View and manage projects as a gantt chart, task list, calendar, or kanban board, and upload important spreadsheets to the project documents. Your team may prefer kanban boards for managing daily tasks or using a spreadsheet to create a RACI chart, and that’s okay. The good news is, you can use a gantt chart without foregoing other alternatives.
The comparison is clear: Spreadsheets, kanban boards, and tasks lists fall short when it comes to important project management tasks, like building a timeline, outlining dependencies, and managing workloads. Here’s what separates gantt charts from the rest of the pack when it comes to time-sensitive or complex projects. Project managers use a variety of tools-from gantt charts and kanban boards to spreadsheets and task lists-to keep up with project details, deadlines, and to-dos. How does a gantt chart compare to other alternatives? See how to use a gantt chart effectively to manage your projects. You have a good idea of roughly how long each task should or can take.Team members work on multiple projects at a time, and you need to manage their workloads.Your project involves even just a little complexity, such as tasks that need to be done in a specific order.A boss, client, or team member wants to see a visual timeline of the project from beginning to end.Multiple people or teams are involved in the project and need to be coordinated.If ANY of these are true about your project, use a gantt chart: So how do you know when to use a gantt chart to manage your project? We think a gantt chart’s handy for any project with a plan! But here are a few sure signs you’re going to need a gantt chart to get the job done. Want to see how gantt charts apply to different projects and industries? Check out these gantt chart examples. Here are just a few types of teams and companies that use gantt charts to plan, schedule, and execute their projects: Gantt charts are useful in almost any industry. Who uses project management gantt charts? Today: Gantt charts are the preferred tool for managing projects of all sizes and types.1910-1915: Henry Gantt publishes his own project management system, the gantt chart.1931: Adamiecki publishes the Harmonogram (but in Polish with limited exposure).1896: Karol Adamiecki creates the first project management chart: the Harmonogram, a precursor to the modern gantt chart.So why isn’t it called an Adamiecki chart? Good question! The first project management chart was invented by Karol Adamiecki in 1896. Gantt charts also help you keep track of project deadlines, milestones, and hours worked so you can spot and address delays or overages before they wreak havoc on your project.
A gantt chart is incredibly useful because it allows you to simplify complex projects into an easy-to-follow plan and track the status of tasks as work progresses. In project management, gantt charts are used for planning and scheduling projects. What is a gantt chart used for in project management? This gantt chart highlights 8 features every gantt chart should include: Here’s a gantt chart with these components highlighted. Resource assigned: Indicates the person or team responsible for completing a task.Progress: Shows how far along work is and may be indicated by percent complete and/or bar shading.Dependencies: Light gray lines that connect tasks that need to happen in a certain order.Milestones: Yellow diamonds that call out major events, dates, decisions, and deliverables.Bars: Horizontal markers on the right side of the gantt chart that represent tasks and show progress, duration, and start and end dates.Dateline: A vertical line that highlights the current date on the gantt chart.Timeline: Runs horizontally across the top of the gantt chart and shows months, weeks, days, and years.Task list: Runs vertically down the left of the gantt chart to describe project work and may be organized into groups and subgroups.Let’s review some basic terminology so you understand the key parts of a gantt chart and how they function in a project plan: Reading a gantt chart really comes down to understanding how the different elements come together to make a gantt chart work. But once you learn the basics, you’ll be able to read and create a gantt chart easily and tell exactly where your projects are and what needs to happen to guide them to success. Gantt charts may seem complicated at first.