Question

discuss how using a Gantt chart in a project charter can be an effective method in project management. Please provide a case study to demonstrate your point. OR, this can be based on experience. If you are basing this on experience, you will need to be able to cite the project and share its details.

Answer 1

Gantt charts are useful for planning and scheduling projects. They help you assess how long a project should take, determine the resources needed, and plan the order in which you'll complete tasks. They're also helpful for managing the dependencies between tasks.

Gantt charts are useful for monitoring a project's progress once it's underway, too. You can immediately see what should have been achieved by a certain date and, if the project is behind schedule, you can take action to bring it back on course.

“A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule and shows the dependency relationships between activities and current schedule status.”

In simpler words, Gantt charts are a visual view of tasks displayed against time. They represent critical information such as who is assigned to what, duration of tasks, and overlapping activities in a project. All in all, Gantt charts are the perfect allies for planning, scheduling, and managing a project.

Gantt charts are useful because they are simple to create, use and keep track of. A Gantt Chart, in its simplest form, is a timeline that illustrates how the project will progress during the project management process.

This timeline is proven quite useful for planning and scheduling projects. It helps project managers and project teams to assess how long a project should take, determine the resources needed, understand the dependencies between tasks, and plan the order in which each task will be completed if the whole project is to deliver on time.

As the project moves forward, a Gantt chart adjusts simultaneously, displaying an up-to-date project schedule to keep everyone (teams, clients, and stakeholders) informed of the progress. In addition to this, gantt charts replace meetings and enhance other status updates. They make it easy for teams to understand task progress and talk about the problems they may encounter.

In all, using a Gantt chart or a Gantt chart tool is useful during project management because it allows you to picture your project against the time frame it needs to be done in. It brings timelines, tasks, milestones and all the other crucial project details in one place so that you and keep your project moving.

History and evolution of Gantt charts

Gantt charts have an interesting history that needs to be shared. The origin of the tool dates back to the late 1800s when a Polish engineer Karol Adamiecki invented a diagram called harmonograph. The major reason behind inventing this diagram was to improve the way production schedules were displayed during that point of time. The only problem was that all findings and other critical information were published in Polish and Russian only.

Meanwhile, Henry Laurence Gantt, a management consultant and an engineer, was also working on the similar concept around 1910. He designed a chart to help manufacturing managers to easily visualize their work schedule. With time, it underwent some changes and evolved into Gantt charts. Therefore Henry Gantt is considered the inventor of Gantt Chart.

Top 11 benefits that Gantt charts offer:

1. Know what’s going on in your projects

The biggest advantage of using free online Gantt charts in project management is that you get to see everything related to project at a single place. It acts as a great visualization and prioritization tool as it provides the total overview of the project and tells you about the critical information such as members involved in each step, the order of tasks, duration, start-to-end dates, task dependencies and progress made in them. Hence, online Gantt charts software are helpful in equipping project managers with the information they need to oversee while managing projects.

2. Improved communication and team cohesion

Communication is an integral part of a project that can make or break it. In fact, 86% of employees feel lack of communication as the biggest reason for workplace failures. On the other hand, Gantt charts are known to provide crystal clear communication. Project managers can use these charts to know who is working on what and give inputs on certain tasks and pass relevant information to them. This helps him to communicate better with team members and also improves their relationship as a team. Most importantly, it eliminates the need for having a separate tool for tracking and communication purposes.

3. Avoid resource overload

Too many problems arise when resources are stretched over too many tasks and processes. Gantt charts allow you to use your resources effectively as you get to see a project’s timeline where you can easily see how and where resources are being utilized. Within Gantt charts, you can also delegate tasks and align resources without burdening them with too much work. This way you can effectively manage resources and when resources are properly managed, projects are more likely to be completed within budget and deadlines.

4. Measure the progress of projects

Once you schedule your project in a Gantt chart software you can check the progress of the projects in it. The feature to measure a project’s progress enables you to make changes in your strategy if it is lagging behind its schedule. As project members can update the completed percent of each task, everyone stays on the same page. This information is quite useful to determine if the project is headed in the right direction or not.

5. See overlapping activities and task dependencies

At times, you cannot start a certain task unless another task which is dependent on the former is completed. Such task dependencies can make things difficult to be managed especially in case of complex projects that have too many tasks. As you get to see an overview of projects in a Gantt chart software, you can easily see which tasks are dependent on each other and schedule them in a way that they don’t impact the overall progress in any way and team members share equal responsibility.

6. Experience more clarity

It’s not a good feeling when you get stuck in a project and you don’t know where things are going. Although it’s quite common to get stuck while working on a project, however, Gantt charts let you see things with a lot more clarity with just a click. As you can instantly see the progress of tasks, it helps you and others working on a project to develop a better understanding of how things are unfolding. More clarity means better understanding which further leads to successful completion of a project.

7. Practice better time management

Many project managers pitch scheduling as one of the biggest benefits of Gantt charts in project management. As time plays an important role in the life of a project, therefore a Gantt chart software helps project members to understand the severity of time delays while managing projects. It’s easy to get carried away and work mindlessly on tasks but when you have a unified view of the overall progress, you can easily allocate time to each and every task and do what really needs to be done.

8. Work with remote team members and motivate them

According to a recent study, almost 75% of American employees would prefer to quit their jobs and change it for a remote position. Remote work is quite popular these days. It’s one of the trends that are expected to dominate the world of project management in the coming years. However, working with a remote team has its own challenges. When you manage a project with a remote team, you have way more difficulties coordinating and keeping everyone in the loop. A Gantt chart, being an effective solution for modern teams, makes it easier for everyone to stay on the same page while working together. Gantt chart is certainly one of the best ways to work with remote teams and keep them motivated. It allows you to visualize what’s already done, what’s in progress, and what lies ahead, keeping everyone shoulder to shoulder during the project development regardless of the country or time zone they’re in

9. Create a sense of accountability

Using Gantt charts during project management allows both project managers and teams to track team progress, highlighting big wins (like a task completed on time and a milestone achieved ahead of the schedule), as well as major failures. This functionality of the Gantt chart helps to create a sense of accountability in the workplace. It gives both managers and team members a fair opportunity to leverage this solution to highlight how frequently they exceed expectations and get recognition in the workplace.

10. Boost flexibility

Change is a crucial part of the project management process. Even if your project plan appears to be foolproof, you and your team need to be prepared for the possibility that you might have to adjust your expectations as per the changing situations. Having a user-friendly Gantt chart tool can help you relieve yourself from potential headaches in such conditions. You can use a Gantt chart to help your team keep moving towards reaching the desired goal and milestones, while still being flexible in how to get there.

11. Promotes transparency

Transparency in the workplace promotes trust and teamwork amongst your team. Being aware of each other’s responsibilities in a project is an important part of that process. A Gantt chart certainly helpful in this case. It shows the details of each team member’s tasks and milestones in one place so that everyone is aware of each other’s workload and help those who may be struggling to fulfill their own work. This kind of transparency in the work process further boosts teamwork, honesty, and humility within the team.

To draw up a Gantt chart, it must follow these steps: Step 1 - List all activities in the plan. For each task, show the earliest start date, estimated length of time it will take, and whether it is parallel or sequential. If tasks are sequential, show which stages they depend on. Step 2 - Head up graph paper with the days or weeks through to task completion. Step 3 - Plot the tasks onto the graph paper. Next draw up a rough draft of the Gantt Chart. Plot each task on the graph paper, showing it starting on the earliest possible date. Draw it as a bar, with the length of the bar being the length of the task. Above the task bars, mark the time taken to complete them. Step 4 - Schedule activities. Now take the draft Gantt Chart, and use it to schedule actions. Schedule them in such a way that sequential actions are carried out in the required sequence. Ensure that dependent activities do not start until the activities they depend on have been completed. While scheduling, ensure that you make best use of the resources you have available, and do not over-commit resource. Step 5 - Presenting the analysis. The final stage in this process is to prepare a final version of the Gantt Chart. This should combine the draft analysis (see above) with your scheduling and analysis of resources. This chart will show when you anticipate that jobs should start and finish.

To draw up a Gantt chart, it must follow these steps: Step 1 - List all activities in the plan. For each task, show the earliest start date, estimated length of time it will take, and whether it is parallel or sequential. If tasks are sequential, show which stages they depend on.

Step 2 - Head up graph paper with the days or weeks through to task completion.

Step 3 - Plot the tasks onto the graph paper. Next draw up a rough draft of the Gantt Chart. Plot each task on the graph paper, showing it starting on the earliest possible date. Draw it as a bar, with the length of the bar being the length of the task. Above the task bars, mark the time taken to complete them.

Step 4 - Schedule activities. Now take the draft Gantt Chart, and use it to schedule actions. Schedule them in such a way that sequential actions are carried out in the required sequence. Ensure that dependent activities do not start until the activities they depend on have been completed. While scheduling, ensure that you make best use of the resources you have available, and do not over-commit resource.

Step 5 - Presenting the analysis. The final stage in this process is to prepare a final version of the Gantt Chart. This should combine the draft analysis (see above) with your scheduling and analysis of resources. This chart will show when you anticipate that jobs should start and finish.

Gantt chart for a hospital construction project.

A	Select administrative and medical staff.		12 weeks	Predecessor -
B	Select site and do site survey.		9 weeks	-
C	Select equipment		10 weeks	A
D	Prepare final construction plans and layout.		10 weeks	B
E	Bring utilities to the site.		24 weeks	B
F	Interview applicants and fill positions in nursing support staff, maintenance, and security.		10 weeks	A
G	Purchase and take delivery of equipment.		35 weeks	C
H	Construct the hospital.		40 weeks	D
I	Develop an information system.		15 weeks	A
J	Install the equipment.		4 weeks	E,G,H
K	Train nurses and support staff		9 weeks	F,I,J