Benefits of a Gantt

The Gantt is an essential management to for the successful and profitable implementation of the project. Consequently, one of your objectives is to help your team members become comfortable using it. Without the Gantt, we run the risk of not being able to see, monitor, and track useful information that may otherwise be hidden, ambiguous, and difficult to find.

As project managers we spend a lot of time preparing and updating the Gantt chart. It is a critical project planning and implantation tool. Its benefits are numerous--ranging from showing task order, identifying links among tasks and between schedules, identifying accountable resources, to monitoring project completion and visually and quantifiably showing work progress status. A Gantt allows the user the user to see what should be achieved at a point in time so that remedial action can be taken to bring the project back on course. And yet, it is not uncommon for the project manager to be the "only one" who really uses the Gantt chart to monitor progress and anticipate problems. There is often resistance among team members and other stakeholders to use a Gantt chart, but this resistance is often due to the fact that the Gantt can be difficult and overwhelming to read, interpret, and therefore use. The difficultly is not inherent in the Gantt per se, but it can "become" difficult depending on how much information (which view) the project manager selects to include and show on the Gantt. Below are some tips for keeping the Gantt chart less complex so team members are more inclined to use it as the planning, monitoring, troubleshooting, and reporting tool that it is meant to be.

Keep It Simple

Below are some tips for keeping the Gantt simple to read so you can help your team members become comfortable and confident in use this versatile tracking tool.

1. Model the behavior you seek. As the project manager, you must "demonstrate" the user friendly usability of the Gantt. Use and distribute copies in team meetings and refer to it as often as possible.

2. Break the Gantt into manageable segments. For large projects, split tasks into subtasks with Gantt charts to maintain simplicity.

3. Create monthly charts. Break down information by month and prepare sub graphs. For example, create a view for the month of August only during a status meeting.

4. Use color. Color code data as a way of identifying and distinguishing data from month to month, or department by department. For example, if all R&D tasks are in blue and all production tasks are in pink it may be easier to identify departmental responsibility.

5. Keep the Gantt concise. Don't get caught up in trivial sub-steps. For those tasks that need to be analyzed in greater detail, create a second Gantt and link it to the main chart. Depending on the software you are using, you can do this by selecting the object you wish to link from and choose the hyperlink function (usually found in the tools menu). Generally, once the object has been linked a symbol such as a plus sign will indicate the linkage.

6. Use the Gantt as a communication / status tool. Give copies of the Gantt to team members and review their specific roles and responsibilities and/ or milestones. Initially, you may choose to do this one on one so you can privately help individuals learn how to read the chart.

7. Keep the Gantt updated. Let's face it, if the Gantt is not easy to ready, people will not use it. If the Gantt is not updated, please will not use it. The Gantt must be useful, so keep it as current and accurate as you possibly can.

8. "Projectize" the Gantt. Have a little fun. Select a team symbol or logo and use cut and paste it on the Gantt. Ask the team to select something that they can identify with or something that makes laugh.