Gantt Chart in Project Management: What It Is and How to Use It

Inaccurate time estimates and clumsy project scheduling can lead to delays, resource issues, cost overruns, and a host of other problems. One of the most common project management tools that helps prevent all of this is a Gantt chart.

If you’d like to know more about Gantt charts and how to effectively use them to improve your scheduling and time management, keep reading!

*This article is the abridged, adapted version of the blog post originally published on the Plaky blog: https://plaky.com/blog/gantt-chart-in-project-management/?

What is a Gantt chart and what is it used for?

A Gantt chart is a visual representation of the project timeline. Usually, it shows the project tasks on the left and their corresponding duration in the form of a bar chart on the right.

The first Gantt chart was created by Henry Gantt in the early 20th century, and it was drawn manually, on paper. Today, there are much simpler ways to create Gantt charts using project management software.?

Digital Gantt charts make it much easier to get a clear top-down view of the entire project, see which tasks are ahead or behind schedule, and update your timeline as needed, without losing sight of the big picture.

How to make a Gantt chart for project management

Yes, project management software makes creating the charts themselves extremely easy. However, making sure that all the information is correct and presented as clearly as possible still requires a lot of prep work.?

Here’s the 3-step process you need to create a Gantt chart:

1. Create a work breakdown structure (WBS) — a work breakdown structure serves to divide large chunks of work into smaller, less intimidating tasks.?

These smaller tasks are also much easier to prioritize and create time estimates for, which eventually lets you create a much more accurate and well-organized project timeline.

2. Add details to project tasks — once you have all your tasks in front of you, add as many details to each of them as you can.?

Each task can, of course, be edited later on. But, having all the details ready and available in one place, directly in the Gantt chart, before the project officially starts, will make your life easier.

3. Create the Gantt chart — once you have all the information ready, generating a Gantt chart shouldn’t take more than a few clicks. Simply create a new view (in this case, Gantt view), and all the information you’ve entered will automatically take on a new shape.

Using a Gantt chart for project management

Gantt charts are versatile project management tools that can be adapted to many different situations.

Here are a few examples of how you can use a Gantt chart in project management.

1. Create a project timeline

The project timeline lets you see all your tasks laid out in front of you in the form of a bar chart, giving you a broad picture of the project.?

In most Gantt charts, you can toggle between weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly views to get a clearer view of the time frame you want to focus on.

Seeing your tasks this way allows you to check which tasks overlap and when, which tasks are behind or ahead of schedule, and whether you need to reschedule them or assign them to other people to avoid missing deadlines.

2. Manage resources

Just as Gantt charts let you see the length of each task, you can also use them to track when your resources (equipment, people, etc.) are unavailable.?

For example, by grouping tasks in the Gantt chart by the person they’re assigned to, you can check the availability of your team members at a certain point in time.?

This helps you avoid situations where one person is working on several high-impact tasks simultaneously, while others twiddle their thumbs.?

3. Identify the critical path

The critical path is the longest string of mutually dependent tasks in the project — you can’t start one task before finishing another, and you can’t finish the project before finishing each task on the critical path. Therefore, the length of the critical path is often equated to the length of the whole project.

Knowing and understanding the critical path of your project allows you to make informed decisions when planning, scheduling, and manipulating tasks outside the critical path.

Furthermore, having a clear visual of your project as a whole may help you shorten certain tasks on the critical path, theoretically shortening the duration of the entire project.

4. Collaborate with your team and stakeholders

While you can create a Gantt chart in your own private view using project management software, it might be more helpful to make it available for everyone to see.

Having a transparent view of the Gantt chart can help team members understand dependencies, how their tasks and their efforts relate to those of their colleagues, and the importance of performing work on time.

Similarly, stakeholders might find it useful to be able to view the project’s status in real time with a simple glance at the Gantt chart.?

5. Monitor progress

Remember that surprises happen and conditions change — a simple thing such as the weather can have an enormous impact on your project and budget.?

Therefore, it’s important to stay vigilant and regularly update your Gantt chart to always reflect the latest project conditions.

Schedule and manage projects with Plaky’s Gantt charts

Usually, Gantt charts are advanced project management tools that come at a premium price — but not with Plaky!

Plaky is a budget-friendly project management tool for any project manager or small business owner looking to improve their scheduling with Gantt charts. And best of all — it’s extremely intuitive and easy to use, even for your less tech-savvy personnel.

Give Plaky a try today — create a free account and organize your workload your way.