Project management: Gantt chart

You need to be well organised to carry out a project successfully. Different tools – such as the Gantt chart – may help you in this task.

Objective of the Gantt chart

The Gantt chart is useful to monitor project progress at the present moment and to prepare the progress report which has to be sent to the project funder (the European Commission for instance).

When project activities are not implemented on time the Gantt chart will help you in identifying problematic tasks and then reorganising the project.

Content of the Gantt chart

A spreadsheet software – such as Excel^© – is needed to create a Gantt chart. The first table includes a list of tasks to be carried out. These tasks are split into different Work Packages according to project activities. On the right side of the table, you add the start date of the task, its expected duration and its expected and effective end date. In the second table each month of project implementation is represented by one column. When a task is carried out during a specific month you may blacken the appropriate cell.  

Click to enlarge

The third part is the Gantt chart itself which is generated with the information you have entered in the first table.

Click to enlarge

For more information

Find out more on project management techniques in the guide Good Practice on Project Development and Management – Second Version that I published in April 2016.