Instead, turning that glut of information into a more appealing visual can help bring clarity to those tasks, which can boost coordination, decision making, workflow and more by providing a color-coded, visual timeline from beginning to the end. Plus, they don’t allow for features like dependencies or dynamic scheduling. Trying to navigate through and make changes to an excessively large spreadsheet may be overwhelming, even downright scary to you and your project stakeholders. Let’s take a look at a couple of scenarios in which a Gantt chart can make all the difference: Scenario: When a spreadsheet is not enough, or just too much A recent survey of project managers found that 52 percent of the projects completed in the past 12 months experienced scope creep, a significant increase from the 43 percent reported five years ago.Īlmost all projects can benefit from the use of Gantt charts since they can simplify your project management tasks, keep it all in scope and help you achieve success. One of the biggest hindrances to any project is scope creep, which is the inability to control or adjust for a project’s time, cost and resources. That’s 99 dollars for every thousand invested. That’s an important thing to keep in mind when you consider that approximately 9.9 percent of every dollar is wasted due to poor project performance. In fact, Gantt charts are consistently among the top five most used and requested features in project management software. Thanks to user-friendly project management software, creating a Gantt chart has never been simpler, even for a novice. To create an effective Gantt chart, it will have to contain important information, such as: It’s a linear plan, unlike Agile, where needs and requirements are fluctuating and added into the project after individual sprints and ongoing feedback. In other words, each project phase must complete before the next step can begin, and phases are never repeated. Gantt charts are strongly associated with waterfall-type project management. What is a Gantt chart exactly?Ī Gantt chart is a chronological bar chart, an easy-to-digest timeline that transforms your project details into a clear visual representation. Construction projects, destination weddings, content creation, new websites and just about any project with a beginning and an end can likely benefit from a Gantt chart. For more than a century, the Gantt chart has played a significant role in pulling off successful projects and guiding them from launch to completion.

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