Gantt chart template

Bars, not just dates

A Gantt chart template has task names in a column and a time scale across the top. Each task is a bar from its start to its end. Henry Gantt popularized this view for production schedules. The point of the bar, rather than a dot, is duration. Two bars that overlap are two tasks that occupy the same days.

A timeline is enough when you only have events. A Gantt chart earns its space when tasks have length and some of them depend on others. A weekly planner is for one person's days, not a project with dependencies.

Example: science fair, five school days

Monday: pick the question (bar ends Monday). Monday to Wednesday: run the trials. Wednesday to Thursday: build the board, which cannot start until the first trial has a result, so the bar starts Wednesday. Friday: present. Draw an arrow from the end of 'pick the question' to the start of 'run the trials'. If Thursday is also the only day the printer works, the board bar must touch Thursday or the Friday presentation has no board.

Keep the template to tasks you can finish or not finish. 'Do your best' is not a bar. A bar has a start date and an end date.

Steps

1. List tasks before you draw bars. A verb and a noun: run trials, build board, present.
2. Mark dependencies. An arrow means the next bar cannot start until this one ends. Use arrows sparingly.
3. Color by owner only if owners differ. Color used as decoration makes the overlaps harder to see.
4. Update the end dates when they slip. A Gantt chart that stays pretty after a slip is a poster.