GANTT CHART IN SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Gantt charts are special kind of charts used in software project management to represents the scheduling of all activities that will be performed by the software team. There are many tools to built the Gantt Chart. But simple you can build the Gantt Chart in Microsoft Excel or you can use any UML tool built the Gantt tool.

Basically, Gantt chart is used to manage the project scheduling information in an effective way and to oversee the project statistics and to see what task will come at first and next and so on. Here is the Gantt chart automated version example.

gantt chart software project management chart
Figure: Gantt chart 

In Gantt charts there are two axes, one is the horizontal axis and the other is the vertical axis.

Example of Gantt Chart

As an example, we present a Gantt chart in table 1. This chart contains two axes. The horizontal axis and vertical axis.

Excel gantt chart template download

Let’s download the Excel gantt chart template.

The horizontal axis of the Gantt Chart

In table 1 we can see that the horizontal axis represents the project activities such as Planning, Designing, Coding, Testing, Delivery.

The vertical axis of the Gantt Chart

The vertical axis represents the project duration of the activities such as days/weeks/months/years.

Yellow color:

As we can see in the table, the third row in yellow color represents that software team will utilize first 3 months of planning the software.

Red color:

As we can see in the table, 4th row in red color represents that the software team will utilize 3rd to 5th months in designing the software.

Green color:

As we can see in the table, 5th row in yellow color represents that the software team will utilize 6th to 8th month in coding the software.

Purple color:

As we can see in the table, 6th row in purple color represents that the software team will utilize 8th to 9th month in testing the software.

Brown color:

As we can see in the table, 7th row in brown color represents that the software team will utilize 10th month in delivering the software.

Note: We represent a simple example here, you can draw the Gantt chart of your own choice. You can out days/months/weeks/year or even hours on the vertical axis. Similarly, you can add more activities on the horizontal axis of the Gantt Chart.

Advantages of using Gantt

Some advantages of using the Gantt chart are here mentioned below;

  1. It saves a lot of time.
  2. It is cost effective.
  3. For making effective and efficient software.
  4. A good planned Gantt Chart is a factor for the success of the software.
  5. Enforces the team to complete the activities on time.

Disadvantages of using Gantt chart

Some disadvantages of using Gantt chart are here mentioned below;

Gantt chart can become more complex.

  1. The size of the bar (as shown here in different colors) does not show the amount of work done.
  2. Gantt chart can be updated from time to time because all activities depend on each other. For example, designing activity depends on the planning activity. So any delay in planning activity can be a cause to change the schedule of other activities.

How do you make a Gantt chart fit on one page?

Manually Adjust the Timescale

  1. On the File tab, select Print, and then select Page Setup.
  2. Select the View tab.
  3. Select to clear the Fit timescale to end of page check box.
  4. Select OK. If you do not get the result you want, continue to the next step.
  5. Select the View tab.
  6. Back in the Project plan select View. On the Timescale drop-down list, select Timescale.
  7. In the Size box, reduce the percentage to reduce the width of the timescale, Increase the percentage to increase the width of the timescale.
  8. Select OK.

By Fitting Timescale to the End of Page

  1. On the File tab, select Print, and then select Page Setup.
  2. Select the View tab.
  3. Select to select the Fit Timescale to End of Page check box.
  4. Select OK.