what is a gantt chart 
a gantt chart is a commonly used graphical depiction of a project schedule it s a type of bar chart showing the start and finish dates of a project s elements such as resources planning and dependencies henry gantt 1861 1919 an american mechanical engineer designed the gantt chart 1understanding a gantt chartthe gantt chart is the most widely used chart in project management these charts are useful in planning a project and defining the sequence of tasks that require completion in most instances the chart is displayed as a horizontal bar chart horizontal bars of different lengths represent the project timeline which can include task sequences duration and the start and end dates for each task the horizontal bar also shows how much of a task requires completion the length of the bar is proportional to the time necessary for a task s completion the project tasks are represented on the vertical axis a gantt chart helps in scheduling managing and monitoring specific tasks and resources in a project the chart shows the project timeline which includes scheduled and completed work over a period of time the gantt chart aids project managers in communicating project status and completion rate of specific tasks within a project and helps ensure the project remains on track by convention it is a standard tool that makes communication unified among the engineering and project management communities benefits of a gantt chartthe gantt chart identifies tasks that may be executed in parallel and those that can t be started or finished until others are complete it can help detect potential bottlenecks and identify tasks that may have been excluded from the project timeline the chart depicts things like task slack time or additional time for completion of a task that shouldn t delay the project noncritical activities that may be delayed and critical activities that must be executed on time gantt charts can be used in managing projects of all sizes and types these may include building infrastructures like dams bridges and highways they may also include software development and other technologies project management tools such as microsoft visio project sharepoint and excel or specialized software such as gantto or matchware can help in designing gantt charts sabrina jiang investopediaexample of a gantt chartcompany a is taking on a project to install new software on the servers of a large investment bank company a decides to create a gantt chart to help manage the project and its different components the project s tasks that require completion include conducting research selecting a software product testing the software and installing it these tasks appear as vertical lines on the gantt chart a milestone of the project is selecting the software the project s duration is 40 days as agreed upon between company a and the investment bank each task takes 10 days to complete and each task is dependent on the previous task a critical activity is testing the software in the development and test environments the task start and end dates duration and milestones appear as horizontal bars on the gantt chart the percentage of work completed for each task is also displayed on the horizontal bars using the gantt chart will help company a map out the tasks along a timeline to reach full completion in 40 days 