Gantt Chart

Gantt Chart: Definition

The Gantt chart (named after Henry Gantt) displays the project schedule. It visualizes project activities' start and finish dates, dependencies, the critical path, and sometimes even milestones.

How to Use a Gantt Chart

In a Gantt chart, all work steps within a project are displayed as horizontal bars along a time axis. Thus, all activities' duration, overlaps, and dependencies are visible at a glance. Gantt scheduling is one of the most common methods in project management.

• The horizontal bars display the project timeline with activities and their start and end dates, duration, and task sequences.
• The connecting lines represent the critical path of the Gantt chart.
• The horizontal time axis indicates the project duration. It can be divided into days, weeks, or months. These time units correspond to the structuring of the columns.

The Gantt Chart in Project Management

The following figure illustrates an example of a Gantt chart in project management software:

Gantt Chart: Advantages in Project Management

• Can be used to manage all sizes of projects
• Visualizes the activity timeline for all stakeholders
• Uncovers the critical path and detects time delays or bottlenecks
• Identifies task dependencies