Mermaid Mindmap for Brainstorming Requirements
Brainstorm requirements as a mindmap by typing plain text. Goals, features and open questions for an online shop's wish list feature, made in the free Mermaid live editor, where the indents shape the map.
Step by step
Brainstorm as text
- Mindmap from text. Brainstorming requirements gets messy fast. A mindmap keeps goals, features and open questions in one picture. Here's what we'll build in Mermaid: a wish list feature for our online shop.
The root
- The root. Clear the editor and type mindmap. Then the root, the main topic. Two round brackets on each side make it a circle. There's the root, a circle in the middle. Every other idea grows out of it.
mindmap root((Wish list))
Branches
- Indents make children. In a mindmap, the indent is the syntax. Indent a line more than the one above, and it becomes its child. Goals sits under the root, and two goals sit under goals. Goals branches off the root, and both goals hang off it. No arrows to type. The spaces do the work.
Goals Bring shoppers back Raise sales - Features. Next, the features. Features goes back to the branch indent, and each feature goes one step deeper. Save an item, share the list, and a price drop alert. A second branch, in its own colour. Mermaid places every idea for you.
Features Save an item Share the list Price drop alert
Open questions
- Questions. Last, the open questions you'll take to your stakeholders. Can guest users keep a list? And how many items can it hold? And there's the whole brainstorm. One root, three branches, and every idea in its place.
Questions Guest users? How many items? - Read the map. Now read it like an analyst. Goals say why, features say what, and the questions show what you still need to ask before anyone builds it.
- Edit in seconds. A new idea in the workshop? Add a line under the right branch, at the right indent, and the map redraws itself.
Recap
- The rules. So, start with mindmap and a root in double round brackets. Indent each idea under its parent. Keep goals, features and questions on their own branches.
