ConEd uses Mindjet software at the senior-executive level as well. "The ability to see a pictorial representation of a complex system," Donohue says, "really improves understanding of whatever issue you're addressing."

Bettina Jetter, Mindjet's CEO and co-founder, says that presenting ideas and information in the form of maps is useful because "maps have a hierarchical structure that makes them easy to understand and respond to." The visual element also plays a big role, although Jetter admits that the actual maps produced by the software are not works of art. Mindjet will add "multidimensionality" and other enhancements later this year.

Jetter says the MindManager products "are like a Swiss Army knife--they can be used for many things." That can be a disadvantage initially, as customers struggle to understand just what the software is for. "That's especially true in America," says AMR Research Inc. senior vice president Bruce Richardson, "where we favor the individual contributor over consensus. This is a great collaboration tool, but America is less enamored of collaboration than other countries."

Mindjet is betting that its own collaboration with Groove Networks Inc., a software company founded by Lotus Notes creator Ray Ozzie, will help it gain a stronger presence in the United States. Its pricing should also help: users pay between $49 and $269 per copy, depending on functionality, with volume discounts available.

Competition looms from larger companies such as WebEx Communications and PlaceWare, smaller companies like TheBrain Technologies, and, as the company moves into project management, from very large companies, most notably Microsoft. But Jetter says that Mindjet's focus on the upfront planning aspect of project management makes it unique. In fact, it currently has a partnership agreement with Microsoft, and Jetter says that despite recent enhancements that take Mindjet further into the mainstream of project management, she doesn't expect that partnership to suffer. --S.L.

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