This way, teams don’t just know who’s responsible for what, but also how their work impacts others or the larger goal. That's why it's so important to visualize all of your work as a sequence of tasks with assignees and details about how long each initiative will take. Larger marketing campaigns require a lot of team collaboration and coordination-and it’s easy to lose track of all the moving pieces. Keep track of project progress: Track progress and milestones, so you can quickly adjust your project plan if needed. Visualizing work in a timeline helps project managers automate task dependencies, which ensures that the next phase or task doesn’t start until the previous one has finished. Monitor task dependencies: Project delays happen. Gantt charts can help project managers when scheduling projects by allowing them to easily visualize a project and break it down into smaller tasks. While you can use a timeline view for a variety of projects and programs, it’s helpful to understand what these charts are commonly used for and why:īuild and manage complex projects: The bigger the project, the more tasks there are to manage. While every chart will look different, this example will help you grasp the fundamentals of task sequencing and time management critical for any successful project. Task management: Tasks such as "Measure performance against goals" and "Assign action items" suggest a cycle of continuous evaluation and task distribution.įinalizing and reporting: Activities that help team members and stakeholders recognize the steps needed as the project culminates to a conclusion include "Prepare presentation" and "Present to leadership." While the final phases of the project are represented by tasks like "Communicate results" and "Complete project," which concentrate on project wrap-up and outcome communication. While the "Kick off project" action establishes a key milestone and planning deadline. Planning phase and project launch: Tasks like "Map out dependencies" are scheduled alongside "Define project goals," due by December 15 to indicate tasks that can occur simultaneously. Initial steps: The project starts with the "Identify key stakeholders" activity, which lays the groundwork for all other tasks that follow.
Studying this example of a Gantt chart is helpful for understanding how to map out a project lifecycle effectively. Later, project managers used pieces of paper or blocks to represent the task bars, so they could move them around as needed. Originally, these charts were drawn on paper, which meant that whenever the schedule changed, the charts had to be redrawn. These two systems have since been merged to create what we know today as the modern-day Gantt chart.Īfter tracking factory employees’ tasks, these charts became a popular way to track project schedules. In 1910, American mechanical engineer Henry Gantt independently popularized a similar chart in the United States, which he devised in order to represent how long factory workers spent on a given task. Sh, which made them difficult to access in English-speaking countries.
Adamiecki published his findings in Russian and Poli Polish engineer Karol Adamiecki created the first iteration of a Gantt chart in 1896, which he called the harmonogram. Create a Gantt chart template History of the Gantt chart With a dynamic timeline, team members have at-a-glance insight into what they’re responsible for and how their work impacts the project as a whole. Most Gantt charts also offer additional context about how project tasks connect to each other, who they’re assigned to, and what important deadlines and milestones are coming up. Gantt charts typically include the following components: When you zoom out to look at the full picture, these charts give project managers and project teams an overview of what work needs to get done, who’s doing it, and when. This gives your team a visual overview of project information like your project schedule, upcoming milestones, and overall project timeline.Įach horizontal bar within the chart represents a task, and the length of each bar represents the amount of time that step or task will take. What is a Gantt chart?Ī Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart used to illustrate the timeline of a project and its tasks. In our guide, you’ll get a clear breakdown of what Gantt charts are, when to use them, tips for creating one, and more. While these charts can get quite complex, the basics aren’t hard to nail. The problem is, you’re not quite sure what that is, how it helps with project management, or how to make one.
Maybe you’ve heard the term Gantt chart used around the workplace or in a project kickoff meeting. Find out how this type of chart can help you map tasks and keep deliverables on track. A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart used to illustrate a project’s schedule and related tasks or events during the project lifecycle.