If you’re new to the world of project management, you might never have even heard of a Gantt chart, let alone created one.
Or maybe you’ve been in the game for a while but have been actively avoiding using them.
Like it or not, Gantt charts are well and truly embedded into project management territory — they were pretty important in keeping the Hoover Dam on schedule, for example.
So, if you want a career in project management, you’re going to need to learn to use them.
This article will guide you in learning what Gantt charts are all about and remove all mystery surrounding the subject by providing you with a definitive Gantt chart definition.
What is a Gantt chart?
A Gantt chart is a visual way of displaying a project timeline — and all of its tasks, dependencies, and assignees — across time.
They typically look something like this:
On the left-hand side of the bar chart, you’ll see all of the activities included in that project.
Often, such as in the above Gantt chart example, these activities will be split up into several project phases.
At the top of the chart, you’ll see a timeline, often divided into weeks or days, depending on your project’s scale and the desired view.
You’ll also see a number of colored bars — these are your activities.
The length of the bar denotes the amount of time given to that particular activity — with start and end dates shown in the top timeline bar — and the color of the bar allows you to color-code activities for easy identification when viewing the Gantt chart as a whole.
Arrows linking 2 or more activities together denote dependencies.
A dependency exists when one task cannot begin until another has been completed. For example, you might not start designing a website until the wireframe has been finished and approved.
Not all tasks are dependent on others, however, so in a Gantt chart, it’s not unusual to see tasks that overlap:
Gantt charts are favored by project managers who need to see the timeline of their entire project at a glance, in a visual format, with only the top-level details shown.
Gantt charts: a history
The Gantt chart dates as far back as 1896 when Karol Adamiecki created a project task roadmap diagram that he called the harmonogram.
The problem is that the harmonogram was initially only published in Polish and Russian, so didn’t get a lot of traction in English-speaking countries.
By the time he published his concept more widely, the Gantt chart had already been in use for a few decades.
Henry Gantt published the first Gantt diagram in 1901.
Of course, these first charts were hand-drawn, so each would have been a pretty simple Gantt chart, with little room for updating something like a task dependency without a major overhaul.
Fast forward a few decades, and we have powerful computers capable of building modern Gantt charts in just a few minutes — with the help of project management software, of course.
What is a Gantt chart used for?
There are quite a lot of uses for Gantt charts, for example:
- Planning a new website build
- Scheduling a construction project
- Organizing a company restructure
- Preparing to launch a new brand
- Planning for new hire onboarding
- Scheduling a cross-platform marketing campaign
Most often, they’re helpful when you need an overarching graphical representation of your project rather than as a tool for daily task management.
When the latter is the case, you’ll need a more comprehensive form of project management software, that allows both effective task management and multiple data views, including Gantt.
What are the benefits of using a Gantt chart?
Gantt charts enable project managers to:
- Determine how long a project should take, and plan resources and tasks accordingly
- Determine the critical path (the shortest possible amount of time to completion when focusing only on the absolutely vital tasks)
- Manage dependencies
- Obtain and distribute a high-level view of the project plan so that the entire team is on the same page
- Track and measure actual progress against the intended timeline
Overall, Gantt charts allow project managers to improve project performance, which is important when over 50% of organizations deem their projects unsuccessful.
Can you show me some Gantt chart examples?
Gantt charts can vary in complexity, flexibility, and ease of use.
For example, it’s entirely possible to create a simple Gantt chart using a spreadsheet creator like Microsoft Excel:
Of course, this isn’t the most elegant way to create a Gantt chart, as it doesn’t easily allow for a lot of changes as the project progresses.
To get the most out of your Gantt chart, and to be able to adjust the project schedule and update critical activities without having to dismantle the chart altogether, you’d be wise to employ a Gantt chart software platform.For example, monday.com — our fully-fledged Work OS — offers Gantt chart creation as one of its many features.
Here’s what a Gantt chart in monday.com might look like, broken up into several stages and allowing for task dependencies, milestones, and task ownership:
When should you use a Gantt chart?
Gantt charts are best used at the beginning of a project, while you’re planning out the individual tasks and activities, and who’s going to be responsible for them.
While you probably have some idea of this already, creating a Gantt chart allows you to get it all out on paper — read: screen — which can often help you to identify any dependencies or necessary resource allocations that you may have missed.
Dependencies account for up to 12% of project failures, so taking the time to develop a Gantt chart can significantly increase the likelihood of project success.
However, the Gantt chart is not the be-all and end-all of project management tools, and there are a few instances where using a Gantt chart might not be such a great idea.
When is using a Gantt chart a bad idea?
Gantt charts have some great uses, but they aren’t perfect.
For example, they can only assist with resource planning to a certain degree.
Let’s say we’re looking at this Gantt chart:
We can see that Task 3 in this chart is going to take 3 days.
But what we don’t know is what that really entails. Is it 3 full days? Or just a couple of hours each day? How many people are required across those 3 days? Maybe it’s just one person, maybe it’s an entire team?
A Gantt chart can’t exactly answer that for you.
The other challenge you’ll come across with Gantt charts is that they aren’t so great for collaboration or individual task management.
Sure, you can see who is assigned each task, and when they’re supposed to be working on them, but there’s not much room for team communication, status updates, time tracking, and project collaboration.
Here’s the thing though:
Your Gantt chart doesn’t need to sit alone as a separate aspect of your project planning and management.
With a capable Work OS like monday.com, your Gantt chart becomes a living, breathing document that fully reflects the state of all work completed, currently being worked on, and yet to be undertaken.
Let’s take a look:
The future of Gantt chart creation
Perhaps the biggest problem with the traditional Gantt is that it is static.
It’s disconnected from everything else going on in the project manager’s world and requires constant editing when a project’s timeline or scope changes.
A monday.com Gantt chart, on the other hand, isn’t just connected to your workflows by way of automation and integration; it’s completely driven by your project and task management boards.
For a full rundown of monday.com’s Gantt view, check out our guide here.
In the meantime, let’s take a quick look at some of the key features that monday.com Gantt charts offer.
Task owners
In monday.com, you can show or hide the owner of each task, depending on whether you’re looking for a simpler or a more in-depth view.
Color legend
Project managers often choose to color-code their Gantt chart tasks, but then they face a problem:
Nobody else knows what those colors mean, and sometimes they even lose track of all the different colors themselves.
A monday.com Gantt chart can help you here, by providing a simple Color Legend at the bottom of your chart:
Custom timeframes
In the Gantt view, users can choose the timeframe that the chart displays on, from years right down to days.
Today indication
You can also choose to display a vertical line that denotes today’s date, and gives you a quick visual cue as to project progress.
Update items directly
With a monday.com Gantt chart, you don’t need to switch back and forth between multiple tabs; you can simply click on a given task and edit any aspects in that same window.
Gantt charts increase project visibility
To quickly summarize on our Gantt chart definition:
A Gantt chart is a visual representation of a project timeline and its individual tasks, laid out on a timeline.
It allows project managers to visualize how long a project is going to take, determine task dependencies, and track real progress against the original plan.
They do have some limitations, most notably the inability to actively communicate and collaborate as a team, and to actually get work done in context.
Unless, of course, you’ve got yourself a monday.com Gantt chart.
Get started on one today with our high-level project plan template.
