Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart is a popular type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule.

Forefather of project management is Henry L.Gantt, called the father of planning and control techniques, who is famously known for his use of the “Bar" chart as a project management tool.

His work is the forerunner to many modern project management tools including the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and resource allocation.

The first Gantt Chart was actually developed by Karol Adamiecki, under the name Harmonogram. As Adamiecki did not publish his chart until 1931, this famous chart bears Gantt's name.

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
Gantt charts also show the dependency (i.e., precedence network) relationships between activities.

Advantages

Time is explicit

All tasks visible in relationship to others

Deadlines are shown

Project Status at intermediate times is shown

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.

Limitations

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.

Projects are often considerably more complex than can be communicated effectively with a Gantt chart.

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

Gantt charts only represent part of the triple constraints of projects, because they focus primarily on schedule management.