Guide
How to
read a Gantt chart.
To read a Gantt chart, treat each bar as a task: its length is how long it takes, and arrows show which tasks wait for others. Read top to bottom for the work, left to right for time.
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1. The two axes
Time runs along the top, in days, weeks or months. Tasks run down the left, usually grouped into phases. Each row is one task, and its bar sits under the dates it's planned to run.
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2. Bars, links and milestones
A bar's left edge is when the task starts and its right edge is when it ends. Arrows between bars are dependencies; the most common, finish-to-start, means the second task can't begin until the first is done. A diamond is a milestone: a moment, such as a deadline or a hand-in, with no length of its own.
- Bar: a task and its dates
- Arrow: one task waits for another
- Diamond: a milestone with no duration
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3. Progress, today and float
A shaded part inside a bar shows how much of the task is done. A vertical line marks today, so anything left of it that isn't shaded is behind. Some charts draw float as a thin line after a bar: how long that task can slip without moving the end date.
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4. The critical path
Many charts highlight the critical path, the chain of tasks with no float, often in a different colour. Those are the tasks to watch: if one of them is late, the whole project finishes late.
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5. Make one for your own project
List the tasks, estimate each one, link the ones that depend on each other, and mark the deadlines as milestones. A spreadsheet works for a small project; scheduling software moves the dependent tasks for you when something changes.
Apps used
The apps behind it.
The apps are designed to open the same project, so nothing has to be exported between them. You'll install only the ones you use.
Questions
Good to know.
Planning and tracking a project over time: who does what, in what order, by when, and whether it's on schedule. It's named after Henry Gantt, who popularised the format in the 1910s.
A timeline shows events in order. A Gantt chart also shows how long each task takes, how tasks depend on each other and how far along each one is.
Yes, with a stacked bar chart or coloured cells. It works for small projects, but the bars don't move by themselves when a task slips; you update the dates yourself.
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