Gantt chart: what is it and how to build it

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We explain what a Gantt chart is, what it is used for, and how to build a Gantt chart in Excel and Google Sheets.

What is a Gantt chart and why is it needed?
The Gantt chart is a tool for planning any work, whether it is one person's tasks that need to be done in a day, or a large long-term project of some company with many participants: customers and performers.

In everyday life, we can easily do without plotting our taiwanese phone numbers tasks, keeping them in our heads or writing them down in a notebook. But if there are many tasks that are performed by different specialists, then a Gantt chart built for planning this project will make everyone's work easier.


This is an example of a Gantt chart in Excel, created manually, to plan a simple project with a small number of tasks.

The horizontal axis is the time axis. It indicates the deadlines for the entire project. The vertical axis indicates the tasks and, if necessary, the performers. At the intersection of the axes, time segments are marked, indicating the deadline for the execution of a specific task.

An important component of the chart are the "milestones", which mark an important moment in the execution of the project. Milestones appear if several tasks in the Gantt chart have common time boundaries.

The Gantt chart helps project participants navigate the tasks that each of them must complete, it clearly shows the deadlines set for performers and the sequence of task completion.

Gantt chart for project planning
The Gantt chart for project planning is used in various fields: digital, design, banking, marketing - wherever there are long-term projects.

Even renovating an apartment, when you need to hire different specialists in a certain sequence, will become easier if you plan all the tasks and draw up this plan in the form of a Gantt chart.

The Gantt chart in project planning brings all tasks and subtasks into one schedule and distributes the execution of these tasks over time. It is useful to use the Gantt method to:

understand which tasks can be performed simultaneously and which sequentially;
control the execution of tasks;
to help both performers and supervisors navigate the deadlines;
see the sequence of tasks;
shift deadlines if something goes wrong or additional tasks are added;
reduce the risk of failure to complete a task if the contractor responsible for it changes (there was one contractor, but for some reason he was replaced by another when the project had already begun to be developed).
The Gantt chart is a convenient method of control. The project manager always knows exactly at what stage the work is, who is currently performing the tasks and when the next one will come.

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Types of Gantt Chart
There are three project planning models where a schedule built using the Gantt method is most useful.

1. Cascade.
This model is also called the English word Waterfall. And indeed, it looks like a waterfall: tasks follow one another exactly, one starts when the other finishes. In the Gantt chart, they will be located strictly in turn. With this approach, it is impossible to go back if the stage has long been completed.

The downside of this model is that the team must strictly adhere to the planned deadlines and the established sequence: each subsequent stage depends on the previous one.

The waterfall planning model is used in companies developing a product, for example, where one action follows another strictly. A schedule built using the Gantt method, with this planning model, will contain blocks indicating the process of executing tasks, in a strictly sequential order, that is, they will not intersect.

2. Agile.
This is a flexible model for performing planned tasks, in which the work of different performers can proceed simultaneously.

Of course, this is not typical for every project, but this model is used in large projects with a large number of independent tasks, as well as in cases where performers must adapt to customer requests and changing circumstances.

This model is used, for example, in IT companies, banks, and insurance companies.

3. Hybrid.
A mixed or hybrid planning model includes both a cascade and agile — when there is both linear and parallel execution of tasks. The Gantt chart in this model “highlights” project participants’ milestones and planned streams — stages of work that are linked by one performer, or a common stage, result, or some important event.

The hybrid model is used by companies that produce a large amount of different content: for example, entertainment companies that produce films, series and shows.

In all planning models, the Gantt method is used for convenience and optimization of work.