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/

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Building a Research Planning Timeline

I went looking for a plan online - a yeast starter, if you will - for planning my PhD a few weeks ago.

What really surprised me was that it appeared that one had such a plan available online. I was staggered that there did not appear to be something already in the wild.

After a fairly intensive search, I found a few sources to help me compile a planning tool of my own. This included John Wittwer's gantt chart template, but, as his spreadsheet was locked, I didn't explore this much further. I considered some of his headings, but the sample I found online from an unknown author (see below) had also used much of the same functionality as John had.

The two sources which did work - after a fashion - were both spreadsheets, both set up as Gantt charts... but both woefully under-detailed. One was a downloadable creative commons sheet with an unknown author, containing perhaps two percent of the required amount of detail (Unknown, n.d.); the other was an online Gantt chart website with perhaps ten percent of the required detail (Toms Planner, n.d.).

What a great shortcut it would have been to have had a whole PhD research planning timeline list that I could have downloaded, then built on. But it was not to be.

So I sat down myself and planned the first cut of my whole darn project, task by task; with start dates and stop dates; scheduling in known breaks. It was quite a long list by the time that I got to 'enough' to start with.

I had a good look at both the online and downloadable spreadsheet versions, then decided to use the downloadable version, as the online version had a 100 line limitation. This was a good option, as my downloadable spreadsheet currently has 201 lines, and will, I am sure, expand.

I made quite a few modifications, such as using functions to work out min & max dates, functions to add the due dates, summing, auto filters, sub-groups and use of colour to delineate different task deadlines (I have put a key at the top). Unfortunately, I could only fit two years on one Gantt chart in Excel before the spreadsheet started crashing on me, but I think that is enough.

Because of the lack of resources, and in the spirit of the creative commons donation which I used a lot of, I have decided to share what I have created with others who are looking for such a beast (and you will find a note in the Comments box under Advanced properties, acknowledging my creative commons benefactor for the spreadsheet structure).

• Download the entire spreadsheet here
• Download my task list here

Sam

References:

• Unknown (n.d.). PHD research proposal gantt chart.xlsx. Retrieved 30 December 2015 from https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cKETo0ysuSrInp0WRL90zlCdXTs32I0Ov2hJHyMpqDU/export?format=xlsx&id=1cKETo0ysuSrInp0WRL90zlCdXTs32I0Ov2hJHyMpqDU
• Toms Planner (2014). Research Project Plan. Retrieved 31 December 2015 from http://www.tomsplanner.com/template-example/research/
• Wittwer, John (n.d.). Gantt Chart Template for Excel. Retrieved 2 January 2016 from http://www.vertex42.com/Files/download2/excel.php?file=gantt-chart_L.xls

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Research Planning Tips

I have been starting my PhD planning, so I went looking online for a comprehensive list of project tasks. I was hoping to borrow the skull-sweat of others, and to get short-cut my own planning process; but I couldn't find a list. I have had to create my own, and through that process, I have revisited what good research planning and management entails.

Like all good projects, there are three aspects to be managed: ourselves, the research itself, and the process.

This article is focused on ourselves and the process. By getting these two things started, with self-discipline, the research takes care of itself.

To start with then, we need to manage ourselves. Our research project is all down to us, and if we are working at distance, then self-discipline and self-management becomes even more important.

We have to find tools and techniques that will work for us as individuals. I like to have two versions of my process, or, as I call it, my management plan. Those versions are a detailed copy of my entire plan, and an overview - a chunked down version showing the clusters of tasks in overview. A tool that allows me to see that easily is Excel, laid out like a Gantt chart (O'Donnell, 13 September 2011). Think Microsoft Project without the cost or complexity. The entries in my Gantt chart should read in exactly the same manner as the entries in my calendar.

Additionally, I find that my Google calendar (which is linked to my institution's Outlook calendar, my phone and my PC's Outlook) works for me. Even better: I can create my Excel sheet, then import the relevant cells into my PC's Outlook to create my calendar reminders, then use PPP Infotech's Calendar Sync Free to synchronise it with my Google calendar.


As we start our planning process, we need to think carefully about each of the following (Trinity College Dublin, 15 December 2015):

1. Researching and adopting planning tools to monitor our progress (eg, Google calendar and an Excel Gantt chart)
2. Estimating how long each task will take (NB: inaccurate estimates are better than none; we get better at estimating over time if we have previously gathered data and can use that for comparisons)
3. Entering start dates, milestones and completion dates into our chosen tools
4. Building in regular monitoring, both reviewing and revising
5. Recording everything so that we aren't reliant on short-term memory (NB: short-term memory reliance is called 'forgetting'!)

When we start to pull it all together, there are an additional five useful steps to aid our planning process, or our management plan. They are simple, but should not be skipped (O'Donnell, 13 September 2011) or scrimped on:

1. List all the activities to be completed
2. Estimate the time required for each
3. Put activities in order, prioritise, critical path
4. Cluster work into related tasks and categorise
5. Make it visual for easy reference

And, for me, point number five is where my two management plan versions come in: they are both entirely do-able if you use an Excel Gantt chart.

When I finished created my plan, I posted a link to it through Google docs for those of you, who, like me, went looking for a comprehensive PhD planning task outline (which is here). 

Then you can build off my skull-sweat :-)


Sam

References: 

• Trinity College Dublin (15 December 2015). Managing Your PhD. Retrieved 30 December 2015 from https://www.tcd.ie/Student_Counselling/student-learning/postgraduate/topics/self-management/phd/
• O'Donnell, Jonathan (13 September 2011). How to make a simple Gantt chart. Retrieved 30 December 2015 from https://theresearchwhisperer.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/gantt-chart/

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