gantt chart

Information about gantt chart

“Gantt” redirects here. For other uses, see Gantt (disambiguation).
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A Gantt chart showing three kinds of schedule dependencies (in red) and percent complete indications.
A Gantt chart is a popular type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the project. Some Gantt charts also show the dependency (i.e., precedence network) relationships between activities. Gantt charts can be used to show current schedule status using percent-complete shadings and a vertical "TODAY" line (also called "TIME NOW" or "DATA DATE"), as shown here.

Historical development

The first Gantt Chart was developed by Karol Adamiecki, who called it a Harmonogram. Because Adamiecki did not publish his chart until 1931, this famous chart bears Gantt's name. Henry Gantt (1861–1919) designed his chart in 1910. (See "Work, Wages and Profit" by H. L. Gantt, published by The Engineering Magazine, New York, 1910; republished as Work, wages, and profits, Hive Publishing Company, Easton, Pennsylvania, 1974, ISBN 0879600489).

In the 1980s, personal computers eased the creation and editing of elaborate Gantt charts. These desktop applications were intended mainly for project managers and project schedulers. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Gantt charts became a common feature of web-based applications, including collaborative groupware.

Although now considered a common charting technique, Gantt charts were considered quite revolutionary when they were introduced. In recognition of Henry Gantt's contributions, the Henry Laurence Gantt Medal is awarded for distinguished achievement in management and in community service.

Advantages and limitations

Gantt charts have become a common technique for representing the phases and activities of a project work breakdown structure (WBS), so they can be understood by a wide audience.

A common error made by those who equate Gantt chart design with project design is that they attempt to define the project work breakdown structure at the same time that they define schedule activities. This practice makes it very difficult to follow the 100% Rule. Instead the WBS should be fully defined to follow the 100% Rule, then the project schedule can be designed.

Although a Gantt chart is easily comprehended for small projects that fit on a single sheet or screen, they can become quite unwieldy for projects with more than about 30 activities. Larger Gantt charts may not be suitable for most computer displays. A related criticism is that Gantt charts communicate relatively little information per unit area of display. That is, projects are often considerably more complex than can be communicated effectively with a Gantt chart.

Gantt charts only represent part of the triple constraints of projects, because they focus primarily on schedule management. Moreover, Gantt charts do not represent the size of a project or the relative size of work elements, therefore the magnitude of a behind-schedule condition is easily miscommunicated. If two projects are the same number of days behind schedule, the larger project has a larger impact on resource utilization, yet the Gantt does not represent this difference.

Although project management software can show schedule dependencies as lines between activities, displaying a large number of dependencies may result in a cluttered or unreadable chart.

Because the horizontal bars of a Gantt chart have a fixed height, they can misrepresent the time-phased workload (resource requirements) of a project. In the example shown in this article, Activities E and G appear to be the same size, but in reality they may be orders of magnitude different. A related criticism is that all activities of a Gantt chart show planned workload as constant. In practice, many activities (especially summary elements) have front-loaded or back-loaded work plans, so a Gantt chart with percent-complete shading may actually miscommunicate the true schedule performance status.

See also

External links

Gantt has several meanings:
  • Harvey Gantt, American politician
  • Henry Gantt, American engineer and management theorist, famous for developing the
  • Gantt chart, a tool for projects scheduling

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bar chart, also known as a bar graph, is a chart with rectangular bars of lengths usually proportional to the magnitudes or frequencies of what they represent. Bar charts are used for comparing two or more values. The bars can be horizontally or vertically oriented.
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In project management, a schedule consists of a list of a project's terminal elements with intended start and finish dates.

A Gantt chart can provide a graphical representation of a project schedule.
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In project management, a terminal element is the lowest element (activity or deliverable) in a work breakdown structure(WBS); it is not further subdivided.

Terminal elements are the items that are estimated in terms of resource requirements, budget and duration, linked by
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project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a product or service[1].

Origin

The word project comes from the Latin word projectum from projicere, "to throw something forwards" which in turn comes from pro-
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In a project network, a dependency is a link amongst a project's terminal elements.

There are four kinds of dependencies with respect to ordering terminal elements (in order of decreasing frequency of use):
  1. Finish to start (FS)
  2. * A FS B =

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Henry Laurence Gantt
Born 1861

Died November 23, 1919

Citizenship United States
Field Scientific management
Known for Gantt chart

Henry Laurence Gantt, A.B., M.E.
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State of New York

Flag of New York Seal
Nickname(s): The Empire State
Motto(s): Excelsior!

Official language(s) None

Capital Albany
Largest city New York City

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Collaborative software is software designed to help people involved in a common task achieve their goals. Collaborative software is the basis for computer supported cooperative work.

Such software systems as email, calendaring, text chat, wiki belong in this category.
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The Henry Laurence Gantt Medal was established in 1929 by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for "distinguished achievement in management and service to the community.
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This article or section appears to contain a large number of buzzwords and may require cleanup.
Please help [ rewrite this article] to make it more concrete and meaningful, removing tautologies, obvious statements and excessive abstraction.
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This article or section appears to contain a large number of buzzwords and may require cleanup.
Please help [ rewrite this article] to make it more concrete and meaningful, removing tautologies, obvious statements and excessive abstraction.
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Henry Laurence Gantt
Born 1861

Died November 23, 1919

Citizenship United States
Field Scientific management
Known for Gantt chart

Henry Laurence Gantt, A.B., M.E.
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Karol Adamiecki (b. March 18, 1866 in Dąbrowa Górnicza - May 16, 1933 in Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish economist, engineer and management researcher. Professor of Politechnika Warszawska. Founder and first director (1925-1933) of Instytut Naukowej Organizacji in Warsaw.
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Program (or Project) Evaluation and Review Technique, commonly abbreviated PERT, is a model for project management designed to analyze and represent the tasks involved in completing a given project.
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Event Chain Diagrams are visualizations that show the relationships between events and tasks and how the events affect each other.

Event chain diagram are introduced as a part of Event chain methodology.
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Edward Rolf Tufte
Born: 1942
Kansas City, Missouri
Occupation: professor, statistician
Nationality: American

Edward Rolf Tufte (IPA /ˈtʌf.ti/) (born 1942 in Kansas City, Missouri, to Virginia and Edward E.
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