Gantt Charts - a useful tool

[officepa]

I thought this posting may come in useful for someone 

I have been preparing four Gantt charts in Excel for my boss in connection to four projects he is working on at the moment.

I have come across these in the past but a lightbulb has just gone on and I realise how useful a tool these are - they can be a useful tool for planning business and personal projects.  I will now be using them for so many things 

For anyone who likes to have a visual to see an overall picture, these are great.  Mine was nothing fancy but I know they can be quite complex if you want them to be. 

Basically mine was the list of  tasks on the left, a monthly date line across the top from Aug 2010 to Dec 2014 (with dates reading vertically to make it easier to fit them all on one page of A4) and each year block was colour coded in a different colour with shaded squares in the main grid against task list corresponding to the dates.

They will certainly be useful for glancing at to see what tasks are coming up to their deadline and basically seeing the overall picture.  Although you would have deadline dates plugged into the diary, having a whole project from start to finish and everything going on in between on one page makes looking at progress much easier.

I've sat in meetings when someone was flicking backwards and forwards in a diary looking up various dates trying to explain a project they were working on and getting in a muddle - if they'd had a gantt chart, it would have been so much easier.

It also makes it easier to see any gaps in the project when all tasks are listed with a corresponding date and of course things can be added quite easily and you can then see how the new items need to fit in with existing items already listed.

When you attend the meetings where the project is being discussed, having the project set out on an A4 page so much easier to talk about where you are with that particular project.

It has also helped me get to grips with Excel. I am not an Excel lover and would avoid using this if I could but while experimenting, I have become more confident and quite enjoy it now.

Positive outcome all round 

[gee4]

Most project planning teams use these or similar tools.

Maybe you should "blog" the steps you took to create your charts Cathy, and add them to Software Survival.

[officepa]

Without a doubt 'official' project planners use this or something similar but I think I was also trying to say that it may be a useful way of plotting out any job that has several parts to it that you are trying to complete - not just big projects at work.  Any job - big or small - at home or at work - can be incorporated into a visual chart.

For example, my son is planning to undertake a course outside of school that has many parts to it with exams to be taken at set times and it is up to him how and when he plans the course work as long as he has it done by the exam date.  A simple Gantt chart pinned up shows him a whole year planned out and when he has to have each module completed by to ensure all done by exam date.

I now also have my household renewal dates set out on a monthly Gantt chart: insurances for car and home, driving licence renewal dates, and MOT and so on.

Bossie is planning to travel far and wide during 2011 so have plotted these on a yearly chart that incorporates all committee meetings he needs to attend, etc.  A wall planner will also do the job but on an A4 Gantt chart, this is something that can be easily carried to meetings for reference.

[gee4]

Great Cathy!

Could you bullet point some steps then on how to create it?

I've not used it before and might find I could incorporate that into some of my own work.

[peaches2160]

I have created these in both Excel and Microsoft Project.  Great tool for project management.

[Cozwaz]

I use Microsoft Project for Gantt charts too - we use them all the time in the construction industry.

[Cathy S]

... me too! I use them for my work in Microsoft Project.

Additionally if anyone wants a visual on a smaller project without creating Gantt Charts, a mindmap can provide the same function of a one page summary with updated % completion added as done.