mind mapping?

familiar with Mind Mapping? a tool popularized by a guy name Tony Buzan
some years ago. He's made a lot of money on infomercials and padded
books which makes him suspect, but you can't doubt that the brain is
highly visual and that pretty pictures help analysis and memorization.

wonder if you find it has any real credibility as a tool you can really
learn. i have seen it used effectively in group meetings. but i wonder
if it relys heavily on artistic ability, which you can't really learn,
if don't you already have it, anymore than you can 'learn' to be an athlete.

strikes me also that, like all 'pretty pictures' tools, you can only
capture so much with it. sort of like flowcharts, which are pretty, but
infrequently used in complex programming. the flowchart would quickly
fill the room. good for lay people, and 'lay people problems', but you
hit the wall fast for deeper stuff. Good for the big picture, but too
big for the detailed picture.

forget about it if you haven't heard about this. i'm only asking
because there might be serious work on visual analysis tools that you
might be familiar with.

i'm thinking about visual analysis/communications tools to reach end
user types, and to aid analysis conducted in group settings.

jim