Gantt charts essentials: Components, tools, best practices and how to create one

Managers often require a visual tracking tool to cover as many aspects of a project as possible. The Gantt chart—a project management tool that visually displays the schedule, tasks, and relationships within a project—is widely adopted by many businesses and managers.

This article will guide you through the fundamental knowledge of Gantt charts, enabling you to create one today.

What is a Gantt chart?

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. It consists of two main components: a vertical axis representing tasks and a horizontal axis representing time. The simplicity of its layout makes it easy to grasp the details of individual tasks and the overall project at a glance. 

This simple yet precise and visual method has made the Gantt chart an invaluable tool for planning, scheduling, and managing project progress.

The origin of Gantt charts

The first version of the Gantt chart was created in the mid-1890s by Karol Adamiecki, a Polish engineer. Initially, this visual workflow chart was known as a "harmonogram."

Henry Gantt, an American engineer and management consultant, expanded on this idea about 15 years later. The enhanced Gantt chart introduced features such as representing time as horizontal bars and including milestones to denote important events or progress. This version is the one widely used in modern project management.

Initially, Gantt charts were manually created, which made adjustments cumbersome whenever project changes occurred. However, with the advent of computers and intelligent technology, Gantt charts can now be designed, updated, and shared quickly.

The basic structure of a Gantt chart

The basic structure of a Gantt chart includes the following components:

• Timeline: The horizontal axis represents the project timeline, divided into days, weeks, months, or quarters, depending on the project's scale.
• Task bar: The vertical axis lists the tasks within the project, with each task corresponding to a horizontal bar that indicates the expected time for completion.
• Start and end times: Each task on the Gantt chart has markers or labels indicating the start and end times, which can be easily determined by aligning the ends of the task bars with the timeline.
• Milestones: The Gantt chart may include critical events or milestones in the project, represented by markers or labels on the timeline.
• Task assignments: Information about the person responsible should be displayed near the corresponding task on the Gantt chart.
• Task dependencies: The Gantt chart can show the relationships between tasks in the project, using connecting lines or arrows, creating a logical sequence. Tasks may occur in parallel or sequentially.

Pros and cons of Gantt chart

Pros

Gantt charts excel in project planning, particularly for projects with straightforward, non-overlapping tasks. They provide a clear visual representation of tasks, timelines, and the overall duration needed for project completion.

Clear, Visual Representation

With their simple design of two main axes, Gantt charts allow for a quick understanding of essential project details, such as task assignments, start times, deadlines, and task dependencies. This makes them easy to read and understand for all stakeholders.

Effective time management

Gantt charts empower project managers to plan and manage time efficiently. By visually representing task durations in one comprehensive view, managers can estimate time requirements, set realistic deadlines, monitor progress, and establish task dependencies to ensure timely completion.

Promotes Accountability

The transparent display of task assignments and deadlines encourages accountability among team members. As each individual can see how their work affects others, it motivates them to meet deadlines, knowing that delays will impact the entire project.

Enhances Collaboration

In projects where multiple team members are working on interrelated tasks, Gantt charts provide a clear overview of coordination and progress. This helps teams stay aligned, ensuring tasks are completed on schedule and smoothly handed off to the next person.

Cons

Although the Gantt chart offers many important benefits in project management, it is important to know that it is not a perfect tool and has some disadvantages of its own.

Dependence on predefined structure

If a manager attempts to create a task breakdown structure while building the Gantt chart, they risk having to redo the entire project schedule if any tasks are missed, misestimated, or incorrectly calculated. This makes the chart highly dependent on accurate initial planning.

Limited to Small Projects

Gantt charts are highly effective for small projects but lose functionality as project complexity grows. As the number of tasks increases and timelines span multiple pages, it becomes difficult to maintain a clear overview on a single computer screen. Managing large Gantt charts can be visually overwhelming and requires frequent updates, increasing the chances of errors—especially in projects with hundreds of tasks.

Furthermore, Gantt charts struggle to represent complex project structures. For instance, when milestones involve interdependent tasks with multiple subtasks, the Gantt chart may fail to accurately depict these layers of complexity. This can lead to oversimplifying the project’s scope, potentially obscuring critical dependencies and risks. Therefore, project managers should combine Gantt charts with other management methods or tools to fully capture and control the complexities of larger, multifaceted projects.

Inadequate handling of project constraints

Gantt charts are primarily designed to focus on the timeline aspect of a project, which means they offer limited visibility into other critical project constraints, such as cost and scope. Additionally, when there are numerous intertwined tasks, it can be challenging to determine which tasks to prioritize.

Gantt chart best practices

To fully leverage the benefits of a Gantt chart and avoid its drawbacks, consider the following tips:

Accurate planning

Ensure sufficient time is spent on planning the Gantt chart accurately and in detail. This requires careful consideration of tasks, time requirements, and dependencies. Ensure the plan is realistic and feasible to avoid frequent revisions and loss of team confidence.

Team communication

Ensure the Gantt chart is shared and clearly understood by all team members involved in the project. They should know how the plan will be executed, their role in the project, and their current task progress.

Regular updates

Update the Gantt chart regularly to reflect any changes in project conditions or requirements, ensuring the information remains reliable and accurate.

Risk management

The Gantt chart cannot predict every potential issue during project execution, so pay attention to risk management and have contingency plans for unforeseen problems.

Use digital tools

Instead of relying solely on manual processes, optimize the creation and management of Gantt charts using specialized tools, such as project management software.

How to create a Gantt chart

Traditional Gantt charts were meticulously hand-drawn, which posed significant challenges whenever project changes required adjustments or redraws. However, with the advent of computers and software, creating, updating, and printing Gantt charts has become much more manageable.

Step 1: Identify essential tasks

The first step is to list all the tasks necessary to complete the project. Consider the project’s goals and what the team needs to accomplish them.

Once you have the list of tasks, determine the earliest start date and the estimated duration for each task.

Step 2: Establish relationships between tasks

One of the benefits of a Gantt chart is its ability to display the relationships between tasks. After identifying the functions and their respective timelines, determine which tasks have parallel or sequential relationships. The more parallel functions in a project, the shorter the overall completion time.

There are four main types of relationships between sequential tasks:

• Finish to Start (FS): A task cannot begin until the preceding task is finished.
• Start to Start (SS): A task cannot begin until the preceding task has started.
• Finish to Finish (FF): A task can only be finished once the preceding task is finished.
• Start to Finish (SF): A task can only be finished once the preceding task has started.

Step 3: Visualize the Gantt chart

With the necessary data, it’s time to visualize the Gantt chart. You can draw it manually on paper, use Excel, or use online tools—either specialized Gantt chart software or project management software that includes Gantt chart modules.

Step 4: Track progress

As your project progresses along the Gantt chart, it's crucial to update it regularly. For example, if task A needs to be completed before task B begins but is delayed, you'll need to adjust the schedule to ensure it doesn't impact the entire project.

Monitor and update your Gantt chart regularly with any project changes. This will help you promptly adjust the project timeline and accurately communicate these updates to your team.

What are the best tools to create Gantt chart?

When choosing a Gantt chart tool, you generally have three options: Excel, dedicated Gantt chart software, or project management software with a Gantt chart module. 

1. Excel

Excel is the most common tool due to its flexibility and user familiarity. Its main advantage lies in the ease of customization, allowing for a wide range of features on the toolbar. However, Excel is only suitable for creating Gantt charts for small and simple projects. As the project's complexity increases, Excel’s limitations become apparent.

Every project, whether simple or complex, requires a Gantt chart to be created manually in Excel. The steps above are just the basics; users need specialized skills and expertise to turn spreadsheet data into a visual project tracking tool.

Whenever there are changes during project execution, all information and progress must be updated manually in the original Excel file, which then must be communicated to all team members individually. These cumbersome processes reduce the flexibility of project management.

2. Gantt Chart software

There are many software options like Instagantt and TeamGantt that are made just for creating and managing Gantt charts. These tools are great for building charts for different types of projects.

However, these tools usually work best on their own platforms and are most helpful during the planning stage. When you need to do the actual work, track progress, or talk with your team, you often have to switch to another tool. This can be inconvenient and makes it harder to keep up with the project's progress.

3. Project management software

Project management software with a native Gantt view like Rework is a more feasible option than the previously mentioned tools, as these software solutions provide almost all the tools needed to manage a project from start to finish.

Users and managers can choose to display work in Gantt chart format or switch to other views such as Kanban boards, checklists, calendars, etc. Each display method has advantages and disadvantages but offers managers a comprehensive, multi-dimensional view of the project.

These work management software solutions allow users to create complex projects with multiple subtasks within each task. Updating the Gantt chart is also easy and quick.

Additionally, any changes—no matter how small, including task assignments and progress updates—are automatically communicated to relevant team members, keeping everyone informed. Some software even integrates internal chat tools.

These software solutions are generally cost-effective and provide user-friendly cloud-based interfaces for computers and mobile devices.

Conclusion

This article explores the Gantt chart, a long-standing and valuable project planning and management tool. It is particularly effective at outlining the sequence of tasks and their interdependencies, providing project managers with a bird's-eye view of the entire project timeline. As project management continues to evolve, the flexibility of Gantt charts will undoubtedly remain an essential component of effective project execution.