Creating Gantt charts to plan and visualize your projects will help you track team progress and make schedule updates with a few clicks
Named after Henry Gantt, Gantt charts are now a staple
Gantt charts are interactive bar charts that help managers and teams completely outline and schedule projects on a timeline. They allow you to illustrate and visualize every step from day one to the end, connect tasks with dependent relationships, and track project progress to make sure you’ll meet your projected deadline.
With a properly set up Gantt chart, you’ll know immediately when your project is on its way to being overdue. Each individual task for the project is given a set start date and due date, so if something is not happening on time, managers know immediately. Gantt charts can also be used for production planning, employee scheduling,
Once you have your project overview, set the milestone date(s) for when your project or phase(s) should be complete. Mark the milestone(s) on your Gantt chart.
Break up your project or phase(s) into every line item that needs to be completed before you reach the deadline.
Arrange the line item tasks into the order they need to be completed.
Use the Gantt chart to set and rearrange realistic start and end dates for all line items. Make sure your milestone dates are also realistic.
Determine if there are any dependent relationships, e.g. Y cannot start until X has been completed. Link those task dependencies on your Gantt chart.
Decide who will be responsible for each task, and assign them accordingly.
Check in frequently to monitor project progress and make sure everything is running smoothly.
If you see a task is approaching or past deadline, but not completed, check in with the task owner (hopefully noted on your Gantt chart) for a status update.
If a task is past deadline, reschedule dependent tasks to see how the delay will affect your milestone date, and re-plan accordingly.
Allow for wiggle room in your schedule, in case tasks take longer than planned deadlines.
Wrike gives you a single space to provide detailed instructions on tasks, leave comments, ask questions, share files attached directly to relevant tasks, and instantly view your planned project on the Gantt chart. Your team will get work done faster when they’re together in one tool.
The Gantt chart feature is outrageously useful. I’ve worked through a lot of projects, you know, in my head... I actually started printing and cutting out the tasks on paper and laying them out in the order they belonged... and finally said, «There’s got to be a program for this.» Thank you for being that program.
Wrike’s Gantt chart maker allows you to create interactive Gantt charts to achieve precision project planning, update project schedules with a few clicks, and visualize your plans in real time. Once you schedule your project dates in the task view, the Gantt chart automatically populates your tasks, so you can see and adjust your project timeline instantly. Setting task dependencies and changing due dates is as easy and dragging and dropping tasks on the Gantt chart.
With Wrike, you can create a Gantt chart for your team from anywhere. Our web application can be accessed from any web browser, so there’s no need to worry if your team is split between PC and Mac, or Chrome and Safari. And there’s no software to download.
If you need to work on the go, download the free iOS app or Android app for your phone and tablet.
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View this infographic for more information on the history, standard features, and benefits of using Gantt charts for your project planning.
Read this article to learn more about how to use Gantt charts to improve your project planning and project management.
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