In project management, there are different tools to note and visualize different tasks, but also their progress over time. The Gantt chart is precisely created for this purpose and accompanies the simplest as well as the most complex projects in companies. So what exactly is a Gantt chart? What are its advantages and how to create it? Explanations!
What is a Gantt chart?
Le Gantt chart is a very useful organizational tool in the context of project management. It is named after its inventor, Henry Gantt. An engineer, he assisted Taylor in 1910 and set up this system to better manage the organization in the workshops. This is how this tool was born, which is still widely used today in many companies, regardless of the sector.
This diagram is represented as a list of activities, also including a unit of time. Its objective is therefore to allow the precise visualization of all the tasks to be carried out within the framework of a project, but also the deadlines for each. We can thus have a very precise vision of the different stages allowing a project to be carried out successfully, but also a more global vision of the progress of the latter. Most often, connections are also identifiable between the different activities and even more so if the next one cannot be started until the previous one has been completed.
Today, there are many tools available to create a Gantt chart, allowing all kinds of companies to adopt this system as part of effective project management.
What are the advantages of this tool?
If the Gantt chart continues to seduce since its creation at the beginning of the 20th century, it is because it is a tool that is still perfectly adapted to our modern uses. It is given various significant advantages:
- It adapts to everyone: since tasks and deadlines are common to all types of project management, it can be used in all kinds of projects, regardless of the sector of the company.
- It makes understanding the project easier: each step being detailed, all participants will be able to understand in a more general way how the project is constructed.
- It facilitates planning: by paying attention to the time allocated for each task, it is entirely possible to make a precise schedule that can be readjusted according to delays.
- It improves organization: nothing better than a well-detailed task list to distribute to the people concerned in order to create an organization that is as orderly as clockwork.
- It is scalable: nothing prevents you from changing your Gantt chart during the project based on the issues encountered at time T.
How to create your own diagram?
The Gantt chart has the advantage of being very easy to create. In fact, a simple sheet of paper would be enough. However, there are now templates to fill out directly or even tools entirely dedicated to creating this type of organizational tool. Intuitive, these tools allow you to create your own diagram, but also to develop it without having to start all over again. Sharing with the people concerned will also be easier.
