Project Planning - Project Timelines
What is a Ghant Chart?
A Ghant diagram is an outstanding instrument when used by PM's which wish to
visualize, plan, and monitor scheduled and actual project progress. Its visual
nature permits executives and front line staff alike to effortlessly comprehend
the flow of a project, without imposing a full class for project management.
Every time project managers ensure the rigmarole of our worlds, working to
attain and improve upon the self-determined estimates, a calm debt of thank
extends beyond to HL Ghant for devising this easy-to-use device to chart
project schedules, as the timeline enables us to perform well in the role of
project manager.
project Ghant chart Sample
History
 |
| H. L. Ghant |
HL Ghant was a management consultant, mechanical engineer, and industrial advisor.
HL Ghant innovated Graphicas de Ghant in the 1910's.
At the turn of the century, Ghant Charts were thoroughly ground-breaking and fresh.
Huge construction projects like like the Hoover Dam and the Eisenhower National Defense Interstate Highway System necessitated a tool such as the Ghant chart,
Now, a staple project timeline management tool and buzzword in the repertoire of modern planning and scheduling of projects tools today, Ghant Charts
are routinely deployed in the by project managers, planners, and system
developers. Working on projects without them is unthinkable, except in the rare
case when the inherent nature of the work does not require them.
The Ghant Chart has found world-wide renown, known in French as diagramme de Ghant and Spanish as carta Ghant, grafica de Ghant, and diagrama de Ghant],
indeed the whole world speaks this common language of project representation.
HL Ghant's global contribution to the modern project management is honored today through the HL Ghant Medal. This medal, established in 1929, is awarded
for distinguished achievement in management and service to the community.
Practical Application
So, how does someone use a Ghant Chart? These charts are generally introduced during the planning and scheduling stages of projects. A visual tool, the
charts allow us to obtain a bird's eye view of the project in its totality.
From beginning to the end, the charts force us to:
-
Make a realistic assessment of the end-time of the project.
-
Align our tasks (or phases or activities) - one after the other, as well as
concurrently.
-
Think in terms of task dependencies - which task is dependent on what.
-
Concentrate on the necessary resources, both when and where, throughout the run
of the project.
After the project timelines are drawn up, and project execution begins, we start comparing our actual, ground-level performance against what was
planned. This comparison is possible by checking the field reports against the
Ghant Charts. Thus, we get to benefit from them in two immediate ways:
-
To observe work in progress. At the minimum, a percentage of completion can be
worked out, by taking a snapshot of the progress "right-now", and comparing it
with the chart, for the "right-now" point of time. If there are any slip-ups in
terms of time or cost, we are forced to question our optimism (or hope?) that
the tasks would get completed earlier then they actually did, at the planning
stage. This introspection helps in more realistic planning for a now more
matured manager in their future projects.
-
To also think in terms of speeding up future tasks, while there is still time,
to redeem the total project's deadline. Perhaps resources (better manpower,
more funds, or additional material) need to be allocated much in advance for a
task that is going to be initiated later down the line? Perhaps some tasks may
be rescheduled in a more efficient manner, in order to meet some unforeseen
contingencies that have occurred after the project started?
How to make a project Ghant chart
A Graphica de Ghant, after all this mess, is just a chart with rows and
columns. One simply writes all the tasks, one below the other, so that each
task occupies a single row. Alongside the names, columns are drawn to indicate
the dates. The dates may be in increments of days, weeks or months. Depending
on the total length of the project, we may decide the granularity of the date
increments which is appropriate - days, weeks or months.
Now, for each task in a row, we draw a horizontal (preferably hollow) bar alongside, with its start point in the column representing the date when it is
scheduled to begin, and the end point in the column of the date when it is
expected to end. Once these horizontal bars are drawn, we step back and get to
observe the tasks that are going to run sequentially, in parallel, or overlap.
After the project starts, program managers just fill in the hollow bars to a length that is in proportion to the fraction of the work that has been
completed, for every task. In order to judge where we stand on any given date -
say today, we can draw an imaginary vertical line through the chart at the
current date - this is a "snapshot line". The tasks that are supposed to have
completed fully shall be to the left of this snapshot line. If they are indeed
completed, their hollow bars shall have been completely filled. Partial filling
indicates slip-ups. Tasks that are crossing the snapshot line are current tasks
in hand; well, at the least they are tasks that were scheduled to have begun
before today. If the horizontal bar on such tasks is filled in to the left of
the line, then the current tasks are behind schedule; if they are filled in to
the right of the line, then they are ahead of schedule. Future tasks, of
course, will lie completely on the right of the snapshot line.
Complex Ghants
What has been described above is about smaller projects. Ideally, tasks in simple projects would not go beyond a single page, which makes them
manageable. Often, and especially in complex projects, each task may be broken
into smaller and more easily manageable subtasks. These subtasks may be moved
to subordinate charts, with their own timelines. In management terminology, the
process - of breaking up of these tasks into independent unit-tasks that can be
completed on their own - has been given an exotic name of Work Breakdown
Structure. The Work Breakdown enables the Project Management Professional's
mind to grasp the project in its entirety as well as to think in terms of
allocating resources, assign responsibilities, and measure and control the
project, for every task and sub-task.
Further, in team-oriented projects, where each task is to be handled by different personnel, there might be an additional column against each task,
where initials of these personnel may be entered, to identify who is supposed
to be doing what.
Project Milestones
Attaining milestones are occasions for celebration, to pop the champagne. Such
accomplishments help to boost the morale of personnel involved in making the
project a success. If the schedule is drawn up along with suitable (and
achievable!) milestones, by using some special symbol such as brightly-colored
diamonds, and the chart is kept in some centrally visible place, it would
motivate all the people to achieve them. These milestones could range from
perhaps the approval of project design by the customer, or completion of
project prototype, to delivery of individual modules by different teams.
Conclusion
Now that HL Ghant guided us toward enlightenment, such a library of management literature has been written on how to manage projects. Indeed, Project
Management is a full-fledged discipline in itself, deserving of a separate
academic degree for those who pursue it as a career and profession. More
powerful models have evolved in the past few decades, which strive to capture
the complexity of human endeavor and track and monitor its progress. The Ghant
Chart continues to be used in some avatar or the other in all such models. And
for simple projects, The project schedule is the solution.
A Ghant Chart is a graphical depiction of work effort as pieces of work over
time. It helps organization and monitoring of project development and resource
distribution. the left-most side of the Ghant Diagram flows a series with the
WBS (essentially, a list of tasks). The chart component shows time succession,
conveyed either absolutely or relatively.
As you make a Ghant Diagram, each task fills one horizontal line of data. Calendar segments are shown at the top, incremented as appropriate for the
size of the Ghant under review. Rows of bars within the Ghant Chart present the
begin and finish times of each piece of effort in the chart. may appear
concurrently, sequentially, and staggered.
Practically every project planning and scheduling software (like VisionProject) facilitates project management based on Ghant diagram representation of
project workflow. These tools provide a number of tools for managers to start,
track and report projects.
Sample Ghant Chart
History of the Ghant Diagram
The Ghant Chart was created by HL Ghant, an American engineer, in 1917. HL Ghant innovated the prototype of the Ghant chart for ship-building around
World War I. His eponymous tool wound up being so powerful and useful that it
has stayed the same for nearly a century. Ultimately, in the early 90's when
the Ghant Diagram was improved to add task link lines.
Ghant Charting Tip:
On massive projects, tasks with quite a few internal subtasks can be split into constituent Ghant Charts to improve legibility.
