
editing in the ResultsManager Activity dialogue, using the Send Dashboard Changes
command or by using the Set Activity Complete command, ResultsManager will append
the details of this event in the Notes of the parent Project or Result (Subproject) topic.
The notes in the parent Project or Result will become a completion log for the project or
subproject.
 Log any change in percent complete: logging to the Notes of the parent Project or Result
will occur when any change in the percent complete setting is implemented, either
through the ResultsManager Edit dialogue or by sending Dashboard changes back to
project maps.
OK button
The OK button saves all changes made in the Options dialogue, and closes it.
Cancel button
Clicking this button quits the Options dialogue without saving any changes made here. Note
that this does not cancel any changes already made in the separate Dashboard Options
dialogue.
Help button
Displays this Help file.
Creating and Editing Activities
Inserting a new Activity
There are four ways to create a new Activity Topic in a MindManager map:
 Select a Topic (or the Central Topic) then click the ResultsManager tab | Activity
group | Insert Activity, or press Alt+E then I on the keyboard.
 Right-click on a Topic (or the Central Topic) then select Insert new Activity from the
pop-up menu.
 Create a new Topic in MindManager with the INS key or toolbar button, right-click on it
and select Edit Activity from the pop-up menu. The topic will be converted to an action
by default.
These methods all launch the ResultsManager Edit Dialogue.
The Edit dialogue
The ResultsManager Edit dialogue allows you to quickly enter the information about this
activity so that it can be managed and tracked to completion.
To edit an existing Activity in a map, either:
 Select the Topic and click the ResultsManager tab | Activity group | Edit Activity or
press Alt+E, Y on the keyboard, or
 Right-click on the Topic and select Edit Activity from the pop-up menu
The ResultsManager Edit dialogue (Power User mode)
The Edit dialogue lets you define the information that will be used to organise and track
your Actions, Results and Projects. Most of the information is stored in the MindManager
map in visible fields, so can also be edited via other means (e.g. the Task Info task pane),
but the ResultsManager Edit dialogue is quicker for configuring all the information in one
place. Some of the information (such as Contexts and Areas) does not normally have any
visible storage in the map, so can only be edited through ResultsManager.
The current project is shown at the top of the dialogue:
Current Project at top of Edit Dialogue
This means that the new Action, Result or sub-project that we are adding or editing
"belongs to" the "Moving House" Project. ResultsManager automatically determines where
you are in your map, and works out to which project this Activity belongs. If it reaches the
Central Topic without finding a parent Project or Result, the Central Topic becomes the
"parent project".
If the next highest item in your map is a Result or Subproject instead, the dialogue shows:
Current Result / Subproject at top of Edit Dialogue
This means that the new activity that we are adding or editing "belongs to" the "Everything
packed" Result or Subproject.
Project, Result or Next Action?
Your first decision is: is this activity a new Project, a new Result, or a Next Action?
If it is a simple task such as making a phone call, and you have all the information
available, then it can be a Next Action and you can click the "Next Action" selector:
Setting an activity as a Next Action
But if this activity is a bit more complex, and might need a little bit of planning or involve
other people, then it could be a Result or Subproject in its own right, and you should click
the "Result" radio button:
Setting an activity as a Result (or Subproject) within a project
If this is a larger project that might take many actions and intermediate achievements
("Results"), then you should click the "Project" radio button:
Setting an activity as a Project
For example, if the activity is "Buy a new car", then this is probably not something that can
be completed in one event. It will consist of research, evaluation, decisions and a number of
actions and milestones, so it is really a whole project in its own right. The point at which
you have chosen your car might be a "Result", one of several within the whole project. You
can easily change Actions into Projects or Results later, and vice versa.
ResultsManager treats Projects and Next Actions as almost identical. Projects can consist of
Actions and sub-projects, and Actions can have sub-projects underneath them. The only
difference is that the ResultsManager dashboard knows how to distinguish between Projects
and Actions, so that you can create a Review dashboard for a specific project, or list just the
Actions that belong to one project.
Working with Projects inside maps
Within a MindManager map, ResultsManager adopts the following convention:
 The Central Topic is always a Project. A sub-project cannot be any bigger than a single
map. (One reason for this is that you can't use Relationships between Topics in different
maps).
When you assign an activity to be a Result or a Project, ResultsManager writes the
appropriate Icon to this Topic in the map. You can manually add or remove the Project and
Result Icons to change the status of the activity, using the normal MindManager features.
So you can change a Topic from a Project to a Result or a Next Action or vice versa.
ResultsManager automatically adds its Icons to the Map Marker set in MindManager.
Committed or Someday-maybe?
Is your new activity something that you have promised to yourself or someone else? Or is it
a "would be nice" action?
You can label explicitly committed activities by checking the "Committed" check box:
Committed activity
Someday-maybe activities are shown by checking the "Someday / Maybe" check box:
Uncommitted (Someday/Maybe) activity
If you leave an Activity without either marker set, then it will inherit the setting from its
parent topic:
Committed or Someday-maybe setting is inherited from parent Topic
This information is used by ResultsManager when compiling lists in the Dashboards. For
example, you can ask it to show only committed Next Actions, or you could ask for a list of
Someday/Maybe Projects so that you can review them and decide whether to change their
status.
ResultsManager uses a MindManager Icon ("handshake" or "meeting") to mark Activities as
committed. You can change the status of an Activity by adding or removing this Icon on the
Topic. This Icon is automatically added to the Map Marker set when the Edit command is
used. It also uses the "Hourglass" icon for Someday/Maybe and will automatically add a
legend to this icon in the Map Markers.
The Committed or Someday/Maybe marker will be inherited from the parent topic if not
explicitly defined. This means you can set a whole project to Committed or Someday/maybe
just by setting the marker on the Central Topic (for example). If you have used
ResultsManager before, this is a change from earlier versions that simplifies this feature. By
default, the Central Topic of a map will be regarded as "Committed" if not explicitly set
otherwise.
You can also add the Purpose for this activity in the box. This is written to the Notes for this
Topic in the map, and will appear in the Dashboard when this activity is listed. Any existing
Notes in the Topic are displayed, but if the Notes contain any rich text (tables, Hyperlinks,
bullet points and so on) then they cannot be edited in the ResultsManager dialogue, and
this box will be greyed. Only plain text can be edited via the ResultsManager edit dialogue.
Setting Start and Due dates
The next step is to decide whether this new activity has a starting date or due date. This
depends on what kind of activity it is. You will find your Dashboard maps are much more
useful if you are consistent about the use of dates on tasks.
For any activity, you can define up to three pieces of date information:
 The Start / Review date. This date describes when an Activity becomes startable, and
controls when ResultsManager displays activities in dashboards (where they are filtered
by date). No Start date means "Start as soon as possible" and is eligible from today. You
can keep things out of sight until they are needed by defining a Start date in the future.
 The Due date. This date describes when the Activity should finish. If there is no Due
date, it means "finish as soon as possible". Only Activities with specific due dates can be
overdue.
 The Deadline marker. When combined with a Due date, this marker distinguishes
between preferred due dates versus those that are immovable and must be achieved. An
example of a non-deadline date is the date when you think you should finish painting
the garage door. An example of a deadline date is the date of the shareholder's meeting.
It is unlikely that the shareholder's meeting will be delayed if you have not finished your
presentation in time. The Deadline marker has no meaning if there is no Due date for an
Activity.
ResultsManager recognises six different combinations of Start / Review Date, Due Date
and the Deadline marker. These reflect different types of activity. They are:
Start Date
Due Date
Deadline
Meaning
-
-
-
Start and finish this as soon as possible, and
remind me about it from today
Yes
-
-
Remind me about this from the Start date, finish
as soon as possible after that
-
Yes
-
Start this as soon as possible, and preferably
finish it by the Due date
Yes
Yes
-
Start this from the Start date, and preferably
finish it by the Due date
-
Yes
Yes
Start this as soon as possible, and it must finish
by the Due date
Yes
Yes
Yes
Start this from the Start date, and it must finish
by the Due date
 No Start date or Due date means "Start and finish this as soon as possible"
This is an "as soon as possible" activity. You have not deferred it or scheduled it, and
want to be reminded about it until it is complete. Typically, this would be something
that you could put off until either you can make the time for it, or it turns nasty, or it
just goes away. ResultsManager will automatically display undated Activities in the
Dashboard maps as actionable today, if you have enabled the "Rollover" option.
 A Start date only means "Remind me about this from the Start date"
This is an "as soon as possible" activity that you don't want to be reminded about for a
while. Setting a future Start date means that ResultsManager will only display it in the
dated sections of Dashboards when this Start date is reached. Once it becomes
startable, it should be finished as soon as possible. Use this for reminders about future
activities that are not critical, such as a decision whether to go to next year's trade
show. (Note: this date combination cannot be entered if Outlook Support is enabled, as
tasks must have both dates)
 A Due date only, without the Deadline marker set, means "Start this as soon as
possible, and preferably finish by (date)"
This is an activity that you want to be reminded about straight away, and has a
preferred finish date. You can use this when there is not much time between now and
the finish date, or if you really want to keep it in view all the time in case an earlier
opportunity arises. An example of this is finishing a report for your manager by the end
of the week. Be careful not to let too many of these kinds of activity build up, otherwise
you will still need to re-evaluate them in your dashboard maps. (Note: this date
combination cannot be entered if Outlook Support is enabled, as tasks must have both
dates)
 A Start date and a Due date without the Deadline marker set means "Start this from
(date), and preferably finish it by (date)"
This is an activity that needs some preparation beforehand which you want to be alerted
to. ResultsManager will display this in the Next Actions section of a dashboard from its
Start date, and it will become Overdue after its Due date. Use this for scheduling
activities where the finish date is important but not completely immovable.
 A due date, with the Deadline marker set, means "Start this as soon as possible, and it
must finish by (date)"
Anything with a due date and the deadline marker set is a Deadline, and
ResultsManager will display it in the Deadlines section of a dashboard. Deadline means "
Must be done on or by this date". It does not mean "It would be nice idea to complete
by this date". Don't use Deadlines to "schedule" things that can slip, otherwise you will
reduce the significance of your list of things that cannot slip. Use Deadlines for anything
that you would put in a calendar, or where the consequences of missing the date are
important. (Note: this date combination cannot be entered if Outlook Support is
enabled, as tasks must have both dates)
 A Start date and a Due date with the Deadline marker set means "Start this from
(date), and it must finish by (date)"
This is an activity that needs some essential preparation beforehand which you want to
be alerted to. ResultsManager will display this in the Deadlines section of a dashboard
on its due date, or in the Bring-Forward section starting from its start date. Use this for
activities such as a presentation that will take a couple of days to prepare, to ensure
that you don't only remember it on the morning of the presentation, when it's too late to
do anything about it.
You can type dates by hand (following the "short date" format on your system), or you can
browse for dates with the buttons. The options are the same for both start and due dates.
The "date list" button
lets you pick from a predefined set of dates:
Choosing predefined dates
For example, if you were reviewing an existing project and decided to bump a follow-up
phone call to next week, you could click on "One week from now" to change the date.
Clicking on "More dates..." or clicking on the date browse button (
) displays the Date
picker:
Date picker dialogue
If you set a Due date for an activity, then the browse button (
offer a list of prior dates, relative to the Due date:
) for the Start date will
Choosing a relative Start date
If no Due date has been chosen then the list is the same as the Due date (tomorrow, end of
month etc.) Note that ResultsManager converts these relative dates to an actual calendar
date and saves that. Changing the Due date afterwards will not automatically move the
Start date to maintain the same gap.
Working with Start and Due dates
If a Start or Due date is set on an activity, and the option for automatically rolling
incomplete activities over is enabled in the ResultsManager Dashboard Options, then
ResultsManager will keep bumping the date of overdue activities to today until they are
complete. This means that even if the date has passed, you will still see this activity in
today's Dashboards unless you decide to change its status.
If no date is given for an activity, ResultsManager looks "up" the tree for a parent Project or
Result to see if there are any dates there. If it finds a Start date on the parent Project or
Result, then it will not display this Activity until the Start date of the parent Project or
Result are reached. This feature can be switched off by disabling the option "Automatically
inherit activity settings" in the Dashboard Options dialogue.
Priority, Duration and Progress
You can assign a Priority, Duration and Progress status to Activities in the Edit dialogue.
This information is stored in the Task Info task pane and can also be edited by the normal
MindManager features. Defining a Priority or Progress status (percent complete) also adds
the automatic Icons to the Topic, and changes made outside ResultsManager will be
reflected the next time you open the ResultsManager Edit dialogue.
Priorities should be used as a short-term status. Dashboards can filter and sort by Priority,
but if everything in your map is Priority 1, then you are no nearer a decision. Although it is
tempting to consider priority as a global measurement scale, you are better off using
Priorities within smaller groups of actions where there is some discretion. If you share maps
and plans with others, then it is important to have an agreement about what Priority means
in your plans. Your "Priority 1" might be someone else's "Priority 3"!
The "Priority Action Dashboards" will display only Activities that belong to Projects or
Results marked as Priority 1. A good way to use this is to agree each week what your
must-achieve outcomes are for the week, and label these as Priority 1. Then the Priority
Action Dashboards will show you only what you need to focus on to achieve your
commitments for the week. Priority 1 items should not be allowed to build up over a long
period of time, otherwise priorities stop being a useful way to discriminate when time is
short.
You can set the duration of an activity in hours, and this information is saved in the map.
ResultsManager does not make any use of the Duration information at present, but may do
so in future versions.
The "Progress" selector lets you mark how complete this activity is, from 0% complete (not
started) to 100% compete (finished). There is a subtle distinction between an activity that
is 0% complete, and one that has no percentage complete value. The former is an
activity that needs to be actioned, and the latter is just information - there is no action
associated with it. By default, ResultsManager sets the Percent Complete of a new Activity
to zero, so that it is marked with the "Task" Icon. If you decide that this Activity does not
actually need doing, you can change the Progress to "Not actionable". When you close the
Edit dialogue, this Activity will not be a task of any kind.
Assigning Contexts
Where can this activity be completed?
If it is a phone call, then it should appear on the "Phone calls" list when a Dashboard is
generated, so that you can group similar activities together. If it can only be done in the
office, then it should also be on the "Office" list.
You can type a Context name into the Context box, or choose from a list. Choosing from
lists is preferred, as ResultsManager will organise activities by unique name, and "Phone
call", "Phone", "Telephone" and "Call" would create four different lists. So it makes sense to
have a single name for this context and use it consistently.
ResultsManager will automatically add the "@" character in front of Context names when it
displays them in dashboards or sends them to Outlook. The contexts "@Phone" and "Phone"
are the same to ResultsManager, and both will appear as "'@Phone" in the dashboards. It
will remove any "@" signs already present.
Clicking the List button (
) next to the Context text box will display a list of the most
recently used Context settings. This is useful where you are entering several activities that
all have the same context.
Recently-used Contexts pop-up
Clicking the "More contexts..." selection, or clicking the Browse button (
field displays the Context List picker dialogue:
) by the Context
Context list picker dialogue
The list picker dialogue lets you choose previously defined or used Contexts and add them
to the current Activity. Click on a name in the left hand column, then click "Add" to move it
to the right-hand column. To remove an existing context, click on it in the right-hand
column and click "Remove". When you click OK, the contexts shown in the right-hand
column are written to the Activity.
Working with Contexts
The context where an activity can be completed is often a physical location (home or
office), or a specific piece of equipment required (such as a telephone or a computer). You
can also use the names of people you frequently work with as contexts, to remind you to
ask someone about something the next time you see them or speak with them on the
phone. However, it is not a good idea to list people whom you only see infrequently, or will
only see once, otherwise your Contexts list in the dashboard will become too large to be
meaningful. The objective of using Contexts is to be able to take advantage of specific
locations or opportunities that arise, by having a list of things that can be done in that
context.
Whole projects are not usually associated with Contexts, unless the project requires a
specific piece of equipment or is exclusively completed in one place.
An action or project can have multiple contexts assigned to it, and will appear in each of the
lists when a dashboard containing breakdown by context is generated. However, note that a
list is generated for each context used. If you assign "Phone" and "Office" to an action, then
it will appear in each of the "Phone" and "Office" lists in the dashboard. But if this task can
only be done from the phone in the office, then you should create a new Context called
"Office Phone", and use this instead, to ensure that the action only appears on one list.
If no Context is given for a task or project, ResultsManager looks "up" for a parent task or
project to see if there are any Contexts there. If it finds a Context on the parent project, for
example, then it will automatically show this activity as having the same Context as the
parent project, when listing it in a Dashboard. This feature can be switched off by disabling
the option "Automatically inherit activity settings" in the Dashboard Options dialogue.
Using unique Contexts
Sometimes, it makes no sense for Contexts to be inherited by the sub-topics in the map.
For example, if you assign a context of "@Phone" to a particular activity, then it does not
follow that all the sub-topics (predecessors) of this Activity are also phone calls.
You can prevent a specific Context from being inherited by adding a star (*) at the end of
the Context name:
@Phone*
Sub-topics in the map will not inherit this Context, but will look further up the tree for a
valid Context to inherit.
Assigning Owners
Activities must have owners who are responsible for completing them. The ResultsManager
Edit dialogue lets you assign owners to an activity, so that when a Dashboard map is
generated, activities can be listed against their owners.
The Owners text box in the Edit dialogue works in a very similar way to the Contexts box:
 You can type a name or list of names straight into the box. Multiple names are
separated by semicolons, e.g. "Adam; Bill; Christine"
 You can choose recently-used Owners from a pop-up list by clicking the List button

next to the Owners text box. The last 5 owners are shown, and the default Owner ("Me")
is always in this list
You can choose Owners from a master list or the current map by clicking on the browse
button
.
Working with Owners
ResultsManager handles owners of activities in two very different ways, selected by an
option in the Dashboard Options. First, let's have a little discussion about responsibilities.
Most project management and scheduling tools allow you to assign more than one owner to
a task, and will schedule the project assuming that multiple people are working on these
shared tasks together. However, this is only sometimes practical in the real world. In many
day-to-day cases, shared ownership of a task means that nobody feels they own it, and as a
consequence, it just doesn't get done.
An alternative way to manage ownership of tasks is to make a rule that only one person at
a time can actually own a task. If they delegate it to someone else, then ownership is
temporarily transferred, until it is returned. But at any point in time, there is only one
current owner, who is responsible for the task.
ResultsManager can cope with both Shared Ownership and Delegated Ownership
scenarios.
Shared Ownership
If you are comfortable with the idea of multiple owners of an activity, then
ResultsManager can interpret a list of activity owners as "all the people responsible" for
it. This activity will appear against all their names when displayed in a dashboard. For
example, if the activity owners list is "Adam; Bill; Christine", then Adam, Bill and
Christine have joint responsibility. To use Shared Ownership, you should disable the
"Automatic Delegation" option in the Dashboard Options.
Delegated Ownership
Alternatively, ResultsManager can interpret a list of activity owners as a delegation list,
where the first name is the ultimate owner. So the same list ("Adam; Bill; Christine")
means that Adam is the original activity owner, and has delegated it to Bill. Bill has then
delegated it to Christine. Christine is the current owner of this activity, and Bill is
waiting for her to complete it. In turn, Adam is waiting for Bill to complete his part.
Let's take a typical example; during a meeting, Peter's manager (John) asks him to find
out when the next shareholder's report is due. He does not know himself, but he knows
that Jill (the CFO's secretary) will know. So even from this simple example, we have two
levels of delegation and a network of interactions:
o John has asked Peter for something, assigning him an activity
o Peter will ask Jill for this same information, then return the answer to John.
So somewhere in his project maps, Peter adds a "Next Action" and selects the Owners as
John; Peter; Jill
When he runs his Daily Actions Dashboard (Power User version), he can see that he is
waiting for something from Jill, and he owes a reply to John. If John also runs his
dashboard linked to Peter's project map, he will see that he is waiting for a response
from Peter, but he won't necessarily see that Peter has sub-delegated it.
To support Delegated Ownership in ResultsManager, the List Picker dialogue allows you
to move Owners up and down the list when assigning Owners to an Activity. The Owner
at the top is the ultimate recipient, and the name at the bottom is the current owner.
Assigning owners and sorting the Delegation order
The Owners list is the only list in ResultsManager where the order matters - the others are
automatically sorted alphabetically.
Automatic Delegation
To use Automatic Delegation in ResultsManager, enable the "Automatic Delegation" option
in the Dashboard Options. This enables special inheriting of owners of tasks in your maps.
ResultsManager keeps track of activity ownership as it "drills down" through a project, and
when a new owner is encountered, they are added as a delegated owner.
For example, if "James" is the owner of a project, then by default all activities in the project
will be his responsibility. Somewhere in the project, the owner for task "C" is set to
"Charles". ResultsManager derives the owner list "James; Charles" when building the
dashboard for this project, so that the current owner is Charles, but James is waiting for
him to complete it. There are filters in the Dashboard that will display who is waiting for
what from whom.
Working with other kinds of participant
Sometimes, you need to reference other people who are connected with an action, but don't
have any direct responsibility for completing it. For example, you might need to call
someone about something you are doing, or you might want to mention something to
someone the next time you meet with them. But you are not delegating anything to them,
nor they to you, nor do you expect them to take any action.
There are two solutions: use their name as a Context, or use their name as a Partner.
Using their name in the Context field will mean that activities associated with this person
will appear listed with the other Contexts you may be using, such as "@Office" or
"@Phone". A context of "@Kim" is useful for collecting together things for your next call
with Kim.
The disadvantage with using a person's name as a Context is that this does not
automatically group together everything that may connect you with this person. If they also
owed you a couple of actions, you would not see these under the same Context (unless you
took the trouble to also assign their name as a Context in activities where they owed it to
you).
The alternative way to reference people who are indirectly involved is to identify them as a
Partner in this activity. This is done by including a "@" character in their name (either at
the start or end) when using it in the Owners list. For example, in the list of Owners "Jim;
@Pete; Jane", Pete is referenced as a Partner, and Jim and Jane have responsibilities for
this activity (Jim has delegated it to Jane). Several things happen when you identify
someone as a Partner:
o They do not have any executive responsibility for this activity. If they are also
using ResultsManager, this activity will not be listed as theirs to complete.
o Their name is not inherited inside the map to the sub-topics (predecessor
activities). Setting them as a Partner on one activity only applies to that activity.
o They can be shown in Dashboard maps as someone who you need to contact
about something.
o Activities for which they are responsible (or which they have delegated to you)
can also be shown against their name in Dashboard maps, so that you have
everything for your "agenda" with this person in one place.
Summary of roles
How ResultsManager defines people's roles
People with executive responsibility for completing actions are the Activity Manager (who
delegates it to an Activity Provider), the Activity Provider (who is responsible for delivering
it to their Activity Manager), and the Activity Owner, who is the person currently
responsible for completing it.
There is only ever one Activity Owner. If the activity has not been delegated, then there are
no managers or providers.
In many cases, the Activity Provider and the Activity Owner are the same person, if the
activity has only been delegated once. If it has been delegated several times, there may be
further managers & providers in the chain.
Grouped together, the Manager, Provider and Activity Owner are known as Owners. By
contrast, a Partner is someone who does not have any executive responsibilities with this
activity.
Grouped together, Owners and Partners are known as Parties to this activity. You will only
need to know this term if you create your own Dashboard templates and use the filters to
find certain kinds of people in your dashboard maps.
Valid names for parties to an activity
The texts "Y" and "N" cannot be used for owner or partner names, as these are reserved for
filtering in ResultsManager dashboards.
Assigning Categories and Areas
You can use Categories and Areas in any way that helps analyse your workload and make
decisions about what to do next or where effort is needed.
Categories and Areas are edited in the same ways as Contexts and Owners:
 You can type a Category or list of Categories straight into the box. Multiple entries are
separated by semicolons (;)
 You can choose recently-used Categories or Areas from a pop-up list by clicking the List

button (
) next to the input box, or
You can choose Categories or Areas from their master list or from the current map by
clicking on the browse button (
).
Categories entered in the ResultsManager Edit dialogue are copied to the Categories field in
MindManager's Task Info task pane, and can be re-edited from there or made available to
other task management applications. Areas are not stored in a visible field, and are only
accessible through the ResultsManager Edit dialogue. Both Categories and Areas have their
own Master lists that you can keep up to date.
Categories and Areas can be used to collect together related items from separate projects
when building dashboard maps. They may have some common attribute that helps you
during your weekly review, without necessarily making them into a project on their own.
For example, you may have lots of action items related to your business, organised into
projects, but only some of them contribute directly to revenue generation. Instead of
duplicating these actions in a project that is focused on driving revenue, you could create
an Area called "Revenue" and assign certain tasks from other projects to it. Then in the
weekly review you could get an overview of all the individual actions and sub-projects that
are revenue-generating, collected together into one list.
Choosing which to use
Although Categories and Areas appear to be similar, there is a basic difference between
them. ResultsManager treats them differently for the purposes of organising Activities in
Dashboard maps. Area settings are inherited cumulatively within the map, whereas
Categories replace inherited settings.
The Category or Categories assigned to an Activity will either be the Categories explicitly
assigned to it in the Topic, or if none are defined, the Categories it has inherited from its
parent topic will be used. If Categories are explicitly assigned to a Topic, then they will
replace any that are inherited from its parent in the map.
For example, if an Activity has the category "Improvement", and a subtopic has the
Category "Bug Fix" assigned to it, then the subtopic's own category will replace
"Improvement" that was inherited from its parent.
Areas work slightly differently. The Area or Areas assigned to an Activity will be combined
with those inherited from a parent. So the inherited settings are not lost, but are added to.
If an Activity has an Area of "Management Meetings", and has a subtopic with the Area
"Weekly Meetings", then the subtopic's Areas will be regarded as "Management Meetings;
Weekly Meetings". It will retain the Area inherited from its parent and add its own to the
list. When it is displayed in a Dashboard that organises Activities by Area, it will be listed
under "Management Meetings" and "Weekly Meetings", even though it only had the latter
assigned to it explicitly.
Setting activities as Lists
If you are using the Funnel Timeline layout for your project maps, you can select some
Activities as the parent of lists rather than members of chains. ResultsManager recognises
the word "(list)" at the end of the topic text.
The Power User mode Edit dialogue has a check box next to the Activity text that adds or
removes the word "(list)" from the text:
The "(list)" check box in the Edit dialogue
Checking this box will append "(list)" to the topic text if not already present, and
un-checking will remove it. Most of the time, you can ignore this feature. If you are creating
sequenced lists of actions as subtopics, enable this check box on the parent topic, or add
the word "(list)" by hand.
De-activating Activities
Sometimes, you decide that an action item that you planned to take is no longer valid, and
you don't want it in your plan any more.
Select the "Deactivated" option in the Edit dialogue to reset all the information related to
planning, except for the description and reason. The Topic is returned to a "non-task" Topic
in your map. It is not an Project, Result or Action any more, as shown by the indicator at
the top of the edit dialogue:
De-activated Topic
If you use the ResultsManager Edit dialogue to edit a Topic that is not already an Activity,
ResultsManager will automatically set the "Action" option, assuming that you want to
convert this Topic into an Activity.
Finishing the Edit
When you have entered all the information necessary to define the new activity,
ResultsManager will check to see if you have added any new Contexts, Owners, Categories
or Areas that have not been used before, and will add them to your Master Lists. This
requires that you have given ResultsManager permission to do this in the Options dialog.
The automatic updating of Master Lists means that you rarely have to set them up manually
- they can grow over time.
Closing the Edit window
Exit options from the Edit Dialogue
To complete editing this Activity, you can:
 Click the Cancel button or the Window Close button



to cancel the edit. This will
abandon any changes you have made. If you were editing a newly inserted Activity that
had not been previously saved, the newly inserted Topic is also deleted.
Click the OK button to save the changes you have made and close the Edit dialogue.
Click the Save/Add button to save the changes you have made, add a new Activity at
the same level as the current one, then continue editing
Click the Save/Insert button to save the changes you have made, insert a new
Activity underneath the current one, then continue editing
Saving and adding a new Activity to the current project, or as a sub-task of the current
Action item means you can quickly build up a series of actions towards a Project or Result.
Editing multiple Activities
(ResultsManager Professional edition only)
Power User mode also offers the option of editing groups of Activities together, to save
time. For example, you can change the Owner name of a set of selected Activities in one
operation.
You can select multiple Topics in a map with the "rubber band" selector (dragging a
rectangle around a group of Topics) or with Ctrl+Click. When you launch the
ResultsManager Edit command with multiple Topics selected, ResultsManager prompts you
to choose whether you want to edit the selected Topics together, or individually:
Selecting Block edit or individual edit
If you answer No to this prompt, ResultsManager will display the normal Edit dialogue for
each of the selected Topics in turn. Clicking OK will save the changes and move to the next
selected Topic.
If you answer Yes to this prompt, ResultsManager will display a restricted version of the
Edit dialogue that allows you to edit certain fields together. The changes you make will
apply to all the selected Topics:
Editing multiple Activities in Block Edit mode
In the block edit dialogue, the following fields only can be edited:






Project / Result / Action selector
Someday-Maybe / Committed selector
Contexts
Owners
Categories, and
Areas
The other fields (Purpose, dates etc.) cannot be block-edited. Changing one of the editable
fields will apply the change to all the selected Topics.
When more than one Topic is selected, it is possible that they will contain different values
for the same field (e.g. two different lists of Owners). ResultsManager deals with this as
follows:
 If all the values of a certain field are the same for all selected Topics, this value is

shown in the edit dialogue. In the above example, all the selected Topics are Actions,
and they also all have a context of "Phone". So ResultsManager shows these values
explicitly. If you change this value, it is written to all selected Topics when you click OK.
This includes deleting the value.
If the values of a certain field are different across the selected Topics, ResultsManager
does not display a value but leaves the field blank. (This is similar to selecting text of
different point sizes in a word processor - the text size indicator is blanked out). If you
put a new value in this field, all Topics will be changed to this value when you click OK.
If you leave this field empty, then no change is made to the field when you click OK.
This lets you leave existing (and different) values unchanged.
Let's take an example. Suppose you selected three Activities:
 Activity A has a Context of "Phone", and "Bob" as the Owner
 Activity B has a Context of "Phone", and "Jim" as the Owner
 Activity C has a Context of "Phone", and "Bob" as the Owner
When you edit these Activities together, the Context box will contain "Phone", and the
Owner box will be blank, because not all the Owners are the same. If you replace the
Context with "Meeting" and click OK, then the Activities will be changed to:
 Activity A: Context of "Meeting", and "Bob" as the Owner
 Activity B: Context of "Meeting", and "Jim" as the Owner
 Activity C: Context of "Meeting", and "Bob" as the Owner
The original Owners would not be changed. But if you entered "Karen" into the Owner box
instead, then the Activities would change to
 Activity A: Context of "Phone", and "Karen" as the Owner
 Activity B: Context of "Phone", and "Karen" as the Owner
 Activity C: Context of "Phone", and "Karen" as the Owner
You can use the block edit mode in conjunction with the Maintenance dashboard to quickly
make global changes across a set of maps.
Power tip: If you want to delete a field from a block of selected activities (e.g. delete the
Categories value), and the selected Activities already contain different values, then use the
block edit dialogue to set all the Categories to the same non-blank value first. Then you can
re-edit the same selection again, and change the non-blank value to an empty field.
Working with Dashboard maps
What is a Dashboard map?
A Dashboard map is a map that is dynamically generated by ResultsManager, to give you a
new perspective on all the projects and activities that you or others are involved with.
ResultsManager takes all the classification information that you defined when you edited
the Activities, and uses it to create organised lists. This new map contains copies of the
activities taken from the original project map, but organised in a different way. In fact, it
will usually contain several copies of the same activities, if they appear in different lists
(e.g. things to do today, and Phone calls).
The purpose of a dashboard map governs its design. Dashboard maps are designed to
support the decisions you need to take when executing or reviewing your workload.
Analysis processes must be consistent to have any value, so performing the same analysis
each week on your projects allows progress and direction to be better understood and
realigned.
There are two basic Dashboard types when using MindManager and ResultsManager to
implement the "Getting Things Done" methodology - an "Actions" Dashboard and a
"Review" Dashboard.
A "Daily Actions Dashboard" typically shows
o Upcoming deadlines - early warning of deadlines coming up in the next week
o Today's Next Actions - ResultsManager can work out from the structure of a
project plan whether an action item can be started, by checking the status of
prior activities
o Things you are waiting for from other people
An example Power User Daily Actions Dashboard map
The "Sweep
o A
o A
o A
o A
and Review" Dashboard typically shows
list of overdue Activities
list of Committed Projects, showing who own then and what the next steps are
list of Committed Projects that do not have any Committed actions
list of Someday/Maybe Projects
An example "Sweep and Review" Dashboard map
Both dashboards are generated from the same set of project maps. You would use a Daily
Actions Dashboard to keep track of what you can or should do each day, and would use a
Review dashboard to take stock of your projects and re-prioritise or re-shape them.
Other more specialised Dashboards can be created to provide further analysis:
 Review what another team member is currently working on
 Extract agenda items needed for a meeting (e.g. if you categorised "Issues" or used a


"Next review meeting" Context)
Keep track of the status of a complex set of specification documents, by tagging items
as fixes, improvements, required, optional etc.
Run diagnostics on your project maps, looking for unusual situations such as committed
activities inside Someday-Maybe projects
A Dashboard is a database report presented in a visual form, but which also allows you to
update the source from the Dashboard itself. This last point is crucial to understanding
the role of Dashboards; when you see something re-presented in a different form, it is
likely that you will have something to add or some new piece of insight, just because of the
way our brains work by association. You may have forgotten that you intended to call a
supplier about something until you saw a list of phone calls - and you need to be able to
park the newly remembered thought somewhere relevant before it has gone forever.
Alternatively, when you finally get to work on the things on your list, you may realise that
you need to find some other piece of data first, which can't be done immediately. So rather
than return to your project plan, you need to be able to make a correction to your to-do list
there and then. The Dashboards that ResultsManager generates allow you to modify and
add new Results to them, and the updates are automatically posted back to the original
project maps, so that they reappear in the right place in future Dashboards.
Lastly, because Dashboard maps are generated from templates, you can fine-tune what is
displayed and how it is organised until the Dashboard map provides optimum support for
your review or delivery processes. Because they consist of a snapshot of a project, they can
also form a useful archive if you need to keep track of progress at milestones in your
project.
Generating Dashboard maps
Once you have some Activities defined in your project-focused maps, ResultsManager can
generate Dashboards to help you prioritise and take action towards them.
Click the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Create Dashboard to see the
Dashboard Selection dialogue:
Power User Dashboard selection dialogue
This dialogue allows you to choose which Dashboard map you want to create, and what to
create it from.
Choose a dashboard from the drop-down list. The available dashboards are defined in
through the Dashboard Options dialogue. When you select a Dashboard, the comments
underneath the box explain more about what this dashboard does.
When you launch the Dashboard Selection dialogue, you may have a Topic already selected
in your map. You can generate a dashboard from just a part of a map, or you can revert
your selection to be the whole map, which is more usual.
Click the Options button if you want to change Dashboard options, or even add a new
Dashboard before generating a Dashboard.
Click the OK button to launch the Dashboard generation. If you have a large number of
linked maps and tasks to scan, this operation may take a few minutes. Normally, you would
regenerate dashboard maps either daily or weekly, depending on the purpose of the
Dashboard. ResultsManager is not currently optimised for the frequent regeneration of
Dashboards.
When you click the OK button, the display shows a progress bar as it sweeps all the maps
linked from the current map, then builds a Dashboard based on the selected template:
Dashboard creation in progress
You can click the Cancel button while the Dashboard is being created, for example if you
realise that you are using the wrong template, or generating from the wrong starting map.
(For some reason, this insight is only made available by clicking the OK button).
ResultsManager will stop, and will display a warning message:
Dashboard creation cancelled by user
Note that any Dashboard map that ResultsManager has started to create will probably be
incomplete, and you should delete it. You should not use it to decide on any actions.
Regenerating Dashboard maps
ResultsManager Professional edition only
Once you have generated a Dashboard map, you can regenerate it again without returning
to the original project map - or even knowing which Dashboard template was used.
Open the generated Dashboard map, then click the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard
group | Create Dashboard. This will prompt you for confirmation to regenerate and
replace this dashboard:
Prompt for permission to regenerate Dashboard
Clicking "No" will abort the process. Clicking "Yes" will perform the following:
 The current map is closed without saving
 ResultsManager opens the project map that was originally used to create the Dashboard
map that is being regenerated
 ResultsManager uses the Dashboard Template that was used, and regenerates an
updated version of this Dashboard map
 If the map was saved, the newly generated Dashboard map is saved in the same
location, overwriting the original.
Note that ResultsManager only remembers which project map was used to create the
original dashboard, and does not store any information about which topic or topics were
selected at the time. The replacement Dashboard will therefore be started from the Central
Topic of the project map.
If you have made any changes to activities in the current Dashboard map, you should be
sure to use the "Send Dashboard Changes" command to
If the Dashboard option to warn about missing Multi-map hyperlinks is disabled, then no
prompt for confirmation is issued. This is so that a Dashboard map can be regenerated
through external scripting, without any user input required.
Default Dashboard Maps
When you install ResultsManager, you get a default set of Dashboard maps. These are
designed to support daily working, reviews and maintenance. If you are using
ResultsManager Professional, you can modify them yourself or create new ones based on
these Dashboard templates.
In the descriptions below, the "default owner" refers to the person entered as "Me" in the
ResultsManager Options dialogue. Note that when ResultsManager creates Dashboards, it
does not normally leave empty headings in the map. If a section of the Dashboard has
nothing to display, the section title is not shown. So if your Dashboard maps do not contain
examples everything mentioned below, the probable explanation is that your maps did not
generate relevant activities.
Daily Actions Dashboard (Express User)
The basic Daily Actions Dashboard is designed to be quick and easy to use for daily
delivery of actions. It shows Activities for the default owner:
 Deadlines that are already overdue
 Deadlines coming up in the next 7 days
 Next Actions that are either overdue or startable today. This includes any actions that
have no date ("as soon as "possible" actions)
 A list of Committed Projects and Results for which no committed Actions have been
identified
The Daily Actions Dashboard (Express User) is available in both Express and Power User
modes.
Daily Actions Dashboard (Power User)
The Power User version of the Daily Actions Dashboard gives more detail and extra
information about delegated Activities. It shows Activities for the default owner:
 Deadlines that are already overdue
 Deadlines coming up in the next 7 days - also including anything you have delegated to
someone else. Where someone else is actually responsible for taking action, their name
is shown. Deadlines are organised by Context or by the person who you need to contact
 Next Actions that are either overdue or startable today, organised by Context or by the
person you need to contact. This includes any actions that have no date ("as soon as
"possible" actions)
 A list of Projects or Results for which no committed Actions have been identified
 A "Relationship Central" section, organised by person, and showing things that you owe
them, that they owe you, or that you need to discuss with them at the next suitable
occasion
The Power User version of the Daily Actions Dashboard is only available in Power User
mode. You should normally be using the Automatic Delegation option to get the most from
the Daily Actions Dashboard.
Priority Actions Dashboard (Express User)
The Priority Actions Dashboard is designed to show you only your most important
activities, for days when you do not have time to think about things. The dashboard shows
Activities for the default owner:
 Committed Deadlines that are already overdue
 Committed Deadlines coming up in the next 2 days
 Committed Next Actions that are either overdue or startable today, and belong to a
Priority 1 Project or Result
 A list of Priority 1 Projects or Results for which no committed Actions have been
identified
 A list of In-Tray topics in maps that you are responsible for
The Express User version of the Priority Actions Dashboard is available in both Express and
Power User modes. To get the most from using the Priority Actions Dashboards, you should
mark your most important projects with the Priority 1 marker in your maps.
Priority Actions Dashboard (Power User)
The Power User version of the Priority Actions Dashboard shows additional detail
compared to the Express User version. The dashboard shows Activities for the default owner:
 Committed Deadlines that are already overdue, organised by Context or person to
contact
 Committed Deadlines coming up in the next 2 days, organised by Context or person to
contact
 Committed Next Actions that are either overdue or startable today, and belong to a
Priority 1 Project or Result. Activities are organised by Context or by person to contact
 A lists of Priority 1 Projects or Results for which no committed Actions have been
identified
 A "Relationship Central" section, organised by person, and showing things that you owe
them, that they owe you, or that you need to discuss with them at the next suitable
occasion. Only Activities which are Deadlines or which belong to a Priority 1 project are
listed
 A list of In-Tray topics in maps that were scanned to build this Dashboard
The Power User version of the Priority Actions Dashboard is only available in Power User
mode. To get the most from using the Priority Actions Dashboards, you should mark your
most important projects with the Priority 1 marker in your map.
Sweep and Review Dashboard (Express User)
The Sweep and Review Dashboard is designed to help you periodically sweep together
new actions, review your projects, and re-plan your commitments. The dashboard shows
Activities for the default owner:
 Any activities that are in "In-tray" Map Parts in your maps, that need to be relocated
within the relevant Project or Result
 All your overdue Activities
 A list of Committed Projects or Results for which no Next Actions have been identified
 A list of your Committed Projects and Results
 A list of your Someday/maybe Projects and Results
The Sweep and Review Dashboard is available in both Express and Power User modes. See
also the section on Reviewing and Refining action plans.
Sweep-up Dashboard (Power User)
The Power User Sweep-up Dashboard is designed to help you collect and organise
unsorted Activities, prior to conducting a review. This Dashboard complements the Power
User Review Dashboard below. The dashboard shows Activities for the default owner:
 Any activities that are in "In-tray" Map Parts in your maps, that need to be relocated
within the relevant Project or Result
 A list of your Committed Projects and Results, with the In-tray topics from each Project
 A list of your Someday/maybe Projects and Results, with the In-tray topics from each
Project
The Power User Sweep-up Dashboard is only available in Power User mode. See also the
section on Reviewing and Refining action plans.
Review Dashboard (Power User)
The Review Dashboard is designed to help you periodically review your projects, and
re-plan your commitments. The Power User version shows more detail than the simpler
Sweep and Review Dashboard. This Dashboard complements the Power User Sweep-up
Dashboard and shows Activities for the default owner:
 All your overdue Activities, sorted by Committed, Someday/maybe, Deadline,
non-Deadline and Priority 1 activities
 A list of Projects or Results for which no Next Actions have been identified, sorted by
Committed and Someday/maybe status
 A list of your Deadlines over the next 7 days
 A list of your Priority 1 Projects and Results
 A list of your Committed Projects and Results, highlighting any that contain
Someday/maybe Activities that may need clarification
 A list of your Committed Project that contain Someday/maybe activities. so that you can
review their promotion to Committed
 A list of your Someday/maybe Projects and Results, highlighting any that contain
Committed Activities that may need clarification
The Power User Review Dashboard is available in both Express and Power User modes. See
also the section on Reviewing and Refining action plans.
"GTD" Lists Dashboard
The GTD Lists Dashboard is designed to be look familiar to users who know David Allen's
"GTD" system. It displays activities owned by the default owner:
 Committed Next Actions for today, organised by Context (@Phone, @Work etc.)
 "Waiting-For" lists, organised by person (the person you are waiting for)
 Committed Projects / Subprojects list
 Someday-Maybe Projects / Subprojects list
 A list of In-tray topics from maps that you are responsible for, to help you integrate new
Activities
The "GTD" Lists dashboard is available in Express and Power User modes.
Outlook Synchronisation Dashboard
The Outlook Synchronisation Dashboard gathers together activities for the current owner,
and creates a dashboard with each activity shown only once (a requirement for Outlook
synchronisation). It also includes recently completed activities that have not yet been
synchronised with Outlook, as well as In-tray topics for adding new tasks received from
Outlook, and a list of committed projects. This dashboard is used to synchronise your
current tasks with Outlook.
Outlook Synchronisation Dashboard (Committed)
The Committed Outlook Synchronisation dashboard is almost identical to the regular
Outlook Synchronisation Dashboard except that it only includes Committed actions.
Meeting Actions Dashboard
The Meeting Actions Dashboard is designed to be used by meeting leaders, team leaders
or managers, especially if they are the sole user of MindManager and ResultsManager in
their team. Instead of listing activities from the viewpoint of a particular individual, it
makes a list of all Activities for each person involved in the project or meeting. This
includes:
 For each person referenced in the map, a list of Projects, Results or Actions that they
are responsible for, sorted by Committed or Someday/maybe status
 A list of Projects and Results for which no Next Actions have been defined
The Meeting Map dashboard is available in Express and Power User modes. Because there
are no date constraints, and all actions (not just Next Actions) are displayed, this
Dashboard can grow very large if you create it across all your maps. It is designed to be
used to create a map for handing out to the participants of a specific project or meeting, or
a group of closely related projects or meetings. As such, you would usually only create it
when viewing a specific meeting or project map, and not necessarily from your Map Central
map.
Tip: you can generate a Dashboard from the perspective of anyone referenced in it. Enable
the Dashboard template option to prompt for the "Dashboard owner", and ResultsManager
will generate the dashboard from their individual perspective without making any other
changes to your configuration. Note that you do not automatically see their other projects,
which may not be accessible to you. You will only see activities in the maps that you can
access.
Calendars Dashboard
The Calendars Dashboard displays activities for all dates:
 All activities with deadlines, organised by week and day
 All activities with non-deadline (preferred) due dates, organised by week and day
Use this for reviewing longer range activities that may not appear in the regular dashboards
for some time. The All-time Calendars dashboard is only available in Power User mode.
Maintenance Dashboard
The Maintenance Dashboard is designed to help you keep all your maps clean and tidy. It
displays lists of Projects, Results and Actions organised by
 Context,
 Owners,
 Categories, and
 Areas
You can use the Maintenance Dashboard to find instances of similar but not exactly identical
names, and correct them to avoid ambiguity in other Dashboards. Only Activities where
Contexts, Owners, Categories and Areas are explicitly defined are shown. Activities where
this information is inherited inside the map are not displayed, for clarity and brevity. The
Maintenance dashboard is only available in Power User mode.
Working from your Dashboard map
There is a basic law in Physics that says "You can't measure something without changing
it", which ResultsManager faithfully observes.
Once you have created a Dashboard map, and settled down to deliver your hot list of
committed actions, your perspective on what needs to be done and what can be done will
almost certainly change. Seeing one list may remind you of something else that needs to be
done, or you might realise that you need to do some more preparation before you can start
an existing action.
ResultsManager Standard Edition and Professional Edition offer different features to help
you work with Dashboard maps.
ResultsManager Standard Edition
ResultsManager Standard edition lets you easily jump back to the original project map from
which an Activity came, by launching the Hyperlinks in the Topics in the Dashboard map. As
you work through the items in your dashboard, click on the Hyperlink Icon
to update the
original copy of the Action, Result or Project. Note that the Dashboard map itself is not
updated. The usual technique is to delete Topics from the Dashboard map as they are
processed or deferred. When the Dashboard map becomes too far out of date, it can be
recreated with the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Create Dashboard.
In ResultsManager Standard Edition, the options for editing Dashboards are disabled:
Dashboard edit and Shared Map options disabled in ResultsManager Standard
ResultsManager Professional Edition
ResultsManager Professional edition lets you jump back to the original project map from
which an Activity came, by clicking on the Hyperlink Icons
on the Topics in the
Dashboard map. If this is a shared map, you should right-click and choose "Open and lock
Shared map" (MindManager X5 and 6 only), which will check for locks before opening the
hyperlinked document.
You can set an Activity to "complete" status by selecting it and clicking the ResultsManager
tab | Activity group | Set Complete, or by right-clicking on it and selecting Set Activity
Complete from the pop-up menu. ResultsManager will also set the original task in the
Project map complete if editing from the Dashboard is enabled.
ResultsManager v2 Professional Edition also allows you to make changes to your activities
from within the Dashboard map, using the same Edit dialogue and commands used to
create your project maps. You do not need to go back to your project maps, make a change,
and regenerate the Dashboard. You can modify the Dashboard, and the changes will be
written back to the right place in the Project map. This behaviour can be enabled or
disabled in the ResultsManager Options dialogue.
When you use the Edit or Insert commands from within a Dashboard map, ResultsManager
checks to see if it has enough information to work out where the original project maps need
changing to keep them up to date.
If you modify an existing Activity in the Dashboard map, the same changes are written back
to the corresponding Topic in the project map.
If you add a new Activity to a Dashboard map, ResultsManager looks for the next available
Action, Result or Project to attach this new Activity to. If it finds one, it will add it straight
into the project map. If it cannot find any suitable information, it will prompt you for a map
to add this new Activity to, and will add it as a Main Topic. When new ideas crop up while
you are working with a Dashboard, you might just want to drop them into a temporary map
and reorganise them later. You can add new Activities to the Project items in a Dashboard
map, and they will be added to the Central Topic of the corresponding project map.
Choosing when to send updates back to the Project maps
You can also choose when ResultsManager sends changes back to the original project maps.
Click the ResultsManager tab | Options group | Options | ResultsManager Options
and choose the required Dashboard edit mode:
Choosing the Dashboard edit and update mode in ResultsManager Professional
 Defer updates: You can make edits to the Dashboard map using either the

ResultsManager Edit command or using MindManager's own edit features (e.g. changing
an Icon, or updating the Percent Complete Icon). No changes are sent to the original
maps until you run Actions | Send Dashboard changes, or press F5 if you are using
MindManager X5 Pro or Pro 6. (MindManager Pro 6 requires you to select a Topic before
pressing F5. Select the Central Topic to refresh the whole map). ResultsManager will
then look for all changed Activities and will send the changes in one operation, as well
as updating other copies of the same activities in the Dashboard map.
Immediate updates: as soon as you click OK on the Edit dialogue, ResultsManager looks
up the remote map and sends changes to it. It also updates any other copies of the
same activity in the Dashboard map. (It is common for Dashboard maps to contain the
same action item in more than one place, e.g. sorted by Date and sorted by Context).
Sending Dashboard changes back to Project maps
If you are using deferred updates, and have edited some of the Activities in a Dashboard
map, you can send them back to the original Project maps on demand. Clicking on the
ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Send Changes lets you choose whether to look
for changes in just the selected tree or trees in the map, or in the whole dashboard map:
Sending changes to Project maps
When you click OK, ResultsManager starts looking for Activities that have been edited since
the Dashboard was created. These edits may have been made using the ResultsManager
Edit dialogue, or using MindManager's regular features (e.g. adding or removing the Project
Icon from a Topic). However, ResultsManager only looks for changes in the information that
is displayed in its Edit dialogue, and does not recognise any other changes. For example, if
you apply a fill colour to a Topic, then ResultsManager will not detect this as a material
change and this Topic will not be sent back to the original project map.
ResultsManager displays a progress bar as it scans for changes and sends them to the
original maps. You can abort this by clicking Cancel:
Sending Dashboard changes in progress
Note that not all the changes detected may have been returned to their project maps. You
can repeat the operation again to complete the updating of project maps.
When would I use deferred updates?
When deferred updates are used, you can make multiple edits to the Dashboard map, then
send them all in one operation to the original Project maps. This is advantageous when
 you want to make a lot of changes, e.g. edit everything under one Context, or
 you are using shared maps, and there is a time delay involved in opening and locking
shared maps. This can happen if the maps are on a remote FTP server on the Internet.
Under these conditions, you should also disable the automatic closing of shared maps.
ResultsManager will then open each shared map only once, and will leave it open in
MindManager for you to close manually. This greatly reduces the time spent locking,
fetching and saving shared maps on remote servers.
The updating system is not completely foolproof, so please be aware of the following:
 Deleting Topics from the Dashboard map has no effect on the original Project map. To



delete a Topic you must return to the original Project map.
If you use MindManager's regular features to modify Topics in the Dashboard map (e.g.
change the Percent Complete setting in the Task Info task pane), this is not
automatically updated back to the project map in real time. Once you have finished
making changes this way, you should use the Send Dashboard changes... command
to post all changes back to the original project maps.
If you are sharing maps with others, it is possible that they have changed the status of
an Activity since you created your Dashboard, and you may overwrite "old" information
back to the project map together with your "new" changes. In this situation, you may
prefer to open and lock any shared maps before making changes in your Dashboard.
Deferring updates can have disadvantages. If you make two different changes to
separate copies of the same activity Topic in the Dashboard map, then some of these
changes will be lost when Send Dashboard changes... command is used.
Customising Dashboard maps
Dashboard Configuration options
Dashboard maps are managed in the Dashboard Options dialogue. You can find this by
either
 Clicking on the ResultsManager tab | Options group | Options | ResultsManager
Options then clicking the "Dashboard Options" button, or
 Clicking on the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Create Dashboard then
clicking the Options button.
Dashboard Options dialogue
On the left of the dialogue are configuration options that apply to all Dashboards. The
right-hand part of this dialogue relates to ResultsManager Professional Edition only and is
discussed in Managing Dashboard maps.
Click on the headings below for an explanation of the configuration options.
Me
This is the "default owner" name. You should set this to be your name before using
ResultsManager. Your name will then always appear in the most-recently-used list of
Owners so that you can select it quickly when editing Activities. It will also be used where
the keyword "Me" is used in Dashboard map filters; this lets you quickly filter tasks and
projects that you own, ignoring ones that other people are responsible for.
Activities with no Owner are mine
Enabling this option means that if ResultsManager finds an Activity that has no Owner
assigned to it, whether explicitly assigned or inherited from another Activity, it will assume
that it belongs to the name entered in the "Me" box. This means that if you are an
individual user, and everything in your maps always belongs to you, then you do not need
to assign any owners, and all Activities will appear in your Dashboard maps. If you are
sharing maps with others, then you should probably not use this option, as you may find
yourself responsible for anything that does not belong to someone else.
Include Multimaps
Enabling this option makes ResultsManager follow all Multimap links within maps when it
builds a Dashboard. Each map found is included only once, even if there are multiple links
to the same map. Dashboards can thus be extracted from sets of maps that are linked
together with Multimap links. It is good practice to have a "Map Central" map that is linked
to all the maps you want to include in your frequently used Dashboards.
Warn me about missing Multimaps
If the "Include Multimaps" option above is enabled, you can ask ResultsManager to warn
you about broken Hyperlinks or missing maps. If this option is disabled, ResultsManager will
ignore maps that it cannot find. This option is not available if "Include Multimaps" is
disabled.
Include already completed Activities
Enabling this option will cause ResultsManager to include all Activities in the Dashboard,
whether they are completed or not. Disabling it will include only Activities that are
incomplete. Normally, you would leave this option disabled, as you would not need to
continually see all completed activities, unless you need some reassurance that you really
are making progress. Enabling this option usually slows down the creation of Dashboard
maps.
Include extra empty headings in dashboard
Enabling this option will cause all headings to appear in the Dashboards, whether they
contain information or not. Normally this option is turned off, and any headings (e.g. a
particular Category) that do not contain any displayable activities are not shown. Enabling
this option would display a Topic for the Category but without listing any activities
underneath it. This is normally used only for diagnosing and testing Dashboards, and
usually slows down the creation of Dashboard maps.
Use Funnel Timeline layout
This setting controls whether ResultsManager calculates the next "doable" actions from your
project maps. By default this is enabled, and means that ResultsManager interprets maps as
project plans laid out using the Funnel Timeline technique, where a subtopic of an activity is
regarded as a predecessor to that task. ResultsManager can then decide automatically
whether an activity can be started, i.e. is a "Next Action". Disabling this option turns off this
inferred connection between Topics, so that ResultsManager only calculates Next Actions
using Topic Relationships. This makes ResultsManager compatible with maps imported from
Microsoft Project or using the MPX import feature in MindManager. Note, though, that this
setting applies to all maps.
Automatically inherit Activity settings
This option makes ResultsManager transfer key task information from Actions, Results and
Projects to lower level Activities, whenever information is missing. For example, assigning a
specific Category to a sub-project will mean that all activities in that sub-project are in the
same Category, unless a different one is specified for a particular item. This option is
normally enabled.
Note that Priorities and dates are only inherited by Committed activities. Owners are not
inherited across Project or Result boundaries; you must explicitly assign an owner to a
Project or Result.
Also see Assigning Categories and Areas.
Automatic delegation of Activities
This option controls whether ResultsManager works with Shared Activities or Delegated
Activities. Enabling it will cause ResultsManager to interpret lists of Owners as a delegation
list. Disabling this option will cause ResultsManager to interpret lists of Owners as shared
activities with joint responsibility. If you have already used ResultManager v1, you should
begin with this option disabled for compatibility with existing maps. If you have not used
ResultManager v1, we recommend enabling this option and starting out by managing
activities based on delegation. Also see Assigning Owners.
Roll incomplete / undated Activities over to today
Enabling this option causes undated or incomplete & overdue activities to have their start or
due dates rolled over to today, so that they appear in the Dashboard. Most users will not
want to repeatedly see the same set of undated Activities appear every day, so this is a
reminder that they should be given future dates or set to Someday-Maybe to properly
manage them.
Exclude Topic Notes from Dashboards
Large Topic Notes fields can be slow to access in MindManager, and if they are not needed
in the Dashboard, ResultsManager can optionally ignore Topic Notes when scanning maps.
This speeds up Dashboard creation in some cases.
Note: If this option is enabled, then the "Purpose" field in the ResultsManager Edit dialogue
is greyed out when editing Activities within Dashboard maps. Any edits made to the Topic
Notes will not be posted back to Project maps from a Dashboard map, since the original
Notes are not present.
Topic pagination in Dashboard
Large lists in MindManager maps can sometimes make maps awkward to handle; a Topic
with 100 subtopics is not easy to edit or navigate. ResultsManager can automatically
paginate large numbers of subtopics. If you find that the lists in your Dashboard maps are
too large to be useful, then entering 10 in this setting will paginate into blocks of 10
subtopics at a time, making the map easier to use. Set it to zero to disable pagination (the
default value).
Managing Dashboard Maps
(ResultsManager Professional edition only)
Dashboard maps are managed in the Dashboard Options dialogue. You can find this by
either
 Clicking on the ResultsManager tab | Options group | Options | ResultsManager
Options then clicking the "Dashboard Options" button, or
 Clicking the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Create Dashboard then
clicking the Options button
Dashboard Options dialogue
On the left of the dialogue are configuration options that apply to all Dashboards, and are
described in Dashboard Configuration options above.
On the right of the dialogue is a list of available Dashboards that you can use. These are
the Dashboards that appear in the Dashboard Selection dialogue when you choose a
Dashboard to generate.
Click the links below for an explanation of the buttons for managing the list of Dashboards.
Move Up
Moves the currently selected Dashboard up the list, unless it is already the first item. You
can define the order in which Dashboards are shown so that your favourite ones are nearer
the top of the list when displayed in the Dashboard Selection dialogue.
Move Down
Moves the currently selected Dashboard down the list, unless it is already the last item. You
can define the order in which Dashboards are shown so that your favourite ones are nearer
the top of the list when displayed in the Dashboard Selection dialogue.
New
Inserts a new Dashboard below the currently selected one, and opens the Dashboard Details
dialogue so that it can be edited. In the current version, a maximum of 100 Dashboards can
be defined.
When this button is clicked, ResultsManager checks the currently selected map in
MindManager to see whether it is a Dashboard Template map. If it is, then information is
copied from the Map Properties into the Dashboard Details dialogue, to simplify the addition
of new Dashboard Templates. This is described in Appendix H.
Delete
Removes the currently selected Dashboard from the list. Note that this does not delete the
associated template, source or destination maps but leaves them in place. If you delete all
the Dashboard on your system, ResultsManager will automatically restore the default ones
the next time this dialogue is launched, or when a Dashboard is created.
Modify
Opens the Dashboard Details dialogue so that you can edit the currently selected Dashboard.
Duplicate
Makes a copy of the currently selected Dashboard, and inserts it below the current
selection. ResultsManager makes a copy of the template map associated with the selected
Dashboard, and prompts you for a Save location for this new map. The Dashboard Details
dialogue is then opened so that you can complete the editing for the new Dashboard. In the
current version, a maximum of 100 Dashboards can be defined.
Manage Master Filters List
Clicking this button allows you to maintain the list of Filters that is available to the Add
Dashboard Filter command. Predefined filters can be added to or removed from the master
filters list. Note that in ResultsManager Professional Edition only, the master Filters list is
imported and exported together with the other master lists (Contexts, Owners, Categories
and Areas) from the main ResultsManager Options dialogue.
Managing the master Filters list
Editing Dashboard definitions
(ResultsManager Professional Edition only)
Getting your Dashboard maps just right is critical for successful and sustained use of
ResultsManager. Your Dashboard maps should tell you just what you need to know, when
you need to know it. Tailoring Dashboard maps to your specific needs will pay back the
effort many times over.
There are two stages in defining a Dashboard:
 Configuring the information about the Dashboard that appears in the Dashboard

Selection dialogue, and
Editing the Dashboard template map so that it generates the output you want.
The Dashboard Details dialogue
The Dashboard Details dialogue is accessed by clicking the "Modify", "New" or "Duplicate"
buttons in the Dashboard Options dialogue.
Dashboard Details dialogue
All dashboards must have a name and a template map associated with them, but the source
and destination for a Dashboard is configurable:
 ResultsManager can "sweep" the currently displayed map to find activities, or it can

always sweep a named map regardless of what is open in MindManager at the time
ResultsManager can create the Dashboard as a new unsaved map that you can save or
delete as you wish, or it can always write the Dashboard to a named map.
Click on a link below for an explanation of the controls in this dialogue.
Dashboard Name
Enter a name for this Dashboard. This is the name that is shown in the Dashboard Selection
dialogue. You should be able to identify the Dashboard clearly from its name. A name is
required - you cannot save a Dashboard definition with no name.
Comments
Add a comment to further describe the Dashboard. If you include the text "%me%"
(without the quotes) in this text, the default Owner name from the Dashboard Options
dialogue will be substituted. This comment is visible in the Dashboard Selection dialogue.
Dashboard available in "Express mode"
Enabling this option will permit this Dashboard to be used in Express mode. Any
Dashboards without this option checked are not accessible in Express mode. In Power User
mode, all Dashboards are available.
Prompt for Owner when creating Dashboard
Dashboards can be generated from the perspective of any of the participants that the
project maps contain. If this option is checked, then when this Dashboard is used, it scans
to see who is referenced in the maps, then prompts for the Dashboard Owner from the list
of participants. The resulting Dashboard will be prepared from the point of view of the
selected person, instead of the usual default of the current owner.
This is roughly equivalent to changing the default owner name in the ResultsManager
settings, but is not a stored change and is offered on Dashboard templates with this option
selected.
File name (Dashboard template map)
You can type a path and filename to a Dashboard template map here. This path must be
absolute, not relative, so must begin with a drive letter. It is usually easier to use the
Browse button described below. Either way, a Dashboard template map must be defined for
this Dashboard definition to be saved.
Browse button (Dashboard template map)
Clicking the Browse button lets you browse for a template map to use for this Dashboard.
Open (Dashboard template map)
This button is enabled only if the defined Dashboard Template map is available. If the
defined map cannot be found, then the button is disabled. Clicking this button will open the
template map for this Dashboard in MindManager, but will leave this dialogue open so that
you can continue editing.
Number of levels of Parent Project to show
This setting controls how many levels of "Ancestor" or "Parent" project are displayed in the
Dashboard. When an action or sub-project appears in the Dashboard, its parent project can
also be shown, so that you know where this task belongs. Set this value to 1 to see one
level of parent project. Sometimes projects are sub-projects of others, so if you need to see
not only the parent project but the grandparent project as well, set it to 2, or 3 to see three
generations.
Sweep map in view when creating Dashboard
Enabling this option means that the Dashboard will be built starting with the MindManager
map that is in view when the Dashboard Selection dialogue is launched from the Actions
menu.
Disabling this option lets you define a specific map to use as the starting point for the
Dashboard, regardless of what maps are currently open in MindManager. A typical way to
use this would be to create a Dashboard that is always generated from your "Map Central"
map, so that whatever you are working on, this Dashboard always uses a fixed set of maps.
You can then create this Dashboard without finding and opening any maps in MindManager.
Remember to change the name of the Dashboard to remind you that it does not use the
current map.
File name (Source map to sweep)
This box is only enabled if the "Sweep map in view when creating Dashboard" option is
disabled. You can type a path and filename to a map here. This path must be absolute, not
relative, so must begin with a drive letter. It is usually easier to use the Browse button
described below.
Browse button (Source map to sweep)
Clicking the Browse button lets you browse for a fixed source map to sweep for this
Dashboard.
Open (Source map to sweep)
This button is enabled only if the "Sweep map in view when creating Dashboard" option is
disabled, and if the currently defined source map exists. Otherwise it is disabled. Clicking
this button will open the source map that this Dashboard will use. This dialogue is left open
so that you can cancel or save it as required.
Create new unsaved map
Enabling this option causes ResultsManager to write the generated Dashboard to a new
unsaved map. You can then save this map or delete it as you wish.
Disabling this option means that the Dashboard will be written to a named map, which is
created if it does not exist, or is overwritten if it already exists. Use this option if you
always want certain Dashboards to be in the same place. For example, you could configure
a Dashboard so that it always writes to "My Weekly Review.mmap" stored in your working
folders. Then you can make a link from the My Maps task pane in MindManager, and access
this Dashboard whenever you need to by clicking on the link in the Task Pane. You can
refresh its contents by going to the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Create
Dashboard and selecting this Dashboard.
Tidy up map when finished
Enabling this option causes ResultsManager to close up all the subtopics of the Dashboard
map when it has finished creating it. When viewed, only the Main Topics will initially be
visible, and can use MindManager's normal features to expand the part of the map that you
want to view.
Disabling this option will cause ResultsManager to leave all the levels of detail as they were
in the Dashboard template map. This means that you can pre-define which parts of the
Dashboard are expanded when dashboards are created, by leaving these parts of the
template expanded. To change the levels of detail in the Dashboard maps you will need to
edit the associated templates.
File name (Destination map to write)
This box is only enabled if the "Create new unsaved map" option is disabled. You can type a
path and filename to a map here. This path must be absolute, not relative, so must begin
with a drive letter. It is usually easier to use the Browse button described below.
Browse button (Destination map to write)
Clicking the Browse button lets you browse for a fixed destination map to write when
generating this Dashboard. This map need not exist already - you can type the name of a
new map, or overwrite an existing one.
Open (Destination map to write)
This button is enabled only if the "Create new unsaved map" option is disabled, and if the
currently defined destination map exists. Otherwise it is disabled. Clicking this button will
open the destination map that this Dashboard will be written to. This dialogue is left open
so that you can cancel or save it as required.
OK button
The OK button is only available if the Dashboard has been given a name and a template
map. If either of these are undefined, the Dashboard definition cannot be saved.
Dashboard templates and filters
(ResultsManager Professional Edition only)
Dashboards are generated from template maps that control what information appears in the
Dashboard. The template map can contain some fixed information that ResultsManager
does not alter, and dynamic "filters" that cause ResultsManager to insert information into
the Dashboard.
These "filters" are Topics that carry information telling ResultsManager to find and display
matching items or from the map or maps that have been swept prior to assembling the
Dashboard. Filters can be cascaded, so that the final list of actions or projects is the result
of successive filtering. For example, if you wanted to see all the actions you have
committed to completing, you would first filter items that you own, then filter only those
that are committed, and finally filter only those that are action items (rather than project
items). The final result would be a list of your committed action items.
A Dashboard template map can contain multiple filters, so that several different types of list
are created in the same map.
Normally, when ResultsManager expands a filter, it lists all the available headings. For
example, if you use the "Priority" filter to organise by priority, then it will insert headings
labelled "Priority 1", "Priority 2" and so on. But sometimes you just want a list sorted by
priority, without necessarily grouping the different priorities by subheading. You just need
to see the Priority 1 items at the top of a single list. Filters can be optionally defined as
sort-only filters, that only sort the items under them, and do not insert labelled
sub-headings themselves. So the Dashboard template might look more complex than the
output it generates, because the sort-only filters are also part of the template.
This is part of the template for the "GTD Lists" Dashboard:
Part of the Template for the "GTD Lists" Dashboard
The Topic styles and colours are set up using normal MindManager features.
Filters are marked with a standard Icon
that ResultsManager looks for. This Icon tells
ResultsManager that the information in this Topic defines a search through the list of
Actions, Results and Projects collected from the swept project maps.
Reading the above map from the Central Topic outwards, ResultsManager sees the following:
 "My Committed Projects list" is a Topic that will be copied to the destination Dashboard

and will not be modified.
"#Owner" is a filter, because it is marked with the Filter Icon
. A specific owner
name ("%me%") is in the Notes for this Topic, telling ResultsManager to filter only the
Results, Actions and Projects for which I am the Owner. All items owned by other people
will be ignored. Once we are past this filter, we only have items owned by me, and any



further filtering is based on this list only. Because this filter has a hash (#) in front of it,
it does not get displayed in the output map - it is a "sort-only" filter, so we won't
actually see this Topic in the final map.
"Category" is another filter that will select Activities based on their Category, either
inherited or actual. In this example, we are using a Category filter to filter out any
Activities that are marked as "In-tray" topics in our maps. The Notes for this topic
contains "NOT In-tray". We don't want these Activities in our list of projects.
The "Project" and "Result" filters each make lists of Projects or Results, and allow
through any Activities that they contain.
The "#" filter tells ResultsManager not to append any more Activities under here when
creating the Dashboard - it just leaves the list of Projects and Results without detailing
their Activities. Without this, ResultsManager would list all qualifying Projects, Results,
Actions and Next Actions at this point in the map.
The other parts of the map work in a similar way. Note that there are two trees under the
"#Category" filter - this means that everything under that Topic meets the filtered criteria
down to that point, and there is no need to re-filter for "%me%" as the Owner.
A filter is constructed of:
 The magnifying-glass Icon
 The filter name in the Topic text
 A hash (#) in front of the filter name if this is a sort-only filter
 The filter value (if any) in the Topic Notes
A Reference table for each filter keyword and special filter values are given in the
Appendices.
Filter Topics can be constructed manually using regular MindManager editing features, or
ResultsManager's Add Dashboard Filter command can insert filters into Dashboard template
maps. Filters are not supported on Main Topics.
If you create a new Dashboard Template map, it is worth populating the Document
Properties as described in Appendix G. This will allow the template to be installed to
ResultsManager with the ResultsManager tab | Tools group | Options | Install Template
.
Adding filters to Dashboard maps
(ResultsManager Professional Edition only)
ResultsManager provides a utility to speed up the creation of customised Dashboard
template maps, by inserting predefined filter Topics into a map. You can create filter Topics
in Dashboard templates manually, following the above formats, or you can use the Add
Dashboard Filter command to insert filter Topics by selecting from a list.
Start by creating a new map and adjusting the style and fixed content to suit. To add a
chain of filters to the Dashboard template, select the insert point (the parent Topic for the
chain of filters) and click the ResultsManager tab | Tools group | Add Dashboard Filter.
Adding a series of Filters to a Dashboard template map
Select a predefined filter by clicking on it in the left hand column, then click "Add" to add it
to the right hand column. You can modify a filter by editing it while it is selected in the box
above the master list on the left. Clicking Add moves it to the right-hand list, which is the
list of filters that will be added into the map when the OK button is clicked. You can sort
this list with the Move up and Move down buttons, or remove filters from the list with the
Remove button.
In the above example, we will first filter (invisibly) by my name (#Owner=%me%), then
select all Committed projects, then list all Activities items. So the Dashboard will contain a
list of my activities in committed projects, grouped together by project.
Clicking OK in the above example will create Topics in the current map:
Topics created by the Add Dashboard Filter command
The filter values are automatically inserted into the Topic Notes.
Note that the Add Dashboard Filter command does not read an existing map and allow
you to edit it through its dialogue. It will only generate new Topics. If minor alterations are
needed, these can be done manually with normal editing techniques. The purpose of the
Add Dashboard Filter command is to save time in looking up the exact syntax needed to
define a filter Topic in a dashboard template.
Reports in Dashboard maps
(ResultsManager Professional Edition only)
Dashboard maps can include dynamic information about their creation process that helps to
understand them better, and optimise your dashboards and working maps. When larger
numbers of maps are being swept for complex dashboards, it is important to only collect
relevant and useful data, and not to sweep maps unnecessarily, for best performance.
Reports can be used to show things like the number of maps scanned, which maps, or the
date that the dashboard was created. Refer to Appendix F for a complete list of report
keywords that can be used.
Usage Tips
 If Dashboards are taking a while to scan, check how many maps and which ones are

being scanned by including a report in the Central Topic Notes in the dashboard
template map. Block scanning of unnecessary maps by applying the "Exclude from
Dashboard" Icon
on the Topic containing the Multimap Hyperlink. Linking to folders
can easily cause unnecessary scanning of maps.
There is limited space in the Comments box on the Dashboard Selection dialogue. Some
of the information (e.g. map count) is not available until after the dashboard has been
completed, so is not relevant in the Comments box when choosing Dashboards.
Synchronising with Outlook
Outlook synchronisation overview
(ResultsManager Professional edition only)
Support for synchronisation with Microsoft® Outlook requires MindManager Pro and is
available in ResultsManager Professional Edition from v2.0.6 onwards, when used in Power
User mode.
ResultsManager does not communicate directly with Outlook. It uses MindManager's built-in
connection to Microsoft Outlook, so that project maps and dashboard maps can be
synchronised with Outlook.
MindManager can maintain synchronisation between a task in a map and a corresponding
task in Outlook. If a change is made in either MindManager or Outlook, the information is
updated either way at the next synchronisation.
ResultsManager supports MindManager's Outlook Synchronisation by creating dashboard
maps that are designed to be synchronised with Outlook. You can conveniently synchronise
current tasks from your complete portfolio of maps, without visiting and synchronising each
map in turn. ResultsManager also allows you to synchronise only selected activities with
Outlook, for example by only sending Next Actions (and not all actions), and only sending
actions that you own.
How the MindManager connection to Outlook works
MindManager Pro 7 synchronises tasks with Outlook using 3 commands:
 MindManager Button | Export | Export Tasks to Microsoft Outlook (if a map is not
synchronised)
 MindManager Button | Import | Import Microsoft Outlook Tasks (if a map is not
synchronised)
 MindManager Button | Export | Synchronise Tasks with Microsoft Outlook (once
a map has been imported or exported)
MindManager shows the first two commands (Export and Import) if the current map has not
been previously synchronised. You can establish a synchronisation by either exporting or
importing information in the map.
MindManager shows only the third command (Synchronize) if the map has previously been
synchronised. You can re-synchronise the map again with this command.
When MindManager initially exports or imports tasks to or from Outlook, it stores some
"synchronisation data" in the map Topics. This sync data is used on subsequent
synchronisations to match up this topic with the corresponding Task in Outlook. The initial
import and export sets up this sync data. Once the sync data is established, changes made
in either Outlook or MindManager can be resolved, and updates can pass either way at the
next synchronisation.
Refer to the MindManager documentation for the latest information.
How ResultsManager handles synchronisation with
Outlook
Synchronisation with Outlook pivots around a special dashboard map that is designed for
this purpose. The process works as follows:
1. A special Dashboard map is defined that is pre-synchronised with Outlook, and which
will list Activities only once, without any duplications.
2. ResultsManager sweeps project maps for Activities and posts them to this special
dashboard map. If any of them have existing Outlook Sync data, this is also copied into
the dashboard map.
3. MindManager Button | Export | Synchronize Microsoft Outlook Tasks can now be
used with this special dashboard. Any tasks that are new will get added to Outlook. Any
that are modified will update the corresponding copy in Outlook. Any that are changed
in Outlook will be modified in the Dashboard.
4. Dashboard changes are then posted back to the original project maps with the
ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Send Changes. If any new tasks have been
inserted by Outlook, these are posted back to your project maps.
5. Further changes to either the Dashboard or the project maps can now be synchronised
with Outlook. If the dashboard is regenerated, it can still be synchronised with Outlook
because the sync data is reinstated from the project maps.
6. Project maps can be synchronised with Outlook, but care should be taken not to import
any new Outlook Tasks into project maps. They should only be imported into the
Dashboard, and distributed from there.
Getting started with Outlook Synchronisation
(ResultsManager Professional edition only)
We recommend that you are comfortable with the way that ResultsManager works, before
starting to synchronise activities with Outlook.
If you already have tasks in Outlook, you should make a copy of your tasks folder so that
you can return to your original task list if you have problems with the synchronisation with
MindManager.
To set up synchronisation with Outlook:
 Change to Power User mode if you are currently in Express mode. Click the


ResultsManager tab | Options group | User Mode and select Power User mode.
If you were already in Power User mode, then click the ResultsManager tab | Options
group | Options | ResultsManager Options to view the Power User mode options. If
you just changed to Power User mode, then the options dialogue will open automatically.
Enable the three options as shown below:
 Click OK to save your settings.
 Open your Map Central map, and click on the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group
| Create Dashboard. Select one of the "Outlook Sync" Dashboards, as these are
designed specifically for synchronisation with Outlook:
 When the Dashboard map is complete, ResultsManager will remind you to Send
Dashboard changes after synchronising with Outlook:
 Now click MindManager Button | Export | Synchronize Microsoft Outlook Tasks.
Make sure the option for only exporting Topics that use Task information is selected:
(MindManager X5 screen capture)
 MindManager will now create tasks in Outlook for new tasks in the Dashboard map, and
will also create new tasks in the Dashboard map if it finds any new tasks in Outlook.
 If you had tasks in Outlook that were not already present in the Dashboard, then
MindManager adds them back to the Dashboard map on each synchronisation. They get
added to the Central Topic by default. If you want to save them in your project maps,
then drag the new activities to a Callout Topic that represents a Project or Result, or
leave them attached to the Central Topic to have ResultsManager prompt you for a
destination project map. You can't leave them lying around in the Dashboard map, as
they will get overwritten the next time this Dashboard is regenerated.
 Important! Each time you synchronise the dashboard map with Outlook, you
should then use ResultsManager's Send Dashboard Changes command. This will save
the Outlook sync data back into the project maps, so that the next time you
synchronise, the same task in Outlook is updated and a new copy is not created. If you
forget this step, then you will get multiple copies of the same task when you
synchronise again later.
How extra information is handled
ResultsManager deals with more information than is normally transferred to Outlook using
MindManager's synchronisation. ResultsManager uses some special techniques to make as
much information as possible available to Outlook.
First, MindManager does not pass any Owner information across to Outlook. Outlook's "task
owners" are taken from its Contacts list. By contrast, the Owners that MindManager &
ResultsManager use are just text names. Currently, these text names are not sent to
Outlook nor reconciled with names in Outlook's Contact list. Using ResultsManager to
synchronise dashboard maps with Outlook can partially help with this, because
ResultsManager's dashboards can be configured to contain only tasks that belong to a
certain person. So if you synchronise a normal project map directly with Outlook, it will post
all tasks, including any assigned to other people, into your Task List in Outlook. But if you
synchronise via a ResultsManager Dashboard map, then only tasks that belong to you will
be posted to your Outlook Task list.
Second, if you enable the ResultsManager option for storing Contexts and Areas in the
Categories, then ResultsManager will make further information available to Outlook. It does
this in two ways: by storing information in the Categories field, and by adding extra
information in the Categories field when creating dashboards for synchronisation with
Outlook.
The Context (location) and Area (if defined) will be stored visibly in the Categories field, so
that this gets synchronised with Outlook and can be used to view tasks by these properties.
Contexts are always prefixed with the at-sign (@), and Areas are prefixed with a caret (^).
This allows ResultsManager to distinguish between contexts, areas and regular categories.
For example, suppose you create an Activity using ResultsManager, and assign the "phone"
Context to the activity:
An activity using the "Phone" context
When this topic is stored in the map, this context is stored in the Categories field (visible in
the Task Info task pane):
Context stored in the Categories field, marked with "@"
When this activity appears in a Dashboard and is synchronised with Outlook, the Context
appears as a category that can be used to sort and display tasks in Outlook:
Context appears as a @Category in Outlook
The same mechanism also lets you sort tasks by Area in Outlook. Areas assigned in
ResultsManager will appear as Outlook categories. For example, if you used an area called
"Productivity improvements" in your ResultsManager maps, then you would be able to sort
tasks by a category named "^Productivity improvements" in Outlook.
You can create new Contexts and Areas in Outlook by prefixing them with "@" and "^". So
if you assign a new Category "@Monthly Meeting" in Outlook, then when you synchronise a
dashboard map and send the changes back to the project maps, you will create a new
context called "Monthly Meeting" that can be used on other activities too.
Third, ResultsManager also dynamically creates Parent Activity information to help you
identify tasks in Outlook. Suppose you had a project with one telephone call:
A project with one action
When a Dashboard map is generated, ResultsManager normally shows the "parent project"
as a Callout above the Next Action item:
ResultsManager displays the Parent Project in a Callout
But if this is an Outlook Synchronisation Dashboard, ResultsManager also shows this parent
activity as a special Category (prefixed with the tilde character "~"), which then appears in
Outlook:
Parent Project name also appears as a ~Category in Outlook
Note that this information is not read back by ResultsManager when it synchronises
dashboards. You cannot change or assign the project membership of a task in Outlook by
changing this category. The parent project name always comes from the original project
map.
How completed tasks are handled
Activities may be marked as completed either in MindManager, or in Outlook. At the next
synchronisation, the status is transferred to the other side.
If you mark a task as complete in Outlook, then the next time you synchronise with
MindManager, the corresponding activity will be set as complete in the map.
ResultsManager will also remove the internal data that marked this activity as synchronised
with Outlook, so that it does not get called back into the dashboard again.
If you mark an activity as complete in MindManager, it does not normally appear in
Dashboards unless the "Include Completed Items" option is enabled. However, to ensure
that the "completed" status gets fed through to Outlook at the next synchronisation, it is
necessary for completed Activities to appear in the Outlook Synchronisation dashboard until
their new status is sent to Outlook.
To support this, ResultsManager automatically includes in the Outlook Synchronisation
dashboard any Activity that has Outlook Sync data attached to it, even if it is complete. So
the next synchronisation with Outlook will mark the task as complete in Outlook. Then,
when sending changes back from the Dashboard to the project map, it "De-synchronises"
any activity that is complete. This prevents the same activity re-appearing in the Dashboard
the next time it is generated.
You must still manually remove completed tasks from your lists in Outlook after
synchronisation. MindManager does not have the capability to automatically delete these. If
not deleted, they can reappear in the Dashboard maps when you next synchronise. If you
delete a completed task in Outlook before synchronisation in the completed state, it will get
reinstated in Outlook again from the map.
Advanced topics
This section contains information for advanced users who are familiar with Outlook and
MindManager's synchronisation feature. Also refer to the FAQ section on Outlook.
Synchronising Project maps
When synchronising Project maps (not dashboard maps) with Outlook, be sure to turn off
the option for importing new tasks from Outlook. Otherwise your project map will acquire a
copy of everything you are working on, from other projects too. Note that the
synchronisation settings in MindManager reset themselves at each use so should be checked
every time.
Finding homes for new tasks
If a new task is added to Outlook, it will appear in the Dashboard map the next time you
synchronise. After each synchronisation, you should use the ResultsManager tab |
Dashboard group | Send Changes to send changed and new activities back to their
original project maps.
There are two ways for ResultsManager to send newly added tasks back to your project
maps:
 If the newly added task is attached to an existing activity, result or project, then
ResultsManager knows where to post it, and will send it to the related project map.
 If the newly added task is not attached to a known project, result or activity, then
ResultsManager will prompt you for the map to add this activity to. It will be added to
the central topic of the map you select.
When the Outlook Synchronisation finds a previously unsynchronised task in Outlook, it
creates a new Main Topic in the dashboard map. You can move this topic to another parent
before using the Send Dashboard Changes command, or you can leave it where it is and
allow ResultsManager to prompt you for the maps.
Creating "Data Entry Points"
A "Data Entry Point" is a Project topic in a dashboard map that can have a new task
dragged to it, so that when ResultsManager sends Dashboard changes back, it knows which
project map to write them to. You can easily create Data Entry Points for new incoming
tasks from Outlook.
Use an Area called "Data Entry Point" on selected Project or Result topics, where you may
want to add new incoming tasks from Outlook at a later date. The default Outlook
Synchronisation dashboards include a filter that will display these Results in the dashboard.
When you create the dashboard, ResultsManager will create a set of topics that represent
the points to which you frequently add new incoming tasks.
When a new task appears in your Outlook Sync dashboard (because it has been added in
Outlook), you can just drag it to one of the Data Entry Points to tell ResultsManager which
Project or Result it belongs to. Then, when you run the Send Dashboard Changes
command, ResultsManager will post the new activity to the right points within your set of
Project maps.
Advanced dashboards
If you have a large number of maps, you can use ResultsManager fields to precisely define
which activities get synchronised with Outlook. One way to do this would be:
 Use an Area or Category called "Outlook" (for example) to label projects, Results or

Activities that you want explicitly synchronised with Outlook. Remember that this
property can be inherited when dashboards are built, so if you set the "Outlook" area on
a topic that is the root of a whole Project, then everything in that project will get
synchronised.
Modify the Outlook Synchronisation dashboard template (or create a new one) to filter
items that belong to the specific "Outlook" category or area.
The dashboard map will then only contain items that you have labelled for synchronisation
with Outlook. You can continue to use other dashboards for everyday work, and use your
customised Outlook Synchronisation dashboard to sync a sub-set of your work with Outlook.
If you are using shared maps and need to personalise this, use an area or category such as
"John's Outlook" to filter items that only you want to extract. Other users can apply
different markers if they wish.
How ResultsManager deals with shared maps
ResultsManager supports the synchronisation of shared maps with Outlook, using
MindManager's built-in features.
Synchronising shared maps with Outlook requires special handling, as the information
stored in a map when it is synchronised with Outlook is tied to a specific Outlook client.
Normally, if one user synchronises their map with Outlook, then sends it to someone else,
the links between the synchronised Topics in MindManager and the corresponding tasks in
Outlook will be meaningless when moved to a different system.
ResultsManager's concept for using shared maps is that some of the maps you use will be
stored on shared drives, and other people may access them. All users can synchronise
shared maps with their individual Outlook clients, but only through a ResultsManager
dashboard, and not directly.
ResultsManager automatically stores the Outlook Synchronisation data for each individual
user in the shared maps, and when a dashboard is built, their personalised sync data is
recovered from the map for use in their dashboard. When they synchronise their own
dashboard with Outlook, the activities will match up with the previously synchronised copy.
So several users may synchronise the same activity to their Outlook clients.
If a shared map is directly synchronised with Outlook, without sending it through a
Dashboard, then re- synchronisations will only work on the platform where the original
synchronisation was made. Re- synchronisations by other users will cause duplication and
proliferation of activities. If you are working with shared maps, you should normally avoid
directly synchronising them with Outlook. Always generate the Outlook Synchronisation
dashboard and synchronise that, then ResultsManager will take care of your personalised
links to your Outlook client.
Breaking synchronisation with Outlook
ResultsManager includes a support utility to help power users experiment with Outlook
synchronisation. Please note that this is not intended for regular use, so is not linked to the
menu commands. Please also read our disclaimer relating to this software.
Click the Tools tab | Macros group | Macros | Desycnhronise Outlook to access a utility
that lets you
 Label or remove Outlook synchronisation data from maps and connected multi-maps
 Label or remove your own personalised Outlook synchronisation data from shared maps
 Label or remove personalised Outlook synchronisation data for all users
 Label topics in maps that have hyperlinks to shared maps (useful in Dashboard maps)
Note that the user name and list of shared locations used by this utility is defined
independently of ResultsManager's settings. You should ensure that you use the same
settings as ResultsManager.
You should use this tool with extreme care as the unintentional deletion of Outlook
Synchronisation data can only be recovered by manually deleting all corresponding tasks in
Outlook and re-synchronising again. It should normally only be used when directed by
Gyronix Support.
Appendices
Appendix A: Glossary of terms
Click on the terms below to expand their meaning. If you don't find the particular term you
are looking for, please let us know so that we can improve our documentation. Only a few
of the basic MindManager terms are mentioned here, so also check the MindManager
documentation for things that are MindManager-specific.
Action
An Action is a piece of work or activity that is part of a Project or Result. In other time
management or project management systems, these are sometimes called Tasks or
Assignments. An action may not be "doable" yet, as it might depend on other actions being
completed first.
Activity
Activity is the general name for something that defines an outcome and requires some
action to complete it. Specific activities may be Projects, Results, Actions or Next Actions.
Area
An Area is a user-defined classification that can be used to collect together related items
that are in different projects. Areas are inherited cumulatively inside maps, so Areas can be
nested within other Areas.
Central Topic
The middle of a MindManager map. There is only one Central Topic per map, and all maps
have a Central Topic. By default, ResultsManager assumes that the Central Topic of a map
represents a project.
Committed activity
A Committed activity is something that you have promised to yourself or to someone else.
By contrast, something you have not committed to is a "would be nice" or
"Someday-Maybe" activity, and can be deferred. ResultsManager helps you keep track of
Committed activities. The "Committed" Icon
is used to mark Committed activities in
maps.
Callout
A Callout is a special type of Topic in a MindManager map - usually shown as a "speech
bubble" connected to a regular Topic. ResultsManager uses Callouts in dashboard maps to
show you which project a certain activity belongs to.
ResultsManager uses Callouts to show parent projects
Refer to the MindManager documentation for more information about Callouts.
Category
A Category can be used in any way you prefer, but is designed for horizontal classification
of Activities, so that they can be grouped across projects. Examples of categories that are
independent of projects include "decisions", "deliverables", "questions" and so on.
ResultsManager maintains a master list of Categories that can be used to classify Results in
any map.
Note: Categories are handled differently in MindManager X5 and 6. See Appendix K for
details of Categories handling in MindManager 6.
Confirmation messages
ResultsManager displays confirmation messages for some of its operations, so that you have
the chance to cancel before proceeding. You can turn these confirmation messages off in
the ResultsManager Options dialogue in Power User mode.
Context
A Context identifies where an activity can be completed. This horizontal classification helps
you organise your day, for example by grouping together things that require a telephone
call, or could be done while travelling. ResultsManager maintains a master list of Contexts
that can be assigned to Activities in any map.
Deadline
An activity is a Deadline if it is marked with the Deadline Icon (
). Only Activities which
have due dates set on them can be Deadlines - you can't have a deadline without a date. A
Deadline is something that must be done by a specific date, otherwise bad things happen. If
you can afford to miss deadlines, then they are not really deadlines. Deadline Activities are
displayed separately from non-deadline Activities in the Dashboards so that you can easily
see which are the important due dates.
Dashboard map
A Dashboard map is a map generated by ResultsManager, containing Hyperlinks to
Activities in other maps and organised by date, owner, context, project, category, status,
priority or any combination of these. It gives a horizontal view of activities across multiple
projects. The Dashboard map represents a "snapshot" of all activity, and is designed to help
prioritise and plan work for a defined period of time. Also see What is a Dashboard map?.
Express mode
Express mode is a simpler operating mode for ResultsManager that offers s simpler set of
options and input dialogues. Once you are comfortable with using ResultsManager in
Express mode, you can move up to Power User mode for additional options and features.
Hyperlink
A Hyperlink is a shortcut to another document (e.g. another MindManager map) or to a
specific Topic in a MindManager map. ResultsManager uses Hyperlinks to discover related
maps when building Dashboards, and creates Hyperlinks from Topics in the Dashboard
maps back to the original Project maps. A MindManager map accessed from other maps by a
Hyperlink is also sometimes called a "Multimap".
Filter
A Filter is a special Topic in the template maps used for creating Dashboard maps. It
selects activities from the complete list collected during the sweep. For example, the
"Committed" filter will select activities that are Committed. By building up a series of filters,
the Dashboard map can display activities organised to support appropriate decisions. When
the Dashboard is finished, you don't see the Filters any more - you only see the information
that they have extracted.
Icon
An Icon is a small image inserted in a Topic in MindManager maps. Some Icons have special
meaning for ResultsManager and control its behaviour - for example, the
Icon that stops
ResultsManager exploring parts of the map or following Hyperlinks.
Inheriting of activity settings
To use ResultsManager effectively, you do not need to specify every detail of every action
item. If you do not specify a particular piece of information (such as the Owner of an
activity), then ResultsManager will automatically assume that it is inherited from the
parent Topic. So, if you are the owner of every action item in a map, then you only need to
assign yourself as the owner of the Central Topic, and this will be inherited by all action
items in the map if you don't re-specify another owner somewhere else. Inheritance applies
to Owners, Contexts, Categories and Areas for all activities, and to Start & Due dates and
Priorities for Committed activities.
Local list
In addition to selecting Contexts, Owners, Categories or Areas from the Master lists,
ResultsManager also lets you choose from just those items in use in the current map - the
Local list. So if your project does not span several maps, you can choose from only those
attributes that are relevant to the current map. Local lists are created dynamically when
you open the ResultsManager edit dialogue.
Map Central
A Map Central map is a map that only contains Hyperlinks to all the other project or "Bits
and Pieces" maps, which contain activities that you are responsible for. See the section on
organising your maps.
Map Part
(MindManager Pro only) Activities may be entered into a map as a Smart Map Part
from the Map Parts in the library. When the Smart Map Part is deployed in a map, the Edit
dialogue is automatically opened.
Master List
ResultsManager looks after four Master Lists of Contexts, Owners, Categories and Areas.
These lists are available to be used in any map created on the system where
ResultsManager is installed. They are stored in the system Registry and may be imported
and exported in the ResultsManager Options dialogue.
MindManager®
MindManager is the business mapping software that ResultsManager uses as its platform.
You can purchase MindManager and ResultsManager licenses bundled together from your
reseller or Gyronix. You must have MindManager X5, MindManager X5 Pro, MindManager
Basic 6 or MindManager Pro 6 to use ResultsManager v2.
For a glossary of MindManager-specific terms (e.g. Topic, Relationship and so on) please
refer to the MindManager documentation.
Multimap
Multimap is the term for a MindManager map that is linked to another one with a
Hyperlink. Large subjects or volumes of information can be broken up into several
Multimaps, making access and navigation easier. ResultsManager will follow Multimap
Hyperlinks to discover all action items in all linked maps, unless the link is blocked by a
special Icon on the Topic ( ).
Next Action
A Next Action is something that can be done straight away, i.e. is "doable". Next Actions
do not depend on any other tasks that must be completed before they can be started.
ResultsManager can work out which are the Next Actions within a Project or Result by using
the Funnel Timeline planning technique in MindManager.
Owner
ResultsManager maintains a master list of Owners that can be assigned responsibility for
Activities in a map. This list may contain individuals or named groups, and can be
interpreted in two different ways - see Assigning Owners.
Pagination
When ResultsManager is creating Dashboard maps, it may create large numbers of
subtopics on a single Topic. For example, if you have 80 activities that can be done at the
office, then there may be 80 subtopics on the "Office" Topic under Contexts. This can be
difficult to navigate, so ResultsManager has the option to paginate them into groups for
easier handling. This is configured in the ResultsManager tab | Options group | Options
| ResultsManager Options, in Power User mode.
Bits and Pieces map
A Bits and Pieces map is a map that contains activities that don't belong anywhere else.
You will need at least one of these - some users also use a separate map for collecting
research and "interesting" items. See the section on organising your maps.
Power User mode
Power User mode offers all the ResultsManager features and options for advanced use.
Users should start with Express mode and then move up to Power User mode when familiar
with the basic concepts and use of ResultsManager.
Project
A Project identifies a group of actions or sub-projects that belong together, and will usually
have a sequence or project plan that specified their completion order. ResultsManager
determines whether an activity is a Project from the settings on the Topic, or by what kind
of Topic it is. Also see Project or Next Action?. Projects are the major elements to keep track
of in the Getting Things Done method.
Project Map
A Project Map is a map that contains the activities for at least one project. It is good
practice to have one map per project, then you can archive and share maps with others.
See the section on organising your maps.
Result
A Result is a smaller scale achievement within a Project, that contributes to the overall
project objective. Grouping actions together under Results helps identify the next action to
take to reach the Result without having to re-think the project plan. For example, if you had
a project to purchase a new car, selecting the make and model would be an important
milestone in that project, and you could class this as a Result.
If you prefer the term "Subproject" to "Result", there is an option in the ResultsManager
Options in Power User mode that lets you use this term instead.
ResultsManager
ResultsManager from Gyronix is an Add-in for Mindjet's MindManager X5, X5 Pro,
MindManager Basic 6 or MindManager Pro 6 software. ResultsManager requires MindManager
to be present as its platform, and extends MindManager from a brainstorming and capture
tool into a system for tracking and delivering activities.
ResultsMerlin
ResultsMerlin from Gyronix is the configuration Wizard for Gyronix ResultsManager. It runs
as a standalone programme and can be launched from the Windows Start menu or from
within MindManager. ResultsMerlin provides step-by-step configuration and setup of
ResultsManager.
Shared drive or map
A shared map is a map that you and other people access. It might be the notes from a
meeting, or a project plan containing action items for several people. Shared maps are
stored on shared drives, such as a network drive. ResultsManager Professional edition
keeps track of shared drives and will observe interlocks when accessing shared maps, to
avoid accidental overwriting while someone else is editing a shared map.
Someday-Maybe
An Activity that is not Committed - something you might do one day, but is not a key
project or action. ResultsManager marks Someday-Maybe topics with the "Hourglass" icon (
) in maps.
Subproject
An alternative term for a Result. You can elect to see Results labelled as Subprojects in the
ResultsManager Options dialogue, in Power User mode only.
Template dashboard map
Dashboard maps are built from a template map that defines the style, the contents and the
filters used. These are regular MindManager maps, and are stored by default in the "My
Dashboards" folder under MindManager's default map folder. Dashboard template maps are
not necessarily MindManager templates; they can be, but do not have to be.
Topic, subtopic, parent Topic
A Topic is a "branch" in a MindManager map. An Activity is a special kind of Topic that has
been marked with task information, indicating that it is something to be done, as opposed
to just information. A "subtopic" is a child branch of a parent.
Funnel Timeline
A "Funnel Timeline" is a way of using a MindManager map to represent the flow of activities
in a project. Outcomes and objectives are nearest the centre of the map, and the further
away an activity is from the centre, the earlier it is required in a project. As you move
further through your project, it "funnels" down towards the single outcome. The process is
described in the section on Visualising your Project.
Funnel Timelines were previously called "Tunnel Timelines" or "left to right planning" in
earlier versions of the documentation, but the principle is otherwise the same.
Wizard
See "ResultsMerlin" above.
Appendix B: MindManager Essentials
To use ResultsManager effectively, you do not need to be a MindManager Black Belt - but
you do need to be able to create and edit maps without the technology getting in the way of
your thinking.
We recommend that you are comfortable with the following basic features in MindManager.
If you already know these, then this section is not for you. If you are new to MindManager,
then at least try these a couple of times until you can do them without referring to the Help
file. (Reading Help files is usually a final act of utter desperation anyway). The animated
tutorials in MindManager are highly recommended too.
The list below looks worse than it actually is. The quickest way to learn MindManager is to
use it. The following should take between five and ten minutes. Of course, this is only a
fraction of MindManager's capabilities, but is enough to get you productive with
ResultsManager.
MindManager
essential skill
Hints and tips
Creating, saving and 
closing map
documents



Selecting Topics
Click the MindManager Button then click
New to start a new map
Click the MindManager Button then click
Save to choose a location for a new map
and save it
Click the MindManager Button then click
Close to close the current map
If you have more than one map open, click
the tabs attached to map window to switch
between them
 Click on a Topic to select it
 A blue border appears around the selected

Topic
Ctrl+Click on other Topics to add them to
the selection
Adding Topics to a
map
 Select the Central Topic or any other Topic
 Press the INS key to insert a new subtopic
Adding Main Topics
 Double-click in the background where you
want the new Main Topic
Deleting Topics
Renaming Topics
 Select any Topic (except the Central Topic)
 Press the DEL key to delete it
 You can't delete the Central Topic
 Select any Topic, then start typing
 The text you type will replace the current

Topic text
When you are done, just click in the map
background to deselect the Topic and
commit the new text
MindManager
essential skill
Editing Topic text
Hints and tips
 Select any Topic
 Click on it once again to enter "edit" mode,
or press F2 to select all the text
 Position the cursor in the text and make
changes
 Click away from the Topic or press F2 to
close "edit" mode
Moving Topics
 Click and hold on a Topic, then drag it to


Adding Icons to
Topics
another part of the map
The red preview marker shows where it will
drop when the mouse button is released
Note that subtopics get moved too if you
move a whole tree
 Click on a Topic to select it, click the Home
tab and click Icon Markers
 Click on the required Icon from the
drop-down selection
Removing Icons
from Topics
 Right-click on the Icon image in the Topic,
and select Remove
Adding Hyperlinks to 
Topics

Click on a Topic to select it, click the Home
tab and click Hyperlink
Click the Existing File or Web page button
if not already selected
 Click the file Browse button
to browse
for a file
 Click the folder browse button
to link to
a folder
Launching a
Hyperlink
 Click on the Hyperlink Icon
in the Topic.
The Icon will depend on the type of the
linked file. For MindManager maps, it is
Adding Notes to
Topics
 Press Ctrl+T to view the Notes pane
 Click on a Topic to select it. The Notes for

Changing the level of 
detail in view

Just view the part you are
working on


the selected Topic can now be edited in the
Notes pane
When you click on a different Topic, its notes
are displayed in the Notes pane instead
Only relevant for Topics that have subtopics!
Select a Topic and press Ctrl+D a few times
until you see the required level of subtopics,
or
Click on the
or
blobs at the end of
Topic to expand or hide subtopics
Select a Topic and press F3 to focus on it
MindManager
essential skill
Pan and Zoom the
map
Maps quickly grow bigger
than the screen
Hints and tips
 Click and hold in the map background until


the pointer changes to a hand
Move the mouse to pan the whole map
Click on the View tab then use the Zoom
buttons
and out
View Callout Topics
You will find it useful to view
and hide Callout Topics when
working with ResultsManager
Dashboard maps
in the View ribbon to zoom in
 Click the View tab
 Click Show/Hide
 Click on Callouts to enable or disable the
display of Callouts
 In MindManager 7, there is no way to add
this command to the Quick Access toolbar
Appendix C: Menu commands and shortcuts
MindManager Pro 7
The MindManager Pro 7 menus and keyboard shortcuts are different to MindManager 6, with
the introduction of the Ribbon menus. The ResultsManager commands work in the same
way, but are accessed differently. ResultsManager for MindManager 7 has some additional
commands that are not present in the MindManager X5 or 6 versions.
Tab/Group or Menu
ResultsManager tab |
Activity group
ResultsManager
command
What it does
Edit Activity...
Edits each of the currently
selected Activity Topics in
turn. If multiple Topics are
selected, they are edited in
the order in which they were
selected.
Keyboard: Alt+E, Y
Home tab |
ResultsManager group
ResultsManager tab |
Activity group
Insert Activity
Keyboard: Alt+E, I
Insert tab |
ResultsManager group
ResultsManager tab |
Activity group
Set Complete
Keyboard: Alt+E, C
Home tab |
ResultsManager group
ResultsManager tab |
Activity group
Exclude
Keyboard: Alt+E, AX
ResultsManager tab |
Activity group
Activity
Inserts and Edits a new
Activity as a subtopic of the
currently selected Topic. If
there is no map open, a new
map is started. If nothing is
selected, a new Activity is
added as a new Main Topic.
Sets the currently selected
Activity or Activities to 100%
Complete status and initiates
logging (if enabled).
Toggles the Exclude from
Dashboard icon on the
selected Topic(s).
Toggles the Percent Complete
icon on the selected Topic(s).
Keyboard: Alt+E, AA
ResultsManager tab |
Activity group
Someday
Keyboard: Alt+E, AS
ResultsManager tab |
Activity group
Project
Keyboard: Alt+E, AP
ResultsManager tab |
Dashboard group
Create Dashboard
Keyboard: Alt+E, D
Home tab |
ResultsManager group
Cycles through the
Someday/Maybe icon, the
Committed icon or neither
icon on the selected Topic(s).
Also sets the 0% complete
icon.
Cycles through the Project
icon, Result/Subproject icon,
or neither icon on the
selected Topic(s). Also sets
the 0% compete icon.
Displays the available
Dashboard templates and lets
you Select a Dashboard to
generate. You can also
access the Dashboard
Options through this
command.
Tab/Group or Menu
ResultsManager tab |
Dashboard group
ResultsManager
command
What it does
Send Changes
Looks for changed items in
the current Dashboard map
and sends them to the
original project maps. Only
available in ResultsManager
Pro.
Keyboard: Alt+E, S
ResultsManager tab |
Dashboard group
Open Template
Keyboard: Alt+E, P
ResultsManager tab |
Tools group
MultiMap Checker
Keyboard: Alt+E, K
Tools tab |
ResultsManager group
ResultsManager tab |
Tools group
Install Template
Keyboard: Alt+E, I
Tools tab |
ResultsManager group
If the current document is a
Dashboard map, open the
associated Dashboard
Template map.
Checks the Multimap links (to
maps or folders) that
ResultsManager will follow, to
check for broken links in your
scanned set of maps. Only
available in ResultsManager
Pro.
If the current map is a valid
ResultsManager Dashboard
Template, adds this map to
the Dashboard selection in
ResultsManager.
ResultsManager tab |
Tools group
Add Dashboard Filter Displays the Filter Picker
dialogue so that chains of
Keyboard: Alt+E, F
Filters can be inserted into
the current map when
building Dashboards. Only
available in ResultsManager
Pro.
ResultsManager tab |
Options group
User Mode
Switches between Express
and Power User modes.
Keyboard: Alt+E, U
ResultsManager tab |
Options group
Options |
ResultsManager
Options
Tools tab |
ResultsManager group Keyboard: Alt+E, O, R
ResultsManager tab |
Options group
Options | Customise
ResultsManager Tab
Keyboard: Alt+E, O, T
ResultsManager tab |
Options group
ResultsMerlin
Keyboard: Alt+E, R
ResultsManager tab |
Help group
Allows the order of command
Groups in the
ResultsManager tab to be
customised to suit individual
preferences
Launches the ResultsMerlin
Wizard so that you can
choose which Wizard to run
ResultsManager Help Displays this help file.
Keyboard: Alt+E, H
Tools tab |
ResultsManager group
Displays the ResultsManager
Options dialogue, where
changes to ResultsManager's
configuration are made. You
can also access the Dashboard
Options through this
command.
Tab/Group or Menu
ResultsManager tab |
Help group
ResultsManager
command
What it does
Demonstration
Opens the Demonstration
map and launches the Help
in the corresponding section.
Keyboard: Alt+E, M
ResultsManager tab |
Help group
Implementation map
Keyboard: Alt+E, N
ResultsManager tab |
Product group
About
ResultsManager
Keyboard: Alt+E, A
Topic context menu
Edit Activity...
(Right-click on a Topic)
Keyboard: Alt+E, Y
Opens the ResultsManager
Implementation map and
launches the Help in the
corresponding section.
Display the current version
number and view or enter
the License key. You can also
view the Release Notes map,
check for updates, and
access purchasing & support
information.
Edits the current Topic,
converting it to an Activity.
Topic context menu
Insert new Activity... Inserts and Edits a new
(Right-click on a Topic)
Activity as a subtopic of the
Keyboard: Alt+E, I
current Topic.
Topic context menu
Set Activity Complete Sets this Activity to 100%
(Right-click on a Topic)
compete and initiates logging
Keyboard: Alt+E, C
(if enabled).
Appendix D: The List Picker Dialogue
The List Picker Dialogue is the same for all list types in ResultsManager. It is used when
selecting items for lists in the Edit dialogue, and also for managing the contents of the
Master lists.
A typical List Picker dialogue
The List Picker shows two lists: the source on the left, and the destination on the right.
There are three basic actions:
 You can add an item from the source list on the left to the current selection on the right




by selecting it and clicking Add, or by double-clicking on it.
You can add a new item (that does not exist in the source list) by typing it into the box
at the top of the source list and clicking Add. This creates a brand new item.
You can remove an item from the destination list on the right by selecting it and
clicking Remove. It gets returned to the source list in case you change your mind.
(Power User mode only) When editing the Owners list, you can also sort the
right-hand list with the up and down buttons. Other lists are automatically sorted into
alphabetical order, but the order of the Owners list is important if you are using
ResultsManager to keep track of delegated activities.
(Power User mode only) You can choose whether to display items from the master list
(available to all maps) or just the current map, if you want to work with a list for just
the current project, for example.
Appendix E: Dashboard Filters
This appendix contains details of all the filters supported in ResultsManager Dashboards.
Any specific value associated with a filter can have "NOT " (in capitals, with a following
space) placed in front of it to invert the logic. So a Context filter with a value of "Office"
would return all activities with this context, and a value of "NOT Office" would return all
Activities with any context except Office.
Filter values in the Notes may have a comment appended to them for clarity. Text
beginning with "Comment:" is ignored. The default Dashboard templates provided with
ResultsManager have comments explaining the action of the filters.
For a description of how dashboards work and how to enter filters, refer to the section on
Dashboard Templates and Filters.
"Project" & "SuperProject" filters
Filter name
Filter Value
What gets selected
Project
Returns only the
first generation of
Activities that
belong directly to
this Project
(blank)
Lists all Projects by
alphabetically sorted name
then filters by each
Project name
Filters by a specific Project
NOT Project name Filters everything except the
specified project
SuperProject
Returns all
generations of
Activities,
including those
belonging to
sub-projects of
this Project
"Result" and "SuperResult" filters
U
Lists all uncommitted
(Someday-Maybe) projects by
alphabetically sorted name
then filters by each
C
Lists all committed projects by
alphabetically sorted name
then filters by each
A-
Lists all projects that currently
have no Committed Actions
(use the SuperProject filter for
best accuracy)
X-
Lists all Projects that currently
have no Committed Next
Actions (use the SuperProject
filter for best accuracy)
UA
Lists all Projects that have
Someday/Maybe Activities (use
the SuperProject filter for best
accuracy)
D
List all Projects that are marked
with a Deadline
*
Cancels all other preceding
filters
Filter name
Filter Value
Result
(or Subproject)
Returns only the
first generation of
Activities that
belong directly to
this Result or
Subproject
(blank)
SuperResult
Returns all
generations of
Activities,
including those
belonging to
sub-projects of
this Result/
Subproject
"Plan" and "SuperPlan" filters
What gets selected
Lists all Results/Subprojects by
alphabetically sorted name then
filters by each
Result/Subproject Filters by a specific Result/
name
Subproject
NOT Result name Filters everything except the
specified Result/Subproject
U
Lists all uncommitted
(Someday/Maybe)
(Deprecated: use Results/Subprojects by
"NOT C")
alphabetically sorted name then
filters by each
C
Lists all committed
Results/Subprojects by
alphabetically sorted name then
filters by each
A-
Lists all Results/Subprojects
that currently have no
Committed Actions (use the
SuperResult filter for best
accuracy)
X-
Lists all Results/Subprojects
that currently have no
Committed Next Actions (use
the SuperResult filter for best
accuracy)
UA
Lists all Results/Subprojects
that have Someday/Maybe
Activities (use the SuperResult
filter for best accuracy)
D
List all Results/Subprojects that
are marked as having a
Deadline
*
Cancels all other preceding
filters
Filter name
Filter Value
Plan
Returns only the
first generation of
Activities that
belong directly to
this Project or
Result/Subproject
(blank)
SuperPlan
Returns all
generations of
Activities,
including those
belonging to
sub-projects of
this Project or
Result/Subproject
Projects and
Results/subprojects
are both classified
as "Plans" and can
be handled
together with the
Plan filter
"Context" filter
What gets selected
Lists all Projects and
Results/Subprojects by
alphabetically sorted name then
filters by each
Project or
Filters by a specific Project or
Result/subproject Result/subproject
name
NOT Project or
Result name
Filters everything except the
specified Project or
Result/subproject
U
Lists all uncommitted
(Someday/Maybe) Projects or
(Deprecated: use Results/subprojects by
"NOT C")
alphabetically sorted name then
filters by each
C
Lists all committed Projects or
Results/subprojects by
alphabetically sorted name then
filters by each
A-
Lists all Projects or
Results/subprojects that
currently have no Committed
Actions (use the SuperPlan
filter for best accuracy)
X-
Lists all Projects or
Results/subprojects that
currently have no Committed
Next Actions (use the
SuperPlan filter for best
accuracy)
UA
Lists all Projects or
Results/subprojects that have
Someday/Maybe Activities (use
the SuperPlan filter for best
accuracy)
D
List all Projects or
Results/subprojects that are
marked as having a Deadline
*
Cancels all other preceding
filters
Filter name
Filter Value
Context
(blank)
Context name
What gets selected
Lists all Contexts by
alphabetically sorted name then
filters by each
Filters by specific Context
NOT Context name Filters everything except the
specified Context
*
Context*
As above
Filter name
Filter Value
Area
(blank)
Cancels all other preceding
filters
Only returns Activities where
the Context is explicitly used,
not inherited
"Area" filter
Area name
NOT Area name
*
Area*
As above
What gets selected
Selects all Areas by
alphabetically sorted name
Selects a specific Area
Selects everything except the
specified Area
Cancels all other preceding
filters
Only returns Activities where
the Area is explicitly used, not
inherited
"Category" filter
Filter name
Filter Value
Category
(blank)
Selects all Categories by
alphabetically sorted name
Category name
Selects a specific Category
NOT Category
name
Selects everything except a
specified Category
*
Cancels all other preceding
filters
Category*
"Priority" filter
As above
What gets selected
Only returns Activities where
the Category is explicitly used,
not inherited
Filter name
Filter Value
Priority
(blank)
0...9
NOT 2
(or any number
0..9)
*
Priority*
As above
Filter name
Filter Value
Date
(blank)
What gets selected
Selects all Priorities from 1 - 9
followed by "None"
Selects a specific priority,
where 0 means "No Priority"
Selects everything except
Priority 2
Cancels all other preceding
filters
Only returns Activities where
the Priority is explicitly used,
not inherited
"Date" filter
Date*
"StartDate" filter
What gets selected
Selects all days where
Activities have Start or Due
dates
22/4/04
(or valid date on
your system)
Selects Activities which have
either a matching Start date or
Due date
Y
Selects Activities that have an
explicit Start date or a Due date
N
Selects Activities that do not
have an explicit Start date or
Due Date (undated Activities)
As above
Only allows activities where an
explicit date has been defined,
not derived from a constraint
Filter name
Filter Value
What gets selected
StartDate
(blank)
Selects all days where
activities have a start date
22/4/04
(or valid date on
your system)
Selects a specific start date
7
Selects the dates of the next 7
(or a number > 0) days (including today) in
ascending order from today's
date
-7
Select the dates of the
(or a number < 0) preceding 7 days (including
today) in ascending date order
N
(or 00:00:00,
deprecated)
StartDate*
"DueDate" filter
Selects tasks or projects that
have no start date assigned to
them or inherited from a
parent task or project
Y
Selects tasks or projects that
have a Start date defined
NOT 1
or NOT -1
Selects activities that are not
startable today or yesterday.
Only 1 and -1 can be used.
As above
Only allows Activities where an
explicit Start Date has been
defined, not derived from a
constraint
Filter name
Filter Value
DueDate
(blank)
22/4/04
(or valid date on
your system)
What gets selected
Selects all days where activities
are due (scheduled to complete)
Selects a specific due date
7
Selects the dates of the next 7
(or a number > 0) days (including today) in
ascending order from today's
date
-7
Selects the dates of the
(or a number < 0) preceding 7 days (including
today) in ascending date order,
then filters by each
N
(or 00:00:00,
deprecated)
Y
DueDate*
Selects tasks or projects that
have no due date assigned to
them or inherited from a parent
task or project
Selects tasks or projects that
have a due date assigned
NOT 1
or NOT -1
Selects activities that are not
due today or yesterday. Only 1
and -1 can be used.
As above
Only allows Activities where an
explicit Due Date has been
defined, not derived from a
constraint
"StartWeek" filter
Filter name
Filter Value
StartWeek
(blank)
19/04/04
(or valid date on
your system)
What gets selected
Selects all weeks where
activities have a start date
Selects a specific week
commencing on this date
2
Selects the next 2 weeks
(or a number > 0) (including this week) in
ascending order
-2
Selects the previous 2 weeks
(or a number < 0) (including this week) in
ascending order
NOT 1
or NOT -1
Selects activities that are not
startable this week or last
week. Only 1 and -1 can be
used
Filter name
Filter Value
StartWeek*
As above
What gets selected
Only allows Activities where an
explicit Start Date has been
defined, not derived from a
constraint
"DueWeek" filter
Filter name
Filter Value
What gets selected
DueWeek
(blank)
Selects all weeks where
activities have due dates
19/04/04
(or valid date on
your system)
Selects a specific week
commencing on this date
2
Selects the next 2 weeks
(or a number > 0) (including this week) in
ascending order
-2
Selects the previous 2 weeks
(or a number < 0) (including this week) in
ascending order
DueWeek*
NOT 1
or NOT -1
Selects activities that are not
due this week or last week.
Only 1 and -1 can be used
As above
Only allows Activities where an
explicit Due Date has been
defined, not derived from a
constraint
"StartMonth" filter
Filter name
Filter Value
StartMonth
(blank)
1/04/04
(or valid date on
your system)
What gets selected
Selects all calendar months
where activities have start dates
Selects a specific month
commencing on this date
2
Selects the next 2 months
(or a number > 0) (including this month) in
ascending order
-2
Selects the previous 2 months
(or a number < 0) (including this month) in
ascending order
NOT 1
or NOT -1
Selects activities that are not
starting this month or last
month. Only 1 and -1 can be
used
Filter name
Filter Value
StartMonth*
As above
What gets selected
Only allows Activities where an
explicit Start Date has been
defined, not derived from a
constraint
"DueMonth" filter
Filter name
Filter Value
DueMonth
(blank)
1/04/04
(or valid date on
your system)
What gets selected
Selects all calendar months
where activities have due dates
Selects a specific month
commencing on this date
2
Selects the next 2 months
(or a number > 0) (including this month) in
ascending order
-2
Selects the previous 2 months
(or a number < 0) (including this month) in
ascending order
DueMonth*
NOT 1
or NOT -1
Selects activities that are not
due this month or last month.
Only 1 and -1 can be used
As above
Only allows Activities where an
explicit Due Date has been
defined, not derived from a
constraint
"Overdue" filter
Filter name
Filter Value
Overdue
(blank)
"Status" filter
What gets selected
Selects overdue Activities first,
then not-overdue Activities
N (or 0,
deprecated)
Selects Activities that are not
overdue today (Due date has
not passed)
Y (or 1,
deprecated)
Selects Activities that are
overdue today (Due date has
passed)
Filter name
Filter Value
What gets selected
Status
(blank)
Selects each of the
percent-complete ranges (from
0% to 100%) in ascending
order. (Note that completed
tasks are not displayed if
disabled in the Dashboard
Options).
0..100
Selects a specific
percent-complete value. Legal
values are 0, 10, 25, 35, 50,
65, 75, 90, and 100.
NOT 100
(or any value
0..100)
Selects everything except
100% complete
Filter name
Filter Value
What gets selected
Complete
(blank)
Selects incomplete activities
first, then complete Activities
(Used in Outlook
Synchronisation
dashboards)
N (or 0,
deprecated)
Selects incomplete Activities
(Activities with a
percent-complete value less
than 100)
Y (or 1,
deprecated)
Selects complete Activities
(Activities with a
percent-complete value of
100). Requires the option for
including Completed actions in
Dashboards to be enabled
Filter name
Filter Value
What gets selected
Party
(blank)
Selects the people who have
any association with an
Activity, either as an Owner or
as a Partner
Party name
Selects all the Activities that
the specified person has direct
or indirect involvement with
%me%
Selects all Activities where the
default Dashboard owner is a
Party
"Complete" Filter
"Party" filter
(People with a direct or
indirect association with
actions or projects)
Filter name
Filter Value
What gets selected
Party*
As above
Filter name
Filter Value
Owner
(blank)
Selects the people who have
executive responsibility for an
Activity, in alphabetical order.
This filter should be used if you
are using the "Shared
Ownership" scheme. Also see
Assigning Owners.
Owner name
Selects a specific Owner. This
filter should be used if you are
using the "Shared Ownership"
scheme. Also see Assigning
Owners.
Only returns Activities where
the Party name is explicitly
used, not inherited
"Owner" filter
(Executive responsibility
for actions or projects)
What gets selected
NOT Owner name Selects everything except the
specified Owner
%me%
NOT %me%
"ActivityOwner" filter
Selects the Owner defined as
"Me" in the Dashboard Options.
This filter should be used if you
are using the "Shared
Ownership" scheme. Also see
Assigning Owners.
Selects everything not owned
by Me
Filter name
Filter Value
ActivityOwner
(blank)
Selects all Owners who are the
current owners of Next Actions,
Actions, Results or Projects, in
alphabetical order. This filter
should only be used if you are
using the "Delegated
Ownership" scheme*. Also see
Assigning Owners.
Owner name
Selects a specific Owner where
they are the current owner of
activities. This filter should only
be used if you are using the
"Delegated Ownership" scheme.
Also see Assigning Owners.
(Current sole owner of
an activity)
What gets selected
NOT Owner name Selects all Activity owners
except the named one
%me%
NOT %me%
Selects the Owner defined as
"Me" in the Dashboard Options,
where this Owner is the current
owner of activities. This filter
should only be used if you are
using the "Delegated
Ownership" scheme. Also see
Assigning Owners.
Selects all Activity owners
except Me
* If this filter is used with the "Automatic Delegation" option disabled,
ResultsManager will automatically substitute the "Owner" filter instead.
"ActivityManager" filter
Filter name
Filter Value
ActivityManager
(blank)
Selects all Owners who are the
current managers of activities,
in alphabetical order. This filter
should only be used if you are
using the "Delegated
Ownership" scheme*. Also see
Assigning Owners.
Owner name
Selects a specific Owner where
they are the current manager of
activities. This filter should only
be used if you are using the
"Delegated Ownership" scheme.
Also see Assigning Owners.
(Owner who has
delegated an activity to
an "ActivityProvider")
What gets selected
NOT Owner name Selects all Activity managers
except the named one
%me%
NOT %me%
Selects the Owner defined as
"Me" in the Dashboard Options,
where this Owner is the current
manager of activities. This filter
should only be used if you are
using the "Delegated
Ownership" scheme. Also see
Assigning Owners.
Selects all Activity managers
except Me
* If this filter is used with the "Automatic Delegation" option disabled,
ResultsManager will automatically substitute the "Owner" filter instead.
"ActivityProvider" filter
Filter name
Filter Value
ActivityProvider
(blank)
Selects all Owners who are the
current providers of activities
delegated to them, in
alphabetical order. This filter
should only be used if you are
using the "Delegated
Ownership" scheme*. Also see
Assigning Owners.
Owner name
Selects a specific Owner where
they are the current provider of
activities delegated to them.
This filter should only be used
if you are using the "Delegated
Ownership" scheme. Also see
Assigning Owners.
(Owner who has had an
Activity delegated to
them by an
"ActivityManager")
What gets selected
NOT Owner name Selects all Activity Providers
except the named one
%me%
NOT %me%
Selects the Owner defined as
"Me" in the Dashboard Options,
where this Owner is the current
provider of activities delegated
to them. This filter should only
be used if you are using the
"Delegated Ownership"
scheme. Also see Assigning
Owners.
Selects all Activity Providers
except Me
* If this filter is used with the "Automatic Delegation" option disabled,
ResultsManager will automatically substitute the "Owner" filter instead.
"Partner" filter
Filter name
Filter Value
Partner
(blank)
(People who are
indirectly referenced in
Activities)
Partner name
What gets selected
Selects the people who have an
indirect association with an
Activity, by being mentioned in
the Owner list with @ in their
name
Selects all the Activities that
the specified Partner has
indirect involvement with
%me%
Selects all Activities where the
last filtered Party is a Partner
Y
Selects Activities which have a
Partner (where the last filtered
Party is the ActivityOwner)
N
Selects Activities which do not
have a Partner (where the last
filtered Party is the
ActivityOwner)
"Committed" filter
Filter name
Filter Value
Committed
(blank)
Committed*
What gets selected
Selects "Committed / Must"
then "Someday-Maybe"
activities
N (or 0,
deprecated)
Selects uncommitted
("Someday-Maybe") activities
Y (or 1,
deprecated)
Selects Committed activities
As above
Only returns Activities where
the Committed or
Someday/maybe marker is
explicitly used, not inherited
"Deadline" filter
Filter name
Filter Value
Deadline
(blank)
Selects activities with
Deadlines first, then activities
without deadlines
N (or 0,
deprecated)
Selects no-Deadline
("Bring-Forward" file) activities
Y (or 1,
deprecated)
Selects activities that are
marked with the Deadline Icon
"Activity" filter
What gets selected
Filter name
Filter Value
What gets selected
Activity
(blank)
Selects Next Actions, Actions,
Results and Projects
X
Selects "Next Action" activities
A
Selects "Action" activities,
which includes all "Next Actions"
R
Selects "Result" activities *
P
Selects "Project" activities *
ActivityManager
Selects Activities where the last
filtered Party is the
ActivityManager
ActivityProvider
Selects Activities where the last
filtered Party is the
ActivityProvider
ActivityOwner
Selects Activities where the last
filtered Party is the
ActivityOwner
Partner
Selects Activities where the last
filtered Party is a Partner
NOT X
Selects everything except Next
Actions **
* Note that these filters are not the same as the separate "Project" and "Result" filters. The Activity
filter will only list specific activities of the selected type. The "Project" and "Result" filters will allow
through any kind of activity (Project, Result, Action or Next Action) that belong to a specific Project or
Result.
** Can also use NOT A, NOT R etc. in the same way
Blank filter
Filter name
Filter Value
(blank)
(blank)
What gets selected
Blank filter - does not select
anything below it. Use when
listing just Project or Result
names without detailing any
activities below them.
Appendix F: Dashboard Report Keywords
Refer to the section on Reports in Dashboard Maps for an overview of using report keywords
in Dashboard maps.
Keywords are case-sensitive and must be used exactly as shown, including the %
characters. If they are not matched exactly, then no substitution is made when the
Dashboard is generated.
Keyword
Usable
locations
Substitution made when
Dashboard is generated
%me%
1, 2
Name entered in "Me" box in the
Dashboard Options dialogue
%toptext%
2
The name of the Topic or Central
Topic where the dashboard scan
was started
%mapnames%
2
List of the names of the map
documents scanned for this
Dashboard
%mapfullnames%
2
List of the full paths and names of
the map documents scanned for
this Dashboard
%activities%
2
Total number of Projects, Results,
Actions and Next Actions found
%topics%
2
Total number of Topics visited in
all the scanned maps
%maps%
2
Total number of maps scanned
%today%
1, 2
Today's date in short date format
%time%
1, 2
Time now (hh:mm)
%templatename%
1, 2
The name of the template map
used to create this Dashboard
%templatefullname%
1, 2
The full path and name of the
template map used to create this
Dashboard
Keywords can be included in the text used in the following locations:
 [1] The comment that describes a Dashboard, visible in the Dashboard Selection


dialogue,
[2] The Central Topic text in the Dashboard template map, and
[2] The Central Topic Notes text in the Dashboard template map.
If these keywords are used anywhere else, they are not substituted when the Dashboard is
generated.
Examples
 "%topics% Topics found in %maps% maps" would be rendered as "3192 Topics found in
38 maps"
 "Dashboard for %me% %today%" would be rendered as "Dashboard for John Smith
31/12/04"
Appendix G: Dashboard Template Properties
MindManager maps can carry information that identifies then as ResultsManager Dashboard
Templates. This information is stored in the map Properties accessed via File | Properties...
when the map is open and selected.
The "Keywords" property must be set to "Dashboard" for ResultsManager to interpret and
assign the other properties to the Dashboard Details dialogue. This is done when the "New"
button is clicked in the Dashboard Settings dialogue, and a suitable map is open and
selected in MindManager.
File Property
Subject
ResultsManager interpretation
Used as the Dashboard Name
Keywords
Required to be set to "Dashboard" for
ResultsManager to interpret the other fields
Comments
Used as the Dashboard Description
Comment
contains
All other fields
Function
"~0", "~1",
"~2" or "~3"
Controls the number of levels of
parent project displayed in callouts,
from 0 to 3
"~T"
Tidies up the dashboard map when
complete
"~E"
Lists this template in the dashboards
list in Express Mode
Ignored by ResultsManager
Document Properties interpreted by ResultsManager
If the "Keywords" property is valid, then the other properties are used to initialise the
Dashboard Details dialogue, and the path to the map is used as the source map path. This
saves time when configuring a new dashboard template, and means that the template can
be installed with the ResultsManager tab | Tools group | Install Template.
Appendix H: System Requirements
ResultsManager v2 is compatible with:





MindManager Pro 7 build 7.0.429 onwards
MindManager Pro 6 RC1-build 6.0.634 onwards
MindManager Basic 6 RC1-build 6.0.634 onwards
MindManager X5 Pro from build 5.1.220 onwards
MindManager X5 from build 5.1.220 onwards
ResultsManager should only be installed after MindManager is installed, otherwise some
features may not be correctly configured.
You can check your version of ResultsManager and its compatibility with MindManager by
clicking the ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager. You can also
update your copy of ResultsManager from this dialogue.
To update your version of MindManager, click the Tools tab | Product group | Updates
while connected to the Internet. MindManager will download the latest update and install it.
Other versions of MindManager are not supported by this version of ResultsManager.
Appendix J: Installing and uninstalling
When ResultsManager is installed, it automatically installs itself for all users. This is done
by creating registry entries in HKLM, and relying on MindManager to copy these to HKCU.
Although ResultsManager is an extension to MindManager software, it appears in the
Add/Remove Programs dialogue as a separate programme and can be separately uninstalled.
If you are re-installing ResultsManager, the installer can make a backup copy of the maps
in the default Dashboards folder. This is useful if you have modified the default Dashboard
templates, to avoid losing your modifications. You can allow the installer to make backup
copies of your modified Dashboard templates before replacing them. Before you install
again, you should retrieve your modified Dashboard template maps and re-apply the
changes to the new Dashboards, or replace the new Dashboards with your modified
versions. Please consult the Release Notes map and this documentation to determine
whether your customisations are still valid. Previous filter behaviour will be preserved as far
as possible but there may be some changes that require you to review your customised
dashboards.
To uninstall ResultsManager, do the following:
 Open the Control Panel on your system
 Select Add/Remove Programs
 Locate "Gyronix ResultsManager" in the list and click Add/Remove
Note that if you have modified any Dashboard templates, these will be left behind after
ResultsManager is removed.
Uninstalling ResultsManager normally removes ResultsMerlin and the ResultsManager
Ribbon Add-in (installed automatically for MindManager 7). You may need to refresh or
redisplay the Add/Remove Programs dialogue to confirm that they have been uninstalled. If
they remain behind, they can be manually uninstalled from the Add/Remove Programs
dialogue.
Appendix K: MindManager 6 and Categories
From MindManager 6 onwards, the support for Categories as part of the Task Info task pane
was discontinued. MindManager 6.0.664 (Service Pack 0) and above introduced legacy
support for Task Categories information used by MindManager X5 and ResultsManager. This
is implemented with Text Markers in the Map Markers set of a map, by creating a
"Categories" marker group. However, the use of Text Markers has certain limitations.
The limitations of using Text Markers in a "Categories" Marker Group in MindManager
6.0.664 & above include the following:
 If a new Map Marker set is applied to a map, existing Category information will be lost



unless current label values exist in the Categories group in the new Map Marker set
(which is not guaranteed)
If a Topic containing Category information coded in Text Markers is copied from one map
to another, then the "Categories" Marker Group may not be created in the destination
map, causing loss of Categories information
Map Parts containing the Categories Text Marker Group do not cause the Categories
group to be created, causing loss of Categories information
If a map that has been edited once with MindManager 6 is edited again with
MindManager X5 Pro, then any changes to the Categories data will not be reflected the
next time the map is edited in MindManager 6.
To maintain the same functions of ResultsManager on MindManager X5 and 6,
ResultsManager provides ongoing support for Task Categories, and will attempt to keep
Categories and Text Marker information synchronised. Categories can still be entered
through the ResultsManager Edit dialogue. ResultsManager also includes two workarounds
to handle these issues:
 A backup of the Categories information is stored in a custom attribute in each Topic. If

the original Categories data is lost for any reason, ResultsManager will recover the data
from the last backup copy. This fix is transparent in use, but does means that wherever
possible, you should use the ResultsManager Edit dialogue to edit activities if you want
to ensure that Categories data is preserved.
A new utility is included with ResultsManager for MindManager 6 and 7 to help restore
lost Categories information. If you are missing your expected Categories in either the
Dashboard maps, the on-screen display of Text Markers, or the ResultsManager Edit
dialogue, then open the Project map that you suspect may have lost data, and click the
Tools tab | Macros group | Macros | Repair Categories Data. ResultsManager will
attempt to recover and repair missing Categories data and will allow you to make
manual corrections where it detects a problem. Normally, you would only need to use
this utility once, unless some later event causes loss of Categories data again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Installation and Licensing FAQ
Click on the questions below to display the answers. If you don't see your question here,
also try the ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager | View
Release Notes Map, or contact us.
What is the difference between ResultsManager v2 Standard Edition and Professional
Edition?
ResultsManager v2 Standard and Professional Editions are compared here.
Whenever I click on an OK button, the License dialogue appears
ResultsManager is asking for a license key to proceed
ResultsManager is trying to tell you that your free trial period has expired, and either a
license key has not been entered, or an incorrect key has been entered. Click the
ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager | Purchase license to
purchase a license key for ResultsManager, or check that you have entered your license key
exactly as supplied, with all punctuation and capitalisation correct. The capital letter "O"
and the number zero "0" can be easily confused, for example. See also Purchasing a License.
How do I purchase a license key?
Refer to the section on Purchasing License keys.
Do I need to re-install a licensed version when I purchase?
No. There is only one installation version of ResultsManager; without a license key, it works
for 28 days and then prompts you for a license key when you use it. To reactivate it, you
only need to enter a license key. No new download is required.
Some of the buttons and options are disabled
If you are using ResultsManager Standard, some of the features are not enabled.
ResultsManager determines whether to provide Standard Edition or Professional Edition
functionality as follows:
 If a valid ResultsManager Standard license key is entered, Standard Edition mode is
enabled. The buttons and selectors for ResultsManager Professional are greyed out.
 If a valid ResultsManager Professional license key is entered, additional Professional
Edition functions are enabled.
 If no valid license key has been entered, and the 28-day trial period has not yet expired,
ResultsManager works in Professional Edition mode.
 If no valid license key has been entered, and the 28-day trial has expired, then
ResultsManager still claims to be the Professional Edition, but the OK buttons are
disabled. You can still enter a license key in the ResultsManager tab | Product group |
About ResultsManager | Enter Key.
Which edition of ResultsManager do I have?
Standard Edition or Professional Edition are controlled by the license key. Click on the
ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager to check whether you are
using the ResultsManager Standard Edition or ResultsManager Pro Edition:
Help | About ResultsManager: Standard Edition
Help | About ResultsManager: Professional Edition
Where do I enter the License key?
Click the ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager to open the
About dialogue:
Help | About ResultsManager
Then click on Enter Key and enter your license key exactly as delivered. The text "Limited
license, x days left" tells you that ResultsManager is operating in trial mode.
Entering the License key
Nothing happened when I entered my License key. Did it work?
ResultsManager does not change "on the fly" from trial to licensed operation. It must restart
to change to licensed mode. When you enter a license key, the license dialogue closes. Click
the ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager | Enter key to check
whether the license key was accepted. If it has been entered correctly, the dialogue will say
"Licensed version":
License key correctly entered
If the license key was not correctly entered, the dialogue will still say "Limited license - X
days left". You should check that you have entered the key exactly as supplied, as it is
case-sensitive.
Can I upgrade from ResultsManager Standard to ResultsManager Pro?
Yes, you can upgrade from ResultsManager v2 Standard to ResultsManager v2 Professional
Edition by entering a valid ResultsManager Pro license key. You should check that any
Options that refer to ResultsManager Pro only are correctly configured after entering your
license key.
Do I need to use MindManager X5 Pro to use ResultsManager?
No, ResultsManager v2 will also work with MindManager X5 or 6. However we recommend
MindManager X5 Pro or MindManager Pro 6, as these have many benefits if you are serious
about capturing and visualising your most important information, such as integration with
Microsoft® Office.
ResultsManager is showing a "Compatibility warning" message. What should I do?
Compatibility warning message
If ResultsManager detects that you are using a version of MindManager that is either not
supported (because it is too old), or not tested (because it is too new), it will display a
Compatibility Warning message when you use it. Refer to the section on Keeping up to
date.
Can ResultsManager be used on a server?
ResultsManager is not currently licensed for server use. It is designed for installation and
use on a single user's machine. This may be supported in a future version. Please contact
us if you need to run ResultsManager on a server.
Where are the Dashboard maps installed?
Currently, the Dashboard and example maps are installed in a subfolder called "My
Dashboards", in the default maps folder configured in MindManager. So if you have
configured your default map folder (in the MindManager button | MindManager Options)
to be "C:\My Documents", then the dashboard maps will be in "C:\My Documents\My
Dashboards". If you change the default maps folder after installing ResultsManager, then
you should re-install ResultsManager.
Do I lose my settings if I re-install ResultsManager?
No. Uninstalling ResultsManager only removes the information that lets MindManager find
it. It does not remove any of the option settings. When you re-install ResultsManager, it will
check to see if you have edited any of the Dashboard maps, and will prompt before
overwriting ones that you have customised. However, you should always make a backup of
your master lists and any files you have customised before uninstalling or re-installing.
Should I have read the "Read Me First" file?
The Read Me First file contains information that might not be in the full documentation. If
you encounter a problem, it's always worth checking the RMF to see if any newer
information is available, especially known issues. You can read the RMF file after installation
by clicking the ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager | View
Release Notes Map.
Editing Activities FAQ
Click on the questions below to display the answers. If you don't see your question here,
also try the ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager | View
Release Notes Map, or contact us.
There is a lot of detail to enter for an Activity! It will take me less time to just do it!
First - congratulations; you have just re-invented David Allen's 2-minute rule from "Getting
Things Done". If something will take less than two minutes to do, and you can do it right
now, then just go ahead and do it instead of putting it on a list.
However, remember that you don't need to fill out every field of every form. You can put in
as much or as little as you wish, and ResultsManager will cope. The information entered
about Activities is designed to help you review and access them later, when you need to. So
if you are never going to review your activities by Area, then you don't need to put anything
in the Area box when creating an Activity.
ResultsManager also helps a lot by automatically inheriting information that is not defined.
So the simplest way to create action items is to write the defaults just once in the Central
Topic of a map, e.g. "Office" for the Context, and your name for the Owner. Then anything
in the map that does not have a different context or owner will default to the ones in the
Central Topic. So you can add Activities and only enter the name of the Activity, and they
will appear in your Dashboards.
How do I switch between Express mode and Power User mode?
Click the ResultsManager tab | Options group | User Mode to switch between Express
and Power User modes. When you change modes, ResultsManager automatically displays
the Options for that mode.
Can I use Hyperlinks on Actions, Projects or Results?
You can use Hyperlinks on Activity Topics in your project maps, but these Hyperlinks do not
appear in the Dashboard copies of these Topics. The Topic Hyperlinks in Dashboard maps
are reserved for linking to the original Project map, so that you can quickly return to the
right place in the middle of a project map from the Dashboard. If you edit the Hyperlinks in
the Dashboard map, ResultsManager may attempt to update the wrong Topic if you press F5
(MindManager Pro only) or use the Send Dashboard Changes command.
Why is the "Purpose" text box sometimes greyed out?
ResultsManager uses the Topic Notes feature in MindManager to store the Purpose for
Actions, Projects and Results.
The first thing to check is whether you have disabled the option to include Topic Notes in
Dashboard maps. If you have, and if you are editing a Dashboard map, then the Purpose
text box is greyed out since the original Topic Notes are not available in the Dashboard
map. To edit the Topic Notes, click on the hyperlink in the Dashboard map and edit them in
the original Project map.
If this does not apply, then the other possibility is that ResultsManager cannot edit the
current Notes. Topic Notes in MindManager can contain rich text features like bullet points,
bold text, colours, Hyperlinks and so on. However, the ResultsManager edit dialogue will
only support plain text in the current version. To avoid accidental loss of important
information from the Notes (e.g. Hyperlinks), ResultsManager will only permit this text to
be edited if it is plain text, and does not contain any rich text features. So if the Edit
dialogue looks like this:
Editing of Notes blocked because they contain rich text
.. then this is because the Notes for this Topic contain features that ResultsManager cannot
edit. You can edit these Notes using regular Topic Notes pane in MindManager - see the
MindManager Essentials section.
Tip: sometimes MindManager thinks that Notes are Rich Text even when you haven't used
any features such as bullets or Hyperlinks. The workaround is to open the Notes window,
click in it, and press Ctrl+A to select all the text. Then press Ctrl+Space to clear the style
formats. Make sure you do this in your original project maps, and not the Dashboard maps,
otherwise it will only reappear again. This usually clears any problem with editing text in
the ResultsManager window.
I get an error message "Dashboard editing is not enabled"
If you get the error message "Dashboard editing is not enabled" when trying to edit Topics
in a Dashboard map, there are two causes:
 You are using ResultsManager Standard Edition. Editing from Dashboard maps is only

supported in the Professional Edition. Check which edition you are using with the
ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager.
You are using the Professional Edition, but Dashboard editing is not enabled in the
Options. Click on the ResultsManager tab | Options group | Options |
ResultsManager Options, activate dashboard editing, then click OK.
Does ResultsManager support recurring activities?
Currently there is no automated support for recurring activities (e.g. something that
happens on the same day every week or month). However, it is easy to keep track of
recurring activities; as you complete them, simply move their start or due date back by a
week or a month, and leave their status as incomplete. For example, you could add weekly
and monthly reviews as regular activities.
Can I track Activities that take less than an hour?
Currently, MindManager does not allow minutes or fractions of an hour to be used in the
Duration field. You can use a Context to label activities that will only take a few minutes see Tips and Tricks.
How do I change an Owner name, Area, Category or Context?
Currently there is no utility that will search all your maps and make a change to an Owner
name, a Context, a Category or an Area. This is under consideration for a future version. If
you need to change an existing name, then the easiest way to do this is to run create the
Maintenance Dashboard, select all the activities that use the field to be changed, and edit
them in the Maintenance Dashboard. The block edit feature in Power User mode will help
with this. Then send the changes back from the Maintenance Dashboard to the original
project maps. This is quicker than searching the individual project maps, or waiting for the
name to appear in the regular dashboard maps.
The Smart Map Part is not working
(MindManager Pro only) When the "Activity" Smart Map Part is deployed in a map, the
Edit dialogue should automatically open. However, if you install a MindManager Service
Pack, you may find that the Smart Map Part stops working. This is a known issue. The
workaround is to re-install ResultsManager so that it re-registers its Smart Map Part with
MindManager again.
There are no choices in the "Progress made" selection
Under certain conditions, the choices available in the "Progress made" selector in the
Activity Edit dialogue can disappear:
No choices in the "Progress made" selection
The cause of this is the lack of Map Markers in the "Task Complete (%)" group. The possible
causes are
 The markers could have been deleted manually (which would be unusual), or
 It might be the result of applying a Map Marker set which does not contain these


markers, or
It is a known side-effect of creating new maps in MindManager X5 by breaking them off
another map with the File | Send To | MindManager (as new Map) command. Some
versions of MindManager lose the Map Markers of the parent map, or
It may also happen if a MindManager 2002 map is opened with MindManager X5.
The solution in all cases is to re-instate the Map Markers that represent percent complete
for tasks, either by hand in the Map Markers task pane, or by applying another Map Marker
scheme from the Template Organizer. Refer to the MindManager documentation for further
information.
What should I do with Completed activities?
Typically, users want to keep the information about completed activities in case it is needed
again, but they do not want it filling up their maps. Some solutions to this are:
 Archive a dated copy of the map from time to time, and delete completed items in the

current version.
Use the Map Marker filters to hide completed activities in the map. To do this:
o Set Filtering so that selected topics are hidden
o Check the "Task Complete" marker in the Map Markers task pane
o Click the Filter/Select button and select all completed tasks
o Click the Filter button to hide all completed tasks and their subtopics.
Refer to the MindManager documentation for more information.
Should I only have one Project per map?
The fundamental rule is that a project cannot span more than one map, because you can't
draw relationships (dependencies) to a task in a different map. For practical reasons, when
sharing maps with others, it is often better to keep to one project in a map, so you can just
share or send a single project.
If ResultsManager does not find a "project" topic when it looks upwards from task topics
(towards the central topic), it will assume that the central topic defines the project. If you
want it to appear explicitly in the list of projects in dashboards, then it must also be a task
(with a percent-complete icon on it). If you don't want it to be listed as a proper project,
don't put a task icon on it.
ResultsManager will not consider the central topic to be a project unless you have other
action items in the map that are not under an explicit Project.
You can have multiple projects in a single map by assigning the Project icon to any topic.
You can even have projects "within" projects. ResultsManager will recognise them as
projects if they have a percent-complete icon and the ResultsManager project icon on them.
Dashboards FAQ
Click on the questions below to display the answers. If you don't see your question here,
also try the ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager | View
Release Notes Map, or contact us.
I get a message "No Activities found" when creating a Dashboard
Try the following:
 Check you have not unintentionally disabled the ResultsManager Option for using


Multimap links. This will prevent ResultsManager scanning linked maps. Click the
ResultsManager tab | Options group | Options | ResultsManager Options to check
this.
Check you have not incorrectly used the blocking Icon
to block access to trees or
Multimap links that contain activities.
Check you do have some Activities in your map or maps, marked with one of the Task
Complete Icons,
through to
. ResultsManager will only pick up Activities marked
with Task Icons, and will ignore everything else.
ResultsManager cannot find my Dashboard templates
This can happen if you move the "My Dashboards" folder from its original location relative
to MindManager's default documents folder. Ensure that the Dashboard and demonstration
maps are in a folder called "My Dashboards" in the default documents folder configured in
the MindManager options.
Activities are missing from the Dashboard
 Check that you have specified some Activities in your map or maps, marked with one of






the "incomplete" Task Icons,
(new task) through to
(90% complete).
ResultsManager will normally only display incomplete Activities, and will ignore
everything else.
Check that you have entered your name in the box labelled "Me" in the ResultsManager
Options dialogue, and this name matches the one used in the maps.
Check that you have enabled the option "Activities with no Owner are mine" in the
ResultsManager Options dialogue.
Check that you have assigned yourself as the Owner of activities. The simplest way to
ensure that all Activities in a map are yours are to select the Central Topic of a map,
click the ResultsManager tab | Activity group | Edit Activity, and select yourself as
the Owner. This will be inherited by all other activities in the map, unless you define
another owner on certain activities.
Check that you have not accidentally left your name as the demonstration user name
after using the demonstration maps.
Check you have not disabled hyperlinks in the ResultsManager Options dialogue.
Check you are not relying on Hyperlinks to other MindManager maps in the Topic Notes.
ResultsManager only follows Multimap hyperlinks in the Topic, not the Notes.
If you suspect that you are missing Activities from the Dashboards, you can troubleshoot it
in two ways:
 Change to Power User mode and generate the Maintenance Dashboard from the same

map. This will show exactly what information ResultsManager is picking up, without
filtering things out. Look for activities assigned to incorrectly spelled names, or activities
with no owner.
The Notes in the central topic of a Dashboard map contain a list of the maps visited by
ResultsManager. Check that it is sweeping the maps you expected it to. If some maps
are missing, check that they have valid hyperlinks, and that hyperlinks are not blocked
with the "Exclude from Dashboard" icon ( ).
I excluded a map from the Dashboard, but it was still included
If you used the "Exclude from Dashboard" icon ( ) to exclude a map from the dashboard,
but its Activities are still included, then look for another link to the same map from
elsewhere. The icon only disables an individual hyperlink, and the linked map can still be
scanned if it is accessible through another unblocked hyperlink.
Look in the Central Topic Notes in the dashboard map. The maps that have been scanned
are listed, and the indentation shows you which parent map they were first referenced in.
Look for the map that you wanted to exclude, and then look at the line above - this will be
the map that contains the unblocked hyperlink.
The Dashboard map is incomplete
If MindManager encounters an internal error during the current session, even an error
unconnected with ResultsManager, the transaction event may not fire and the Dashboard
map will be left unpopulated. The solution is to close and restart MindManager, and create
the dashboard again. If you see this error repeatedly, please contact us.
How do I display things that I am doing for other people in the Dashboard?
To make activities that have been delegated to you appear in the "Relationship Central"
sections in the Dashboards, populate the Owner of the task as follows:
Their name; Your name
and check that you have enabled the "Automatic Delegation" dashboard option.
ResultsManager will then show this activity in the Relationship Central sections of
Dashboards as something that someone else is waiting for from you.
How do I display things that I have delegated in the Dashboard?
To make activities that have you have delegated appear in the "Relationship Central"
sections in the Dashboards, populate the Owner of the task as follows:
Your name; Their name
and check that you have enabled the "Automatic Delegation" dashboard option.
ResultsManager will then show this activity in the "Relationship Central" sections in the
Dashboards as something that you are waiting for from someone else.
I made some changes in the Dashboard, but the original project maps were not updated
Sometimes, you make an edit to a Dashboard map (e.g. mark an activity as complete), but
the next time you recreate this dashboard, the same activity is still shown as incomplete.
This can be caused by a number of possibilities, shown in order of likelihood:
1. You used MindManager's normal edit commands (e.g. right-clicking on an Icon to change
it), and forgot to run the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Send Changes
after making changes to the Dashboard.
2. You made changes to an original Project map, but when you closed it, you did not save
changes. This is easily done, especially if the map was opened automatically.
3. You made a change in the Dashboard using MindManager's normal edit commands, and
you also made a different change to another copy of the same Activity in the dashboard.
One of the changes will get overwritten by the other. ResultsManager does not
synchronise multiple copies of the same Activity.
4. You made changes in the Dashboard, and you also made a change to the same activity
in the original project map. Changes sent from the dashboard will overwrite changes
made in the project map.
5. You are deferring the sending of changes, and forgot to run the Send Dashboard
changes command after making changes to the Dashboard.
6. You are using shared maps, and the project map was already in use by someone else
when ResultsManager tried to update it. You should have seen a warning message on
the screen during the update process.
7. The changes were made to the original project map, but some error condition caused
MindManager to close prematurely (heaven forbid!) and the changes were lost.
Tip: it's a good habit to always run the Send Dashboard changes command before
closing a Dashboard map. This will ensure that all changes are sent to the original project
maps.
The Dashboard map is taking a long time to create
ResultsManager Dashboards are not created instantaneously - they can take up to a few
minutes for large numbers of projects and maps. The factors that balance this out include:
 ResultsManager is not really designed for minute-by-minute refresh. Typically, you




might generate your daily dashboards a couple of times a day
You can work within your Dashboard maps and make modifications directly in them (edit
activities and add new ones) without regenerating the dashboard or returning to the
project maps. The original project maps get synchronised
You can have several projects in one map. There is an overhead in opening and
scanning each map
Simpler dashboards are faster to create. You can create custom dashboards that list just
the information you need for the range of use of the dashboard. There is no particular
advantage in generating a dashboard that contains the next month's work every hour,
for example
.. and last but not necessarily least, the manual alternative is not really an option! It
would take hours to create the same lists by hand, especially where projects are
dynamic.
Tips for speeding up Dashboard generation include:
 Dashboard creation might run more quickly if you cancel it, close MindManager (saving

your maps), restart MindManager and try again. Sometimes MindManager gets tired and
needs a fresh start.
Try enabling Power User mode, then enabling pagination of Topics in the Dashboard
Options (click the ResultsManager tab | Options group | Options | ResultsManager


Options | Dashboard Options). When large numbers of subtopics are added to a
single Topic, MindManager can become slow to respond. Using pagination in Dashboard
map will help improve performance.
The option for showing empty headings in Dashboard maps can significantly slow down
their creation by adding a lot of extra Topics to the Dashboard map. Turn this option off
unless you really require it for diagnosis purposes.
Try excluding Topic Notes from the Dashboard. Extensive Topic Notes can be very slow
for MindManager to access. There is an option in the Dashboard Settings dialogue that
ignores Topics Notes when building Dashboards. (This means you cannot edit them from
the Dashboard map, though).
Dated Activities are appearing in the calendar before they are due
This can happen when a dependent activity has an earlier date. For example, if you have
set a date of 10th September for "Complete report", and you have accidentally set a date of
25th September for the predecessor activity "Research info for report", then ResultsManager
will bring the second activity forward to 10th September. Otherwise, you might only see
something when it is too late and its date has passed.
Activities are shown as prioritised in the Dashboard, when they have no Priority setting
ResultsManager will automatically inherit Priorities from a parent Activity, where the parent
either has higher priority. The logic behind this is that you risk losing sight of a high-priority
item if the next action is not also the same priority level.
Sorting in the Dashboard does not seem to be working
If you use two successive sort-only filters in the Dashboard, the results might not be what
you expected or wanted. For example, if you sort by priority, then sort by Committed /
uncommitted, the resulting list will not have all the Committed items grouped together. A
list can only really be sorted by one attribute at a time. The workaround is to use a
displayed filter instead of sort-only filter, so that the groupings are explicit.
How does Express Mode affect the Dashboard maps?
When you use Express mode, the following option settings are automatically used, even if
they are set differently in Power User mode:











You are always prompted for permission to add new items to Master lists
Confirmation messages are not suppressed
Shared maps are automatically closed (Professional Edition only)
Edit in Dashboards is enabled, with immediate updates (Professional Edition only)
Warnings are issued for missing Multimaps
Completed Activities are not included
Empty Headings are not shown
Funnel Timeline layout is enabled
Activity settings are automatically inherited
Automatic delegation of Activities is enabled
Topic Pagination in dashboard maps is disabled (assumed zero)
Where did the display of Parent item names go? It was a useful feature in Dashboards
In ResultManager v1, the names of parent items could be prepended to task names in the
Dashboard map, so that you could see where the task belonged.
In ResultsManager v2, this is handled by adding Callout Topics to the Activities, for several
reasons:
 Activities can now be edited from within the Dashboard map. This means that all their


properties, including their text, must be identical to the original copy, so that editing
does not introduce unintended changes.
Callouts can be turned on and off in MindManager, so that Dashboard maps do not look
too overloaded with detail.
More than one generation of parent Result or Project can be shown, with Callouts on the
Callouts.
Parent Results and Projects shown in Callout Topics
If you are not seeing the parent Result or Project Callouts in your Dashboard map, then
either they are disabled in the Dashboard Details dialogue for this Dashboard, or you have
Callout Topics hidden from view in MindManager (View | Show/Hide | Callouts). The
latter is more likely, as this setting is remembered by each map, and is turned off by
default in the Dashboards.
I changed from "Result" to "Subproject" but I still see "Result" in some dashboards
The option in Power User Mode to refer to Results as "Subprojects" only affects
ResultsManager's own dialogues. Any fixed text in the Dashboard templates is not
automatically edited. You can modify these texts by hand, by editing the Dashboard
Templates.
What does ResultsManager do with password-protected maps?
If ResultsManager encounters a password-protected map while scanning for the Dashboard,
it will prompt you for the password. If you cancel the password entry, this map will be
excluded from the Dashboard.
ResultsManager and 'GTD' FAQ
Click on the questions below to display the answers. If you don't see your question here,
also try the ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager | View
Release Notes Map, or contact us.
Must I be an expert in "Getting Things Done" to use ResultsManager?
No. ResultsManager can be used without any knowledge of David Allen's "Getting Things
Done". We recommend GTD as a powerful way to organise your information and
commitments. ResultsManager gives you a way to use MindManager in this process.
ResultsManager also helps you to use MindManager to implement other well-known
methods.
Will I learn the "Getting Things Done" process by using ResultsManager?
No. We do not aim to teach the "Getting Things Done" process with ResultsManager, and
recommend David Allen's books, seminars and other media. Refer to www.davidco.com for
full details.
I already use "Getting Things Done". Are there any benefits in using ResultsManager?
Yes. MindManager and ResultsManager will help you to easily visualise projects and identify
your key areas of focus. ResultsManager also lets you use GTD as a collaborative system,
by creating individual dashboards for different users, from pools of shared maps or projects.
Many people who use GTD have jobs where they must think, plan and take decisions.
MindManager is a valuable tool for these activities, and ResultsManager extends its
capabilities so that activities can be systematically tracked and shared.
Is there a book I can read about "Getting Things Done"?
Yes: David Allen's book "Getting Things Done" is published by Piatkus and is available via
Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.
You can also download Chapter 1 as a free preview from the Gyronix web site at
www.gyronix.com/GTD.php.
GTD uses the term "Subprojects". Why doesn't ResultsManager do the same?
"GTD" is just one of the solutions that ResultsManager delivers. It can be used for non-GTD
applications, or as a document tracking system, issue database or more. So not all the
terms we use are exclusively GTD-compliant. If you prefer to use "Subproject" instead of
"Result", change to Power User mode and click the ResultsManager tab | Options group |
Options | ResultsManager Options. There is an option that will display "Subproject" in
the dialogues.
Microsoft® Outlook and PDAs FAQ
Click on the questions below to display the answers. If you don't see your question here,
also try the ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager | View
Release Notes Map, or contact us.
Does ResultsManager support Microsoft® Outlook?
In the current versions, ResultsManager can integrate with Microsoft® Outlook through
MindManager's link to Outlook (MindManager Pro editions only).
You can synchronise ResultsManager activities in specifically-designed Dashboard maps
using MindManager Button | Export | Synchronize Microsoft Outlook Tasks. Note
that Outlook does not receive information about Contexts or Areas, and does not
discriminate between Projects, Results or Actions.
Does ResultsManager integrate with NetCentric's GTD Add-in for Outlook?
Not directly. Currently, ResultsManager uses MindManager's built-in synchronisation with
Microsoft Outlook. This only accesses common Outlook fields and does not interact with any
special data used by the "GTD" Add-in. Solutions to this are under review.
How can I turn an e-mail into an Activity?
New action items often arrive in the form of e-mails. If you have MindManager Pro, you can
select the mail in Outlook and click the toolbar button labelled "Export Selected items to
MindManager". This will create a new Topic under the currently selected Topic. You can then
click the ResultsManager tab | Activity group | Edit Activity to turn this into an
actionable item that ResultsManager can track.
I already use Outlook for tracking my action items. What advantages does ResultsManager
offer?
ResultsManager allows you to visualise projects and automatically keep track of Next
Actions. Visualising projects lets you focus on outcomes and achievements, which are more
difficult to see when working exclusively with lists. You can also embed action items in
documents such as brainstorm captures, meeting minutes, keeping them in the context of
other information.
In a future version of ResultsManager, we will provide more sophisticated integration with
Outlook, allowing you to use Outlook for distribution of Activities by e-mail, and keeping the
Task list synchronised with your activities.
Can I import my Outlook Tasks into ResultsManager?
If you are using MindManager Pro, you can use MindManager Button | Import | Import
Microsoft Outlook Tasks to import Outlook tasks into a MindManager map. Task and
category information is preserved, and you can then reorganise the map into projects and
edit the activities further with ResultsManager. ResultsManager can then create a dashboard
from this map.
Can I synchronise a Dashboard map with Outlook?
Yes, but the dashboard map must meet the following requirements:
 The dashboard template must be pre-synchronised with Outlook, otherwise the only

thing that MindManager can do is re-export tasks to Outlook again. This causes
duplication of existing tasks, because MindManager does not recognise the existing sync
information in a task.
The dashboard map must contain each task only once. Most dashboard maps will show
a task more than once. For example, a next action might appear in the Calendar section,
and also under the Contexts lists. If a newly-added task appears twice in a dashboard
map, then MindManager will create two copies of it in Outlook at the next
synchronisation. Dashboard maps that are designed for synchronisation with Outlook
must always be designed so that each task appears once only.
Can I synchronise an individual Project map with Outlook?
Yes, but make sure that you disable the option for importing new tasks from Outlook,
otherwise you will import everything else into your project map as well:
Copyright © Mindjet LLC
At the time of writing, MindManager does not remember these settings between uses, so
you must re-establish them each time.
Note that if you synchronise an individual project map with Outlook, you will not get the
parent project name appearing as a ~Category value. This information is only created when
ResultsManager creates a Dashboard map.
I get a message about Outlook Synchronisation not enabled
(ResultsManager Professional Edition only)
Generating an Outlook Sync Dashboard without enabling support
This happens if you try to generate one of the Outlook Synchronisation dashboards without
first enabling the support for Outlook Synchronisation in the ResultsManager tab |
Options group | Options | ResultsManager Options.
Outlook complains about security when I try to synchronise it with MindManager
Some versions of Outlook will display a warning message when another programme tries to
access it. This is because it is common for viruses to use Outlook as a means of sending
e-mails without the user's knowledge.
Copyright © Microsoft Corporation
To allow synchronisation to complete, check the "Allow access" box and click Yes. This can
also be configured in Outlook's security settings.
If this warning appears when you have not requested synchronisation with MindManager,
then please ensure that there are no Gyronix email addresses in your address book,
because we already receive enough virus emails and don't need any more.
Tasks are duplicated in Outlook
Tasks will be duplicated in Outlook if you forget to use the Send Dashboard Changes
command after synchronising a Dashboard map. (This command is at the ResultsManager
tab | Dashboard group | Send Changes).
When MindManager synchronises a map with Outlook, it writes special information to the
Topics to record that fact that the task is now synchronised with Outlook. When
synchronising a Dashboard map, this information is written into the Dashboard map. To
transfer this information back to the project maps for use next time, changes must be sent
back from the Dashboard map. Otherwise, the next time the dashboard is generated, the
same tasks will appear to be unsynchronised with Outlook, and will be recreated in the
Outlook task list, duplicating their previous entries.
To clean up after this has happened, do the following:
 Close the current Dashboard map.
 In Outlook, delete both copies of all tasks that are duplicated. You may lose a little
information, if you have updated tasks in Outlook but not synchronised them with
MindManager.
 Regenerate the Outlook Synchronisation Dashboard map, and click MindManager
Button | Export | Synchronize Microsoft Outlook Tasks. If MindManager complains
that tasks have been deleted in Outlook, choose the option to have them restored to
Outlook from MindManager.
 Finally, the most important part: run the Send Dashboard Changes command. Now
the fact that these tasks are synchronised with Outlook will be recorded in the original
project maps too, and the activities will not be duplicated in Outlook at the next
synchronisation.
Tasks get duplicated in the Committed dashboard
Outlook has no mechanism for marking tasks as Committed or Someday-Maybe. This means
that if you add a new task to Outlook, ResultsManager will regard it as a Someday-Maybe
task under all conditions. If you are exclusively using the Committed dashboard for
synchronising only Committed tasks with Outlook, then any new Someday-Maybe task
should be deleted from Outlook once it has been synchronised with ResultsManager and the
changes sent back to a project map. Otherwise, the task will be recreated in MindManager
again, as it will not appear in subsequent dashboards since is it not Committed.
Can I break the synchronisation between a map and Outlook?
MindManager does not include a command for breaking Outlook synchronisation. However,
the ResultsManager installation includes a utility to help manage maps that are
synchronised with Outlook.
What data gets synchronised between MindManager maps and Outlook tasks?
Task information
Synchronisation behaviour
(via ResultsManager Dashboard map)
Task name / subject
Synchronised (plain text only)
Task Notes
Synchronised (plain text only)
Task Owner(s)
Not synchronised
Start date
Synchronised: is set to match the Due
date if no Start date is defined
Due date
Synchronised: is set to match the Start
date if no Due date is defined
Task Percent complete Synchronised
Percent complete
Priority
Categories
Synchronised
Synchronised, but "No Priority" gets
converted to Priority 2 on a round trip
Synchronised
Context
Synchronised via @Categories
(ResultsManager option)
Area
Synchronised via ^Categories
(ResultsManager option)
"Committed" marker
Action / Result /
Project marker
Hyperlink
Parent Result or
Project name
Not synchronised
Not synchronised: all activities appear as
tasks in Outlook
Not synchronised
Visible in the ~Categories
(ResultsManager option) but not
synchronised both ways
Other Outlook fields (e.g. Status, Contacts, Private flag) are not synchronised.
I synchronised a dashboard map with Outlook, and it said that some tasks had changed on
both sides
MindManager's synchronisation with Outlook sometimes reports that a task has changed on
both sides simultaneously, even when it hasn't. This is a known issue and is under
investigation.
After synchronising with Microsoft Outlook, my Activities are set to Priority 2
When MindManager synchronises tasks with Outlook, the Priority setting is transferred as
follows:
 MindManager priority 3 or below corresponds to "Low Priority" in Outlook
 MindManager priority 2, or no priority, corresponds to "Normal Priority" in Outlook
 MindManager priority 1 corresponds to "High Priority" in Outlook
This means that activities with no priority in MindManager will eventually become Priority
2 when synchronised with Outlook more than once. This is a known issue with
MindManager's Outlook synchronisation feature.
Can I send a Dashboard map to a PDA?
A Dashboard map is no different to any other map created by MindManager. You can send it
to a PDA using MindManager Mobile, so that you have your latest action items with you at
all times. Alternatively you may be able to synchronise information on your PDA with
Microsoft Outlook.
The following data is synchronised between MindManager desktop and MindManager Mobile
editions:
 Topic text
 Topic text Bold setting
 Topic text colour setting
 Topic text fill colour setting
 Topic notes (but no rich text markup, e.g. hyperlinks or text formatting)
 Priority setting numerical value
 Percent-complete numerical value
 Stock Icons, but not custom Icons. This means that the ResultsManager Project
and
Result
icons are not synchronised, but other icons are.
Other FAQs
Click on the questions below to display the answers. If you don't see your question here,
also try the ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager | View
Release Notes Map, or contact us.
What is the difference between "Express" and "Power User" modes?
Express Mode has simpler dialogues and fewer options. Power User mode has more choices
in the dialogues and options: Power User Mode enables access to the following features:
 Specifying the Start date when editing Activities
 Specifying Result activity types when editing Activities
 Specifying Committed or Someday-Maybe status when editing Activities
 Specifying Areas when editing Activities
 Specifying Categories when editing Activities
 Access to all Dashboards (not just the Express Mode dashboards)
 Extra support for MindManager's synchronisation with Microsoft Outlook
 Generation of dashboards from selected parts of a map
 Editing of multiple activities in blocks
 Optional disabling of Automatic inheriting of task information
 Optional disabling of automatic delegation of activities
 Optional suppression of extra messages and warnings
 Pagination of activities in the Dashboard maps
My recently used maps list in the File menu is scrambled
MindManager keeps track of recently used maps, and displays a list in the File menu so that
you can reopen the latest ones without browsing. Unfortunately, when ResultsManager
visits a series of maps during the creation of a Dashboard map, MindManager remembers
these instead and overwrites your recently used list with the maps that ResultsManager has
accessed. So each time you generate a Dashboard with ResultsManager, the recently used
maps list is effectively trashed. The workaround is to make sure that you have links in the
"My Maps" task pane for maps that you use frequently, so that you don't need to rely on the
recently used list in the File menu. Refer to the MindManager documentation for details of
using the My Maps task pane.
When I press F1 for help, MindManager help appears as well
This is a known issue that we hope to resolve in a future version. Just close the
MindManager help window to see the ResultsManager help window.
Can ResultsManager be used together with MiniProject from MindManuals.com?
Yes. To use it with MiniProject, you should
 Disable the option for Automatic Delegation, and
 Disable the option for Automatic Inheritance
as MiniProject does not understand either of these features. You should explicitly assign
owners and categories as required per task, then MiniProject can be used to calculate
schedules for project networks, and ResultsManager will use the dates that MiniProject
calculates in its dashboards.
MiniProject is less useful for scheduling Dashboards as they contain little information about
the logic of projects (predecessors and successors), and usually only contain next actions.
Can ResultsManager be used together with other Project Management applications?
Yes. The primary difference between the way that ResultsManager normally interprets
maps, and the way that other project-management tools understand MindManager maps is
that ResultsManager uses the "Funnel Timeline" layout.
This can be turned off so that ResultsManager does not calculate next actions from the
subtopics of an activity. Change to Power User mode, click the ResultsManager tab |
Options group | Options | ResultsManager Options | Dashboard Options and disable
the "Funnel Timeline" option. ResultsManager will now behave as follows:
 Sub-topics of an activity are not its predecessors
 Activities at the other end of incoming Relationships are still task predecessors
 ResultsManager will not bring back dates of predecessors to match a deadline, allowing
topics to be defined as "rolled up" or summary activities.
ResultsManager has stolen some of my Icons!
In addition to its own custom Icons for Projects
and Results
, ResultsManager also
uses some of the stock MindManager Icons for its own purposes. These are:





The "Meeting" Icon
The "Hourglass" Icon
, which ResultsManager renames as "Committed",
, which ResultsManager renames as "Someday-Maybe"
The "Exclamation mark" icon
, which ResultsManager renames to "Deadline"
The "No entry" Icon
, which ResultsManager renames as "Exclude from Dashboard",
and
The "Magnifying Glass" Icon
, which ResultsManager renames as "Dashboard Filter"
When the Edit or Dashboard commands are used, ResultsManager steals these Icons and
renames them if they are already in use in your map. You will find them in the Map Markers
set after using the Edit or Dashboard commands.
If you have already used these icons for other purposes in your maps, you will need to
reassign them to avoid confusion. The Map Markers task pane in MindManager makes this
easy.
ResultsManager will not open some maps because "lock files" exist
If you are using Shared maps in ResultsManager Professional Edition, ResultsManager will
not open maps where a lock file already exists, because another user could already be
editing it. If this is not correct, i.e. if a lock file has been left behind by an early termination
of MindManager, or by failure to use the command File | Close and unlock shared map
(when using private lock files, with MindManager X5 and 6 only), then the solution will
depend on the locking scheme you are using:
 If you are using normal MindManager lock files, then the likely cause of orphaned lock
files is that MindManager terminated unexpectedly in a previous session. Sometimes it
does not clean up old lock files, so you will need to find and delete an existing lock file.
Lock files are in the same folder as the map, are named "~$mapname.mmap.~$lock"
and are hidden files. They normally contain the name of the user who created the lock
file.
 If you are using ResultsManager's private locking scheme, the lock file will be in the
same folder as the map, and will be named "mapname.mmap__lock.txt". These file
contain the user name of the person who created the lock file, and the date it was
created. You can either delete it manually, or simply open the map using the normal
Open command in MindManager (which does not observe ResultsManager's private lock
file), and then close it with the command File | Close and unlock shared map.
(MindManager X5 and 6 only). ResultsManager does not check that the lock file is
released by the same user who created it.
None of the above applies if you are using ResultsManager Standard, or if you are not using
any shared locations.
The keyboard shortcuts do not work reliably
(MindManager X5 and 6 only). For the keyboard shortcuts to work, the required
command must be visible in the MindManager menu. This may not be the case if you have
MindManager configured to only show the most recently used commands. To ensure that
the keyboard shortcuts always work, click Tools | Customize | Options and check the
option "Always show full menu".
Try the demonstration maps
ResultsManager includes a small set of demonstration maps that you can experiment with.
This lets you try out some of the features before you start capturing and reorganising your
own activities. But do note that other people's action items are far less interesting than
your own - you will connect with ResultsManager quicker by creating your maps containing
your actions and projects.
The ResultsManager Wizard (ResultsMerlin) will personalise the demonstration maps for you
by creating activities owned by your colleagues, and assigning current dates.
 Click on the ResultsManager tab | Help group | ResultsMerlin and select the Express


Wizard.
Answer the questions up to the point where ResultsMerlin asks you if you want to create
a Map Central map.
o If you have not done this yet, or if you want to overwrite your existing Map
Central, answer "Yes", and ResultsMerlin will automatically include the
personalised demonstration maps.
o If you have already created a Map Central map and don't want to overwrite, then
answer "No", and ResultsMerlin will allow you to create the demonstration maps
separately. Answer "Yes" when it asks you if you want it to personalise the
demonstration maps.
When ResultsMerlin has finished, click the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group |
Create Dashboard, select the Daily Actions Dashboard (Express User), and click OK.
ResultsManager will sweep the maps connected to Map Central and will create a
dashboard so that you can decide what you need to do today from these fictional
projects.
Daily Actions dashboard created from the Demo maps
You can also try the other Dashboards on the demonstration maps, to see how different
dashboards create different perspectives and analyses. You will need to change to "Power
User mode" in the ResultsManager tab | Options group | User Mode to see more
dashboards listed under the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Create Dashboard
.
With the Dashboard map in view, click the "Outline" button in the Action bar in
MindManager to work in Outline mode:
Dashboard map viewed in Outline mode
If you accidentally trash your demonstration maps, you can recreate them by running the
Wizard again at the ResultsManager tab | Options group | ResultsMerlin | Express
Setup Wizard.
Tips and Tricks
If you have some tips and tricks for using ResultsManager, we'd love to hear them.
Use the ResultsManager Template map to start new projects
To start a new Project map, click
File | New | Open Organizer... | MindManager | Gyronix Templates |
ResultsManager template (MindManager X5)
File | New | From Styles and Templates... | Map Templates | Resultsmanager
Template Map (MindManager 6)
Note: the first time you use this in MindManager 6, the template will not be listed in your
favourite map templates. To add it, click Add Map Template and browse to
...\ENU\Templates\Gyronix Templates\ then select ResultsManager Template
Map.mmat and click Open.
This template contains useful advice for organising and developing Project maps, and a link
to an article explaining how it works.
ResultsManager Project map template
Use "In-tray" maps and Map Parts
Often, you just want to add something quickly to your maps without trying to find the
perfect location. Create an In-tray map using the template at
File | New | Open Organizer... | MindManager | Gyronix Templates |
ResultsManager In-tray (MindManager X5)
File | New | From Styles and Templates... | Map Templates | Resultsmanager
In-tray (MindManager 6)
Note: the first time you use this in MindManager 6, the template will not be listed in your
favourite map templates. To add it, click Add Map Template and browse to
...\ENU\Templates\Gyronix Templates\ then select ResultsManager In-tray.mmat
and click Open.
Link it to your Map Central and create a shortcut to it in the My Maps task pane, and you
will never be more than one click away from having somewhere to quickly add a new idea.
You should empty out the In-tray map during your review process.
You can also use the In-tray technique within a map, as a place to hold undeveloped ideas
that need some more work before they are integrated into the main map. Click the Map
Parts task pane tab and open the "Gyronix" folder. Drag the In-tray map part into your map
and use it to quickly add new ideas and notes that are relevant to this map.
In-trap map part deployed in a map
Like the In-tray map, you should clean up the In-tray map parts in your map during your
review process. To support this, the In-tray map and Map Part are both assigned to the
Categories "In-Tray*" and "Process", and will be listed in the "Sweep and Review
Dashboard" and the "Sweep-up Dashboard" so that you are reminded to move them to the
appropriate Project map as part of your review process.
Use Outline view in MindManager for Dashboards
Your to-do lists will look more like lists in Outline view in MindManager. Click on the Outline
button in the Action bar to view a Dashboard map as an outline that you can expand and
collapse. You can use the ResultsManager commands to edit or even insert new actions in
Outline view.
Using Categories
Use Categories to distinguish between different sizes of project, so that you can review the
right types of project often enough but not too often. For example, if you created Categories
called "Major Projects" and "Minor Projects", then you could configure your review
dashboards so that you reviewed minor projects weekly, and all projects monthly.
Using Contexts
Contexts are a powerful way to manage your time. Use them to identify:
 Activities that you can do in a few minutes, so that you can easily pick out a couple of
short activities if you don't want to start something big just before lunch. Add "Quick" to
your master list of Contexts and use it for anything that will take less than ten minutes.
 Things that you don't even want to think about until the next weekly or monthly review.
Add "Weekly Review" and "Monthly Review" to your master lists of Contexts and use
them to defer consideration of a new idea or opportunity until the next review. (You
could use a bring-forward or tickler file date for the same purpose, but this is quicker).
Using contact details in the Topic Notes
Often, a Project or Result will involve making contact with a client or a service provider over
a limited period of time. You might not add them to your PDA or Outlook Contacts folder,
but you will want their details to hand each time you work on their activities. Put their
contact details in the Topic Notes of the Project or Result that relates to them, then you will
be able to see it in the Dashboard maps. Configure ResultsManager to add at least one
generation of parent project or result to the activities in the Dashboard maps, then the
Topic Notes for the project or result will always be in view for any of the activities in that
project or result, and you can either hover over or click on the Notes Icon in the Callout
Topic to access their details.
Linking back to Map Central from Project maps
If you use Hyperlinks back to your "Map Central" map from project maps, or Hyperlinks to
higher-level project maps to aid navigation, then use the "Exclude from Dashboard" Icon (
) to prevent ResultsManager finding its way back to Map Central. This will allow you to
create Dashboards from selected projects or just a part of your overall workload. Otherwise,
ResultsManager will follow the Hyperlinks back to Map Central, and the Dashboard will
contain all activities no matter where you start.
Don't use a Hyperlink to another map on the Central Topic of a map, as you can't block this
without blocking the whole map to ResultsManager.
Use a Context for things you are waiting for
Define a Context, e.g. "Waiting For" for things that you are waiting for from others, if you
don't want to put their name into your map.
A different way to use Percent Complete
Many tasks are not things that are big enough to be measured in terms of quarter-done,
half done and so on. Try using the Percent-Complete to indicate the various steps a task
might take instead. You can change the legends in the Map Markers for this. For example, a
typical task that involves requesting something from someone else might go through these
steps:
 New (not started)
 Reviewed and planned
 Requested (e.g. if you sent a question to someone)
 Acknowledged (e.g. when they accept your request)
 In Progress (they or you are working on it)
 Completed
Only add Owners you will use frequently
Only add the names of your most frequent contacts to your master Owners list. Otherwise,
your list will be full of names of people that have only been used once. Use the option in
the list picker dialogue to choose names from the current map when adding activities.
Use a "Someone else" Owner
Sometimes, you want to put actions on your "Waiting For" list without assigning them to
particular people. For example, you might be waiting for a special offer on something you
want to buy, or waiting for some good weather for an outdoors project. If you include an
anonymous person called "Someone else" in your list of Owners, you can make them
responsible for this kind of activity, so that it appears on your Waiting For lists in your
dashboards.
Use Owners, Contexts, Categories and Areas consistently
If you are sharing maps with other people, then agree a set of Owner names, Contexts,
Categories and Areas that are the same in everyone's map. This applies particularly to
names; if they spell your name differently in maps that they edit, these Activities might not
appear in your dashboard.
Don't use commas in Owner names
Try to avoid using commas in Owner names, e.g. "Smith, John". Although it is more
convenient to have names alphabetically sorted by surname, MindManager uses commas as
separators in the Resources field, and you will find that surnames and first names are
separately listed in the Map Markers pane.
Use multi-select to edit several Activities
Use MindManager's multi-select features to select several Activities, then edit all of them in
ResultsManager. Click on a Topic, then Ctrl+Click on others so there are several selected,
then click the ResultsManager tab | Activity group | Edit Activity. ResultsManager
Standard Edition will let you edit each one in turn, without having to reopen the Edit
dialogue each time. ResultsManager Professional Edition will give you the choice of editing
all the selected activities together, or editing each one in turn.
Always run Actions | Send Dashboard changes before closing Dashboard maps
It's a good habit to always run the Send Dashboard changes command before closing a
Dashboard map. This will ensure that all changes are sent to the original project maps.
(This command is at the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Send Changes).
Customise your Dashboard maps for speed and performance
Large Dashboard maps take longer to generate. Make sure that you are not scanning
unnecessary maps, or old projects that you don't need to track any more. Disable
hyperlinks to redundant maps with the
icon. Check in the Notes of the Central Topic of
Dashboard maps to see which maps it is scanning, and disable links to the unnecessary
ones.
If the Dashboard maps that you use frequently contain information you never look at, then
delete it from the original Dashboard template. This will speed up the generation of
Dashboards by only capturing the information you really need to take decisions or actions.
Use the "Save and Add" and "Save and Insert" buttons in the Edit dialogue
The Save and Add and Save and Insert buttons in the Activity Edit dialogue (Power User
mode) make it very quick to enter a short list of actions that will be executed in sequence.
1. Insert an activity that represents the outcome of a short sequence of actions (i.e. a list).
Add the word "(list)" in brackets at the end. Click the Save and Insert button.
2. Add the activity that is the first step, and click the Save and Add button to add the
next.
3. Repeat 2 for all the steps in this list.
4. Click the OK button on the last step.
Use the "Exclude from Dashboard" icon when updating from the Dashboard
When you are carrying out a review from your dashboard maps, you can block off further
scanning of specific projects by adding the "Exclude from Dashboard" icon (
) to the
Dashboard map, then clicking the ResultsManager tab | Dashboard group | Send
Changes. This lets you quickly block further inclusion of old or unwanted projects or
sub-projects.
Other Stuff
About Gyronix
Gyronix
The Old Dairy
Eggpie Lane
Weald
Sevenoaks, Kent TN14 6NP
United Kingdom
Web: www.gyronix.com
Sales +44 (0)1732 744499 or sales@gyronix.com
Support +44 (0)1732 744498 or support@gyronix.com
Gyronix specialise in the application of MindManager software to everyday business issues,
helping you to achieve a real return on investment through practical processes. Effective
integration of any software tool into working patterns is a real part of the total cost of
ownership, and Gyronix' experience can shorten this phase significantly.
ResultsManager is part of the Gyronix Dynamic Planning System, a series of productivity
tools and techniques designed for power users of Mindjet's MindManager® software.
Please contact us to discuss tailored in-house seminars and MindManager-based solutions
for business.
Keeping up to date
To check whether you have the latest version of ResultsManager, click the ResultsManager
tab | Product group | About ResultsManager, then click the Check for updates on-line
button:
Checking for the latest version of ResultsManager
This will take you to the Gyronix web site. The page will tell you whether a newer version
has been made available since you installed ResultsManager.
You can also update MindManager with the Tools tab | Product group | Updates.
Note that if you update to a newer version of MindManager by installing a Service Pack, two
things may happen:
 You may need to re-install ResultsManager. Some editions of MindManager will delete

information about previously installed Add-ins when Service Packs are installed.
The new version of MindManager may have been released later than your version of
ResultsManager. If this occurs, ResultsManager will display a warning message when
you use it, advising you to update ResultsManager to ensure you are working with a
version that has been tested with your new version of MindManager. Click the
ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager | Check for Updates
on-line to get the latest version.
Obtaining Support
If ResultsMerlin (the ResultsManager Wizard) is installed, simply click on the
ResultsManager tab | Options group | ResultsMerlin and select the Purchase &
Support Wizard to get information about finding answers. ResultsMerlin will give you links
to support and help resources, and will gather information that will help us to help you if
you need to escalate a problem to your supplier or Gyronix.
Before requesting support, please ensure that you are using the latest version of
ResultsManager. Click the ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager
| Check for updates on-line to check that you are up to date, and download & install the
latest version if necessary.
Also try the ResultsManager tab | Product group | About ResultsManager | View
Release Notes Map to see if your problem is a known issue that is not in the main
documentation.
Please provide the following information when requesting support:
o Your edition and version of MindManager (from the About MindManager
o
o
o
o
o
dialogue)
Your version of ResultsManager (from the About ResultsManager dialogue)
Your ResultsManager license key
A description of the problem and when it occurs
What you expected to happen, and what actually happened
Screen shots pasted into an e-mail can also be very helpful
Anything that you can tell us that will help us reproduce the issue will help us to help you.
Please be as detailed as you can - descriptions such as "it doesn't do what I expected"
don't let us help you very quickly!
Disclaimers
 This ResultsManager documentation should not be regarded as a definitive reference on
MindManager software. Information in this documentation about MindManager features
may be superseded by newer releases of MindManager. If the ResultsManager
documentation appears to give incorrect information about MindManager features, you
should give higher priority to the MindManager documentation. It is possible that a
feature has changed in MindManager since the ResultsManager documentation was last
updated.
 The "DeSynchronise" utility for breaking Outlook Synchronisation between MindManager
maps and Outlook relies on information that is not part of the published software
interface for MindManager. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that this utility
operates correctly, it can be affected by unpublished changes to MindManager's internal
mechanics, so Gyronix are unable to warrant correct operation. Specific terms and
conditions for use are displayed when the utility is launched, and these terms are
accepted by using it.
 While Gyronix make every effort to deliver high quality software and support,
ResultsManager relies on the correct operation of Mindjet's MindManager software as its
platform. Gyronix are unable to solve issues arising directly from MindManager.
 Gyronix reserve the right to change the way that ResultsManager works. Sometimes the
documentation may lag behind minor updates. If you see discrepancies between the
documentation and the software, please let us know.
 No official endorsement of MindManager or ResultsManager by The David Allen Company
or its associates is implied. "GTD" and "Getting Things Done" are trademarks of David
Allen Company and all rights are acknowledged. "GTD" is defined at
www.davidco.com/what_is_gtd.php.
 The continued support for Categories in ResultsManager is not officially endorsed by
Mindjet and does not commit Mindjet to ensure this workaround is sustainable in future
versions of MindManager. If you contact Mindjet about Categories in MindManager 6,
they will explain that they are replaced by Text Markers.
ResultsManager License Agreement
This is the license agreement that you clicked "I Accept" to when you installed
ResultsManager. Presumably you won't need to read it again, but here it is anyway.
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Subscription Fee
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software, who has licensed Gyronix to publish it
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consideration of the grant to the User of the rights given by this
Licence. The Subscription Fee may be waived without waiving any of
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not protected by a User Identifier and Password
o 'Gyronix Software': The self-contained package of software and
information downloaded from the Gyronix Website, Affiliate's Website,
or on media distributed by Gyronix or its partners or Affiliates. A
subscription license for Gyronix Software does not include a license
for any associated software (e.g. MindManager software).
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loss of reputation loss or corruption of data (whether of the Licensed
Material or of other data and whether caused by processing or transmission
of it) or for any other type of special indirect incidental or
consequential loss or damage.
8. GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION
The terms and conditions of this Licence are governed by English law and the
English courts shall have jurisdiction.
Copyright & Trademarks
ResultsManager software and documentation is Copyright© Gyronix, 2003 - 2007. All
Rights Reserved. This material may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written
permission from Gyronix.
o ResultManager™, ResultsManager™, ResultsMerlin™, GyroQ™ and
o
o
o
o
GyroActivator™ are trademarks of Gyronix
MindManager® is a registered trademark of Mindjet LLC
"GTD" and "Getting Things Done" are trademarks of The David Allen Company
Microsoft® Outlook is a trade mark of Microsoft Corporation
MiniProject™ and DecisionMill™ are trademarks of MindManuals.com Ltd
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are acknowledged.
Index
-AA: Glossary of terms 129
About "Getting Things Done" 19
Add Activities 35
Adding filters to Dashboard maps 115
Advanced topics 126
Assigning Categories and Areas 77
Assigning Contexts 70
Assigning Owners 73
-BB: MindManager Essentials 136
-CC: Menu commands and shortcuts
Choose where to use ResultsManager 23
Committed or Someday-maybe? 63
Configuring the Settings 59
Copyright 206
Create a Dashboard 42
Creating a Dashboard 14
Creating and using Dashboards 176
-DDashboard configuration options 101
Dashboard templates and filters 113
De-activating Activities 80
Default Dashboard maps 92
Disclaimers 202
-EE: Dashboard Filters 143
Editing Activities 171
Editing Dashboard definitions 108
Editing multiple Activities 82
Entering Activities 12
-FF: Dashboard Report Keywords 159
Finishing the Edit 81
Frequently Asked Questions
-GG. Dashboard Template Properties
Generating Dashboard maps 89
Get in control of MindManager 22
Getting Started 7
Getting started in Express mode 10
Getting started with Outlook Synchronisation 121
-HH: System Requirements 162
How completed tasks are handled 125
How do you plan your day? 20
How extra information is handled 123
How ResultsManager handles synchronisation with Outlook 120
How the MindManager connection to Outlook works 119
-IInserting a new Activity
Installation and Licensing 165
-JJ: Installing and uninstalling 163
-KK: MindManager 6 and Categories 164
Keeping up to date 200
-MManaging Dashboard maps 105
Microsoft® Outlook and PDAs 183
-OObtaining support 201
Other questions 189
Other Stuff
Outlook synchronisation overview 118
-PPerformance 176, 194
Priority, Duration and Status 69
Project, Result or Next Action? 61
Purchasing License Keys 50
-RRegenerating Dashboard maps 91
Reports in Dashboard maps 117
ResultsManager and 'GTD' 181
ResultsManager License Agreement 203
ResultsManager Standard and Professional compared 48
Review the Implementation Plan 27
-SSetting activities as Lists 79
Setting start and due dates 64
Setting up your Master Lists 29
Speed 176, 194
-TTake Action 44
Tell ResultsManager who you are 25
Terminology Basics 24
The Edit dialogue
The List Dialogue 142
Tips and Tricks
Try the demonstration maps 192
-WWhat is a Dashboard map? 85
What is Express mode? 9
What is Power User mode? 51
What is ResultsManager? 5
What's new in ResultsManager v2?
Working from your Dashboard 16
Working with Dashboard maps 85