The Gantt Chart is your assistant in planning. What is the Gantt chart and how to compose it?

The Gantt Chart is one of the most popular tools for visualizing the calendar plan in project management.

What it is?

The Gantt chart is intended to illustrate the various stages of work in the sphere of small and medium business. Visually represents a simple set of strips consisting of two main axes: cases and time. Each time gap is assigned a specific task, which must be performed.

In the diagram, in addition to the main blocks, there may be a special additional column showing the percentage of work performed. Special milestones - milestones - are used to highlight two or more tasks and demonstrate the sequence of their execution.

Gantt chart is a kind of standard in the field of project management, because it is with his help that it becomes possible to show the structure of the implementation of all phases of the project visually.

What is the Gantt chart for?

Given that most people are visuals, the diagram gives the opportunity to solve one of the main tasks and show the staff what to work on, what resources to use in the process and at what speed to perform certain tasks. All information is submitted in a compressed form, without the use of confusing tables and a huge amount of text. At the same time, the essence is clear and clear to all, without exception, project participants.

Using the chart greatly simplifies the management of projects of small scales and makes it possible to always keep the activities of employees under control.

History of the appearance of the first graph

The first format of the diagram was developed and tested by Henry L. Gant in the early twentieth century. The scientist was hired to manage the construction of ships for use in the First World War. A special schedule allowed him to coordinate the work of several engineers, supervising the fulfillment of tasks in the given time. He started Gant directly by listing all the required tasks and planning them in accordance with available resources.

An important stage was the demonstration of the dependence of some tasks on others. In addition, Gant allocated for each person a period of time during which he had to complete a certain type of activity, indicated who and what task will be performed in view of the time allotted for the implementation of the project.

The construction of the Gantt chart takes place using a vertical axis representing different tasks, as well as a horizontal axis representing time.

Gantt chart in the modern world

This method of planning does not lose relevance today, because it allows you to provide a graphical display of the production plan, simplifies control over progress in the implementation of tasks. The Gantt chart has become such a powerful analytical tool that for almost 100 years has not undergone any changes. Only in the 90s of the last century, with the aim of more detailed description of the interrelationships, communication lines were introduced between different tasks:

• "Finish start" - action B can not begin before the end of action A;
• "Start-finish" - action B can not begin until action A starts;
• "Start-start" - action B will not start earlier than action A;
• "Finish-finish" - action B should not end before the action of A.

There are facts that the Gantt chart was used to construct such giant engineering structures as the Hoover Dam (Las Vegas, 1939) and the Eisenhower Highway System (which unites most of the major US cities).

Instruction: how to build a Gantt chart in 5 steps?

Next, we'll look at the rules for building a Gantt chart and try to create it yourself in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Step 1. Data collection

In order to build a graph, we need the following data:

• Coordinates of all data sets (where each column should begin);
• The name of each stage;
• Duration of each stage.

For convenience, we enter them immediately into the appropriate fields in the table. After we have entered all the required information, we can proceed to create the diagram itself.

Important: make sure that all data formats are specified correctly: in particular, it concerns dates.

Step 2. Formation of the layout

So, we know the purpose of planning and key data, on the basis of which we will build a schedule. Now in the window of the table processor we need to go to the section "Insert -> Diagram", and then click on the "Line" item. We need not ordinary, but with accumulation, since only in it is provided the second series of data, which in our case will be the main one.

Step 3. Erase all the excess

In order to do this, the program provides for special tools. On the diagram that appears on the screen, you need to move the mouse cursor over the blue bar, right-click on it and select "Format of data series" in the menu that appears. A window will appear in which we need to go to the "Fill" item and select "No fill". After that, the diagram will look like this:

Step 4. The finishing touches

Since by default all the data in our graph is arranged in the order from bottom to top, we will have to slightly modify it. To do this, we right-click on the axis categories (the one near which we have a list of tasks), go to the "Format axis" window. We immediately open the tab we need - "Axis parameters". Check the box next to "Reverse order categories". In fact, the Gantt chart is already ready, there are only a couple of useful trivia left.

Step 5. Formatting

So, we continue work on the schedule. As you can see, it looks like it is not very good, and now we will fix it with the help of the table processor itself:

1. Stretch the diagram to the desired size using the arrow in the upper right corner.
2. Select all the dates in the table, click on the selection area with the right mouse button and go to "Cell Format-> Number". This section presents the basic numerical formats with which we work. To prevent the inscriptions from sticking to each other, we recommend that you select a shorter version of the record. Then again, right click on the axis with the dates in the diagram, select "Axis Format -> Number" and tick the "Link to Source" checkbox.
3. Select the legend (the notation "Date" and "Duration" on the right) and press the Delete button on the keyboard.
4. Open the "Axis Format -> Options" and set the minimum and maximum values (we put on December 15, since it's Monday, and January 3). Here we can set the price of the main divisions (this is convenient in cases where, for example, the work on the project will last several weeks or months). In our case, it is more convenient to leave the default value (2.0).

A few more experiments with formatting - and that's what beauty we get as a result. Before you - a ready-made diagram of Gantt. Of course, the example we gave is very simple - but this is enough to understand the essence of this method of planning and demonstrating the process of accomplishing certain tasks.

Other programs for creating graphics

Of course, there are many other, more advanced programs that make it easier to manage projects. A Gantt chart of any complexity can be easily built using applications such as:

• SchedRoll;
• Gantt Designer;
• Mindjet JCVGantt Pro;
• Microsoft Project and many others.

In addition, there are a number of online services that give their users the opportunity not only to plan their affairs, but also to receive regular reports, notifications about the current status of tasks by e-mail. However, one can not deny the fact that the confidentiality of data stored on the network is at risk, and even stationary software installed directly on the user's computer, as a rule, has much more functionality and reliability in operation.

The advantages and disadvantages of the method

Finally, it is worthwhile to consider in detail the main advantages and disadvantages of the described method of planning and management.

The main advantage, undoubtedly, is the graphic presentation of the material. As a rule, it is convenient for businessmen to work with Gantt charts - they like the opportunity to clearly identify and designate the stages of work on the project. Due to the presentation of tasks in the form of different color bands, all team members can literally define their tasks at first sight.

It should also be noted that the Gantt charts are an excellent presentation tool that can demonstrate the key priorities of the project. That is, once the decision makers allocate and allocate each of the available resources, the team immediately learns about this and follows further instructions. This feature of the Gantt chart is extremely useful for top managers - using it, it is much easier to prepare a detailed, capacious report on the status of implementation of various projects.

Nevertheless, like any other planning method, the Gantt chart has its drawbacks. One of them is the dependence of tasks. Quite often during the presentation of projects , managers have a need to show which of the above tasks are related to each other. But, unfortunately, the chart format itself does not allow this. In order to circumvent this limitation, managers resort to various tricks: for example, add special vertical lines in the chart that demonstrate the key dependencies. However, this is only a temporary solution, which is not capable of transmitting information in full.

Another drawback of the Gantt charts is their inflexibility. Nowadays projects are not static - they constantly undergo some changes, shifts, which can not be taken into account in the diagram. Before embarking on the construction of the schedule, the managers have to calculate everything to the smallest detail, because with the slightest change in the score, the whole diagram needs to be redrawn from scratch. And this is not to mention the fact that the opportunity to illustrate several different ways of planning at one time is also missing.

Regardless of why you need a Gantt chart, the program (even the most "advanced" one) will not be able to display the significance and resource-consuming nature of these or other works, their essence. Therefore, for very large-scale projects it is used extremely rarely.

Nevertheless, it is impossible to deny that in the practice of project management this method is extremely common - for more than a century of its use, people have had the opportunity to verify its efficiency and high efficiency.