I'll start by saying they're not strict mind maps; they're a cross between mind maps and spider diagrams.

If I'm listening to a talk, I'll be jotting down the key concepts in the map, just like anyone else would do with bullet points. But I'm then linking them together, where their talk jumps between ideas. Connections are the vital part.

The closest software to what my brain thinks like is https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scapple/overview. A key thing missing is representing the same information in multiple views; that's something virtually all tools miss (Coda.io et al are starting to add it - but multiple types of list-view of the same info, nothing more wild)

Realtimeboard works well for me, but ends up lacking organisation because it is totally visual and nothing structured beneath the surface.

Thanks for the overview! I will definitely try incorporating a similar approach in the future.

I can definitely see how filtering out some of that information can help focus on a specific node and immediate relationships. Comparing against other seemingly unrelated maps could be interesting as well.