What is a Gantt Chart?

Designed as a product-control tool in 1917 by Henry Gantt, the Gantt chart is a graphical representation of the schedules of various elements of a project, such as the beginning, the end, resources, and dependencies. 

It is popular as a project management tool for planning projects and a series of related tasks. Usually, the chart comprises horizontal bar graphs representing different tasks and project tasks represented with the vertical axis. For the various project tasks, the horizontal bars are arranged in sequence and dependencies. The bar length depicts the given completion time along with the commencement and end date. It could also include other details like dependencies and task sequence.

How to Use a Gantt Chart 

A Gantt chart isn't just useful for scheduling and tracking the various project tasks and resources; it consists of the start and end date of each designated tasks scheduled to be completed over the projects duration. The charts bars can either be parallel, representing tasks to be done or in sequence indicating interdependence. 

Commonly relied on by project managers to track plant and present a project, it helps ensure that the project stays on track. The chart also aids in uncovering project and task bottlenecks, so it is excluded from the project timeline if necessary. It can also aid in evaluating the effect of delays on the project and any non-critical activity that may demand urgent execution. An example is a software designing and installation project expected to be completed in 40 days. 

A project like that is split into parts which could include; collecting user requirements, designing the software itself, testing it, and installing it. All of those are milestones, and each appears in the vertical axis of the Gantt chart. Now, supposing each task takes about three days to complete and each is dependent on the previous task, defining both the start and end date will be possible. These details will be depicted as horizontal bars with the start and end date of every milestone. The percentage completion of the milestones is indicated on the monitoring chart as the project continues.

When to use a Gantt Chart

Gantt chart is a valuable project management tool for all kinds of projects such as construction, software development, bridge building, and other products and services. Also, there are other project management tools you can design the Gantt chart with and such as Microsofts SharePoint, Visio, and Excel.