GanttCharts

A Gantt chart is a bar chart used in project management to illustrate a project schedule. Tasks are listed along the vertical axis and time along the horizontal axis. Each task is represented by a horizontal bar spanning its start and finish dates, conveying duration and timing. Milestones and deadlines may be highlighted.

The chart is named after Henry Gantt, who popularized this form of planning in the 1910s. It has since become a standard tool in industries such as construction, software development, and manufacturing, and is supported by many software packages.

Common features include task relationships (dependencies), progress indicators, and baselines. Dependencies show the sequence of work, while progress shading indicates completion. Some charts also display resource assignments, critical-path highlighting, and lag or lead times between tasks.

Uses: planning, scheduling, and monitoring; facilitating communication with stakeholders; enabling what-if analyses by adjusting start dates or durations. Gantt charts are often used alongside other planning tools like work breakdown structures and critical path method analyses.

Variants and formats: simple horizontal bars, stacked bars for parallel activities, grouped or swimlane layouts, and chart overlays for baseline or forecast schedules. Advances in software allow automatic updating and online collaboration across teams.

Limitations: can become cluttered for large projects, especially with many dependencies; may oversimplify uncertain tasks; updating charts requires data integrity; not ideal for highly dynamic or non-linear projects unless kept current.