David Sparks on outlining vs. mind mapping:

Both tools are good at taking a bunch of inputs and letting you organize them later. For me, the distinction is all about chaos and order. Specifically, where outlines are best for taking generally organized information and making it more organized, mind maps are all about taming chaos.

I’m definitely an outline guy. It’s just how my brain works, linear bulleted thinking more than a visual representation of my ideas.

It is true that mind mapping has proved useful for me in the same way David points at, for making sense in a big pool full of tasks and due dates. Essentially, for planning projects at work. But at the end of the day it doesn’t stick, I always end up ordering the chaos in lists.

For me, Markdown and plain texts are enough. And DEVONthink let’s me take easy notes in lightweight markdown files, link them to archived documents and other external references and build a comprehensive (and easily searchable) knowledge system.