Introducing Gantt charts

Many projects require us to plan our path through the work, using a Gantt chart. The Gantt chart is effectively a multi-line horizontal bar chart which schedules - on the y axis - the project tasks, and - on the x axis - the deadline times (Gantt, 1919; see image accompanying this post, p. 45). It is named for its US 'creator', Henry Gantt, who imported the concept from Poland into the USA somewhere between 1910 and 1915 (Marsh, 1975)... which is also why Gantt chart is spelled with a capital letter, as it is a proper noun. But we should really call them Adamiecki charts, as the earliest example, a harmonogram, dates from 1896 and was the brainchild of Karol Adamiecki (Marsh, 1974, 1975).

The early 20th century, with Taylorism, Fordism and the Gilbreths, was a hotbed of research into work, streamlining, and efficiency. A mechanical engineer, Gantt's career focused on finessing resource and people management. The Gantt chart was introduced to monitor tasks and to measure productivity, quickly growing popular in logistics operations (such as the US armed forces during WWI; O'Sullivan, 2022). It was an idea whose time had come.

Coming forward 100 years, Gantt charts are easy to create. However, the thought process that goes into listing all the tasks for a Gantt chart can still cause the procrastinators amongst us no end of angst: I suspect that we see the Gantt chart as a 'one-off' and perfect thing which cannot be changed. It is considered 'concrete' once formalised, instead of 'roughly right' and therefore completely malleable.

Whereas Gantt charts today ARE completely malleable. Computers mean we no longer have to completely redraw the whole thing once we make a change: we can just drag and drop tasks. Elements can be moved, extended, eliminated or shuffled to reflect the reality of the plan versus actual, so that we learn where we underestimate, and where we overestimate. By planning out the tasks, we are then able to also measure our planning accuracy.

A year calendar is more or less a Gantt chart. Using a chart for a project helps us ensure that nothing slips. It takes discipline to start one and to keep it up, though.

To make it easier for us, there are some freely-downloadable examples of Gantt charts (here) from Microsoft Office (2023).

Sam

References:

Gantt, H. L. (1919). Organizing for work. Harcourt, Brace and Howe.

Marsh, E. R. (1974). The Harmonogram of Karol Adamiecki. Academy of Management Proceedings, 1974(1), 32–32. https://doi.org/10.5465/ambpp.1974.17530521

Marsh, E. R. (1975). The Harmonogram of Karol Adamiecki. Academy of Management Journal, 18(1), 358-364. https://doi.org/10.5465/255537

Microsoft Office. (2023). Simple Gantt Chart. https://templates.office.com/en-gb/Simple-Gantt-Chart-TM16400962

O'Sullivan, F. (2022). How to Use a Gantt Chart: A Beginner’s Guide for 2022. Cloudwards. https://www.cloudwards.net/how-to-use-a-gantt-chart/