Gantt Chart in Project Management (CPMA)

Key Takeaways

In this video, we are going to talk about Gant chart. Gant chart is a visual representation of a project schedule that displays a graphical illustration of a project's planned duration, start and finish dates for each task, and dependencies between tasks. A Gant chart is like a visual road map that helps the project team see what needs to be done, when, and how tasks relate to each other. It is also a great tool to visually track actual project progress during implementation. A horizontal bar on the Gant chart represents each task or activity in a project. The length of the bar corresponds to the duration of the task. The position of the bar on the timeline indicates the start and end dates. The horizontal axis of the chart represents time, typically displayed in days, weeks, or months. The Gant chart shows task dependencies by showing the relationships between different tasks. Moreover, as the project progresses, the Gant chart can be updated to reflect the actual start and end dates of tasks. Two different horizontal bars can present the planned and actual progress of each task. This helps to track the project's progress against the planned schedule easily. Here the figure shows a simple Gant chart illustrating some of the activities involved in a network server installation project. Each of the nine tasks is represented by a horizontal bar. The project was planned to be completed in 16 weeks. The chart shows the actual status or progress of the project after week 10. Some tasks have two horizontal bars while other tasks have only one horizontal bar. This is because some planned tasks have already started by the end of week 10. For example, task one has two horizontal bars. According to the first bar, the planned duration for task one was 2 weeks. Also, in reality, the actual duration of task one was 2 weeks as well. That is why the length of both horizontal bars is exactly the same. Similarly, task two, task three and task 5 have also progressed well. They were completed on time as per planned schedule. However, at the end of week 10, the progress of task 4, task six and task 9 is behind the planned schedule. Task 4 was supposed to be completed by week 8, but it was completed on week 9. Task six was supposed to start at week 9, but it had a delayed start that is week 10. Finally, at the end of week 10, task 9 is running behind schedule. The progress of task 9 stalled after week six. Unless the project team solves the delayed progress of task 9, there is a risk the whole project may get delayed. That is how comparing planned and actual progress in a Gant chart helps the project team identify delays or deviations and take corrective actions as needed to complete a project on time.