Project Planning Process – The Gantt Chart

Project Planning Process – The Gantt Chart (#7 in the Hut A Quick Guide to Project Management)
By Manjeet Singh

A Gantt chart is a very useful project management tool that provides you with an overview of your schedule (something that the network diagram did not).

Here is the Gantt chart for the build shed project:

A Typical Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart does not show the relationships between the activities of your project. However, a number of project management software packages allow you to show such relationships on a Gantt chart providing you with an overview of the schedule, and the critical path of your project.You have now learned how to flesh out the activities involved in a project, determine the sequence of the activities, and establish a schedule. You are now ready for the next step – determining the resources that you need to accomplish your project activities. Note that once you have determined the resources and their availability, you may need to review your project schedule (Gantt chart).

Next in the Hut A Quick Guide to Project Management:

Getting and Estimating Resource Requirements – People

Previously in the Hut A Quick Guide to Project Management:

Project Planning Process – Network Diagrams

Manjeet Singh has over 17 years of experience acquired in a wide variety of industries with a focus on project and program management at Software Makers and Global IT Services companies throughout the world. Manjeet has an Executive MBA from the HEC Management School, and is the author of the website www.projectminds.com that provides a free guide to project management, and offers other project management-related resources.