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Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart is a popular type of bar chart, that aims to show the timing of tasks or activities as they occur over time. Although the Gantt chart did not initially indicate the relationships between activities this has become more common in current usage as both timing and interdependencies between tasks can be identified.

In project management, a gant chart can show when the project terminal elements start and finish, summary elements (shown) or terminal element dependencies (not shown). A terminal element is defined as the smallest task tracked as part of the project effort.

Since the initial introduction of gant charts, they have become an industry standard as a key project management tool for representing the phases, tasks and activities that are scheduled as part of a project Work Breakdown Structure or timeline of activities.

Historical Development

The initial format of the chart was developed by Henry L. Gantt (1861–1919) in 1910 (see “Work, Wages and Profit” by H. L. Gantt, published by The Engineering Magazine, NY, 1910).

Although now considered standard practice, the introduction of the technique was considered quite revolutionary at the time. In recognition of his contributions, the Henry Laurance Gantt medal is awarded for distinguished achievement in management and service to the community.

Henry Gantt created a great number of different charts and inspired many others. The Gantt chart that is popular today was described in 1942 as a layout chart by W. Clark.

The use of additional charting lines to represent the dependencies between tasks was a much later innovation and did not really become established until the late 1980′s.

Creating Gantt Charts with Software

Most modern project scheduling packages are able to produce a representation of tasks in a Gantt format. Other project management applications eschew the concept in favor of simpler communication tools (message boards, to-do lists, simple scheduling, etc.).

Alternative Charting Techniques

Other methods exist to represent the tasks within a project. Other than the Gantt chart, the Network Diagram is probably the most prevalent. However, it is used more to show the relationship between tasks rather than focusing on the timeline as does the Gantt chart.