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Gantt chart

Tasks and phases on a calendar, with the critical path and today marked.

1 gantt chart example

Platform launch plan

Six tasks in three phases from January to June, with today marked.

Bars sit on a real calendar and phases group them. Only the critical-path task, the core platform build, is drawn in the accent, and the dashed line shows where today falls against the plan.

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What is a Gantt chart?

A Gantt chart is a project schedule that shows tasks as horizontal bars on a calendar. Each bar's position and length show when a task starts and how long it lasts. It is named after Henry Gantt, who popularized it in the 1910s.

Read tasks top to bottom and time left to right. Arrows link dependent tasks, diamonds mark milestones, a vertical line marks today, and the critical path is the chain of tasks that, if late, delays the whole project.

When to use a Gantt chart

  • Use it to plan a launch or migration with fixed dates and tasks that depend on each other.
  • Use it to report progress to stakeholders, showing what is on track and what has slipped against today.
  • For ongoing work without fixed scope, a kanban board is a better fit, because a Gantt chart goes stale quickly.

How to make a good Gantt chart

  1. Group tasks into phases and keep the task list to the level stakeholders care about.
  2. Draw dependencies only where they are real, and highlight the critical path.
  3. Always show a today line so progress is readable at a glance.
  4. Mark milestones as zero-length diamonds, not as one-day tasks.