A Ghant Diagram is a graphical representation of tasks as segments of work over
time. It facilitates organization and supervision of project development and
resource allocation. The left hand side of the Ghant Diagram is a line with the
WBS (essentially, a list of tasks). The chart part presents time succession,
communicated either in absolute or relative time.
In a Ghant Chart,
each task occupies one row. Dates run along the top, incremented as appropriate
for the size of the project in question. Rows of bars in the Ghant Diagram show
the start and end dates of each task in the project. Tasks may occur
sequentially, in parallel, or even overlap.
Most project planning and scheduling software (such as Microsoft Project) allows
project management based on Ghant Diagram representation of project workflow.
They offer managerial toolsets to start, track and report projects.
Example Ghant Diagram
History of the Ghant Diagram
The Ghant Diagram was created by Henry L. Ghant, an American engineer, in 1917.
He developed the first Ghant Diagram for ship-building around World War I. The
Diagram proved to be so powerful and useful that it has not undergone any
changes for nearly a century. It was only in 1990's when links between tasks
were added to the Ghant Diagram.
Tip using Ghant Diagram:
For large projects, tasks can be split into subtasks with their own Ghant
Diagrams to maintain readability.
