Gant charts are widely used in Project Management in Planning and tracking the various

activities in a graphical representation. Named after Henry Gantt, an American Project

manager, Gantt Charts are a great way of preparing a visual representation of Project
schedules and track them as the project progresses. In this article, we will discuss some of
the benefits of using Gantt charts in Project Management.

1) Unified Platform: Needless to say, that in a Project there are multiple teams that work
together on different aspects of the project. Keeping track of how the work is
progressing with different teams may become difficult. This is where Gantt charts have
the biggest advantage. Gantt Charts represent all the various aspects of the project on a
single unified document like the progress, timelines, names of individuals, and others.
This makes it extremely easy for the project owners or managers to keep abreast of all
that is happening as work progresses.

2) Time Management: On time completion of a task is of utmost importance in the success

of a Project. A delay in even a single task can withhold the timely completion of the
Project resulting in financial and reputational risk. Gantt Chart’s feature of scheduling
timelines and displaying the progress of the tasks help in a large way to understand the
importance and the risks involved and avoid them with concerted efforts.

3) Enhanced Communication: Gantt Charts offers the feasibility of enhanced

communications across departments pertaining to the updates on progress, issues and
resolution of the same. Being a unified platform, it becomes easy to communicate
between teams through the Chart and in many ways can help to avoid physical
meetings. This, of course, helps to keep a transparency across all the departments
involved in the project.

4) Resource Management: A major reason why there could be a sudden drop in resource
output is overburden. Gantt Charts helps Project managers to align resources and
delegate tasks in a more effective manner. It gives a systematic picture of where the
resources are being utilized associated with the corresponding timelines allowing
completion of projects within the allotted budget and time.

5) Track Progress of the Project: Effective measurement of the progress of the Project is
required not just for reporting to the Project owner and to the various teams involved
but also to understand if the project is running on track and whether it will be
completed on time. Progress Gantt Charts helps to understand to what degree the
various tasks have been completed. It gives a visual representation of how the work has
progressed and is very easy to interpret.

6) Display Milestones: Reaching milestones as a Project progress can be very motivating

for the entire team that is involved. Gantt charts help to display the milestones that have
been reached which can really help to up the ante of the team members and enhance
their focus to reach the target. Being a visual representation, it is more effective and
easily interpreted by all.
7) Efficiency and Interdependencies of Tasks: Different teams work on different aspects of
the project hence it is obvious that there will be interdependence in their tasks. Linked
Gantt Charts indicates the dependencies between tasks with lines. Though it tends to
become cluttered with lines for larger projects it is still preferred over other
representation due to the ease of interpretation. Gantt chart software often comes with
the feasibility to link task dependencies. This benefit of Gantt charts to trace the
dependent activities and schedule them in such a way that they do not stall the progress
of the Project in any way.

Top 5 Effective Ways to Manage Projects Successfully

As Project Managers we often find ourselves juggling with project deadlines,

accommodating unexpected events, exceeding allocated budget and resources etc. Events
like these are frustrating and can leave project managers and the team stressed and
unmotivated. Here are top 5 effective ways to manage projects successfully.

1) Brainstorm with the team:

During the conception and planning phase of the project, involve people that are going to
be part of the project for brainstorming sessions.  It will give them an overall understanding
of the project and how their roles add up to the project and what is expected of them
becomes transparent. This also helps managers and the team measure how much effort is
required from each individual or department. In turn, it allows the project managers to
more accurately determine the project’s scope, budget and timeline.

2) Plan the project’s scope, timing and resources in detail:

Project planning phase lays the blueprint on how the project implementation will take
place. As the saying goes, “Failing to plan is planning to fail”, it is important to ensure
that all major aspects of the project like project scope, the timeline for the project,
deliverables, allocated tasks, resources required should be carefully crafted. The team
should also consider assumptions and risks and build them into the project plan. Once,
this step is done, create a detailed work plan and communicate this with the team.
Ensure that any high-level activities that were initially vague are defined more in detail
as their time-frame gets closer.
Gantt Excel allows you to create project timelines, allocate tasks and resources, create
milestones, define dependencies, even break down the project into smaller tasks and
can be easily updated and communicated as the project progresses.

3. Track your project’s progress:

This is the ‘holy grail’ of project management. Using Gantt Chart Excel you can monitor the
project budget and timelines which allows you to proactively optimize your resources and
budget to meet the project timelines. Remember, “What gets measured, gets managed”.

4. Take steps to mitigate risks: 

 As project managers, we are all aware how big a part risks play in project success. Risks of
unforeseen circumstances in the future, the risk of exceeding budget, risks of project delays,
risk of low team morale and so on. Acknowledging that these risks can creep up anytime
prepares the managers to be vigilant for warning signs of risks and also prepare for
mitigating risks. Gantt chart again is an effective tool that can flag you in advance about the
abnormalities in the project’s progress. For instance, if a deadline has been missed, project
managers can get to the root of what caused the delay and fix it or if some unavoidable
events are probable in the near future which wasn’t evident during the planning phase, the
Gantt chart can be updated to reflect this and activities planned accordingly. ‘Scope creep’ is
another risk that can sabotage the project success. These mini changes can actually add up
to changing the whole scope of the project making the initial budget, resources and
timelines irrelevant. Therefore, as project managers, we need continue to assess potential
risks throughout the project.

5. Celebrate milestones:
Take steps to ensure that team’s morale is high throughout the project.  It can be stressful
to balance the execution in the midst of some unavoidable circumstances that delay the
project. Therefore creating milestones (mini goals) and celebrating these milestones can
motivate the team to stay on track and to work towards accomplishing the project.

Definition:
Project Management is defined as “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique
product, service or result with a defined beginning and end in time, defined scope and
define resources”.
Project Management Life Cycle
Initiating Phase:
Also known as ‘conception’ phase, here the team identifies the goal to be achieved and
gathers the resources required to get started.

Planning Phase:
Here the team meticulously devises schedule of tasks, allocates tasks and resources
required to accomplish the project goals. Project timeline is created with milestones set so
that the project’s progress can be monitored. It is during this phase and here after that it is
most essential to use a Gantt Chart.

Gantt Excel allows you to visually represent the progress of your project by providing a
comprehensible snapshot of your project’s status.
In the Gantt chart, you begin by creating a timeline for the project, setting milestones
(smaller achievements leading to achieving the bigger goal), you define dependencies if any
(activities that need to be undertaken before or after a certain task), thus giving you and
your team the minimum total time required to complete the project (also called Critical Path
Model).

Gantt chart also allows you to allocate tasks and resources, delegate tasks and allows you to
share responsibilities.

Executing Phase:
This phase is where all the actions happen. The team members co-ordinate and execute
their tasks. Generally, a project manager oversees the whole project, communicating with
the team about the progress, adding resources if needed and basically ensuring that
execution phase complies with the planning phase. Ideally planning phase is the blueprint
for the execution phase; however, in real world, due to un-anticipated events and external
forces, it is reasonable that execution phase might go tangent from planning phase.
Therefore, it is important to ensure that some buffer time for these events is considered
during the initiation and planning phase of the project. This is also why you should actively
update your Project Gantt chart to keep your progress on track and accurately record the
accomplishment of the tasks, sticking with the timeline.

Controlling Phase:
This phase occurs simultaneously with the executing phase as execution and controlling/
managing projects go hand in hand. Handling unexpected hurdles and also keeping the track
of the project according to the planning are involved in ensuring the project is a success. It
can get frustrating to balance both during this phase especially as we are time, budget and
resource constrained. It is important to keep the team’s morale high during this phase. This
is why celebrating ‘milestones’ is good to lift up team spirit. Gantt Chart Excel allows you to
create milestones and even break the primary tasks into child tasks so that responsibilities
can be further shared and delegated thus reducing the burnout that team might experience
during this balancing phase of execution and control.

Closing Phase:
As we come close to the end of the project, it is said that the momentum is often lost during
the last 10% of the project. The team feels like everything is finished and they forget to find
details that take a lot of time. This is where a Gantt chart can actually help the team to track
every detail of the project and also keep the motivation high so that you don’t miss out on
details as they say, ‘the devil is in the details.

“Voila! Our project is now complete.” It is also recommended that you revisit your project
details from conception to the closing phase to see what worked and what didn’t and what
can be learnt. This is the time to review the Gantt chart to go back and revisit the project
details with every detail recoded precisely and accurately.

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Everything and everyone are dependent on some other person or thing.
Dependencies are any tasks or activities that are either dependent on a previous completion
of a task or on which a task is dependent on. It is a simple relationship between two or
more tasks in a project.

Whenever there’s a project, expect a dependency.

Definition of Task Dependency

Task Dependency is a relationship in which a task or milestone relies on other tasks to be
performed before it can be performed. This is also referred to as a logical relationship. A
logical relationship can be a dependency between project tasks or between tasks and
milestones.
Understanding task dependency is a key element in project management. It does not matter
how good a project schedule is, if critical dependencies associated with the project are not
included in the description of the effort, they represent considerable risk to delivering
project value.
Effective project management begins with the end in mind. The goal of a project is always
successful completion.
Setting task dependencies between tasks is the most powerful feature of Gantt Excel. The
in-built auto-scheduling automation of the template is able to update the dates of tasks
based on changes that are made to its dependent tasks. Gantt Chart Excel is the only Gantt
chart excel template with task dependencies.
Gantt Excel gives you the ability to see every step of your project from beginning to end.

Types of Task Dependencies

It is important to understand the types of task dependencies that can be used in Gantt Excel.
4 types of task dependencies are supported in Gantt Excel

1. Finish-to-Start (FS)
2. Start-to-Start (SS)
3. Finish-to-Finish (FF)
4. Start-to-Finish (SF)
Finish-to-Start (FS)
This is the most common and logical type of dependency in project management and the
real world. In this scenario, the predecessor task must finish before the successor can start.

It follows the natural flow and progression from one task to another. Task A must finish in
order for Task B to start.

This dependency means that if there are 2 tasks TASK A and B, the dependent task (B)
cannot begin until the task that it depends (A) on is complete… In other words, if TASK A is
delayed by a day, then B will also be delayed and will begin a day later.
Example: If you are building the foundation for your house and you have two tasks,
“Excavate” and “Pour concrete,” the “Pour concrete” task cannot begin until the “Excavate”
task is complete
Start-to-Start (SS)
The “Start to Start” dependency says that a task cannot start before the predecessor task
starts. This dependency means that if there are 2 tasks TASK A and B, Task B can’t start until
Task A starts. They don’t have to start at the same time: Task B can begin any time after Task
A begins.
Example: To save time, you want to level concrete at one end of the foundation while it is
still being poured at the other end. But Level concrete (B) can’t start until Pour concrete (A)
has also started.

Finish-to-Finish (FF)
In this case, a task cannot end before the predecessor task ends. This dependency means
that if there are 2 tasks TASK A and B, Task B can’t finish until Task A is completed. They
don’t have to end at the same time: Task B can end anytime after Task A ends.

Example: Your team is adding the wiring to the building and inspecting it at the same time.
Until Add wiring (A) gets done, you won’t be able to finish Inspect electrical (B).

Start-to-Finish (SF)
One peculiar dependency, which is rarely used, is “start to finish”. In this case, the
predecessor task must start before the successor task can finish. Task B can’t finish until
Task A begins. Task B can finish any time after Task A begins. This type of link is rarely used.
Example: The wooden window frames for your house are built off-site. You can’t
finish Assemble windows (B) until Window frame delivery (A) begins.

As a rule of thumb, a good practice is to stick with the common Finish to Start dependency
or else you run into the risk of creating a very confusing gantt chart.

How to Add Dependencies in Gantt Excel

1. Identify All Task Dependencies within the Project
The good thing about using a gantt chart tool like Gantt Excel is that it brings a lot of
dependencies to surface. Ideally, you’ll want to think through all possible dependencies
before creating a workflow.
 You may need to divide work into smaller tasks and subtasks as necessary so work can
continue moving across the project at a uniform pace. 

Sometimes it is overwhelming to manage task dependencies. But with brainstorming

and identifying the flow of tasks, a project manager can mitigate the chances of project
mishaps.

2. Stack Tasks
Its good practice to stack the dependent tasks on top of each other in the order in which
they should be completed. The predecessor task should ideally be placed on top and the
successor task below.
Gantt Excel allows you to move tasks up and down easily.

3. Set Dependencies
Task dependencies can be easily set in Gantt Excel. You have to just double click a task to
set task dependencies. Please watch the video tutorial below to set task dependencies.
There are different types of dependencies in project management that can be categorized in
many ways depending on relationships, conditions, and other factors.

Causal Dependencies 
These dependencies are found in the natural flow of tasks within a project. For example, to
bake bread you need to first buy the ingredients, then mix them together, then put it in a
oven and finally wait for it to bake. Each task is dependent on the completion of the
previous and avoiding one step or task in the process will lead to a failed project.
Resourced Based Dependencies
These are based on constraints and have no causal dependency. Meaning, if all resources
are present, all tasks and activities can be completed together. For example, within
technical user stories, there could be internal constraints with lack of skills of not
understanding technical terms or processes.
Preferential Dependencies
These are dependencies determined by best protocols, practices, and preferred processes.
They are institutionalized to focus on the quality of the product. For example, when painting
the interior of a house, the order in which the rooms and walls are painted is chosen based
on a various factor such as the furniture removal, current needs and preferences.
Cross-Team Dependencies
In larger companies, cross-team dependencies pose a serious challenge. This dependency
tends to exist when two or more teams are needed for the completion of a project.
External Dependencies 
These dependencies are outside the control of project managers or teams and rely on 3rd
parties or outside vendors for completion.
Lead and Lag times - Space tasks out with a predefined lag or lead
Lead and lag are two terms associated with the task relationships that may occur between
two or more tasks. Lead and lag are both used in the development of the project schedule.
Lag time is a delay between tasks that have a dependency. This time interval can be set
between dependent tasks to allow for required delays. For example, in a construction
project, you need to let the foundations set before building the walls. In this case, lag time
should be set for concrete to set. A successor task can only start once the defined lag time
(specified in days) has elapsed.
Lag is the delay of a successor activity.

Lead time is overlap between tasks that have a dependency. For example, if a task can start
when its predecessor is half finished, you can specify a finish-to-start dependency with a
lead time for the successor task. You enter lead time as a negative value.
Lead is the acceleration of a successor activity.

Predecessor and Successor Tasks - Definition

Predecessor tasks and Successor tasks are two types of dependent tasks that belong to one
and the same project or process and that are performed under dependency rules. A
predecessor task determines the start or finish date of its successor task.

Both types are available in any work breakdown structure that includes dependent
activities. Dependency rules between tasks determine which of the tasks are predecessors
and which ones are successors. Graphically it can be presented as a tree-like structure in
which every higher level is the successor of its lower level, and vice-versa – every lower level
is the predecessor of its higher level.

Essentially, the dependency between tasks and sub-tasks is the predecessor-successor

relationships. Such relationships are used in various project management methodologies.