Basics
PERT vs Gantt
How a PERT network and a Gantt timeline differ, and how to use both together.
Milestone vs Gantt Chart
How a milestone chart of key dates differs from a Gantt of the work between them.
Break a Project Into Tasks
How to decompose a goal into right-sized, single-owner work packages using deliverables and the 8/80 rule.
Gantt vs Spreadsheet
Where a planning spreadsheet breaks, when it is enough, and what a Gantt tool adds.
Gantt for Software Dev
Map software phases, cross-team dependencies, and the release date without killing agile flow.
Thesis Gantt Chart
Plan a dissertation on a Gantt chart with phases, supervisor lag and a real deadline buffer.
Gantt Chart for Marketing
Plan a campaign on a Gantt: phases, parallel channels, approvals, and a fixed launch date.
Gantt Chart for Events
Plan an event backward from its fixed date with workstreams, milestones, and lead times.
Gantt Charts for Construction
How construction schedules use Gantt charts for phases, curing lag, procurement and trade sequencing.
What is a Gantt chart?
The fundamentals, bars, dependencies, milestones and phases, and why teams use them.
Gantt chart examples
12 real examples, construction, software, marketing, events and more, with templates.
Milestones vs tasks
A task takes time, a milestone marks a moment, plus a legend for every symbol on a Gantt chart.
Who invented the Gantt chart?
The real history: Adamiecki drew it first in 1896, Gantt made it famous, and why his name stuck.
What is a WBS?
Split a project into deliverables and work packages before you schedule, with the 100% rule and a worked example.
Gantt chart vs Kanban board
Plan against time or manage flow, the real difference, when each wins, and how to use both.
Gantt vs timeline vs roadmap
Three views of time at three levels of detail, and who each one is really for.
Build one
How to make a Gantt chart
A step-by-step walkthrough from task list to finished, shareable project timeline.
Gantt chart in Excel
Turn a stacked bar chart into a Gantt chart in Excel, plus a faster alternative.
Gantt chart in Google Sheets
Three methods including the Timeline feature and a free template you can copy.
Gantt chart in PowerPoint
Build a presentation-ready timeline by hand, or export one to PPT in a click.
Gantt chart in Word
Three methods for Microsoft Word: a stacked bar chart, a shaded table, or drawn shapes.
Scheduling technique
Sprint Planning on a Gantt
Lay sprints as time boxes on a Gantt to see the release arc and its risks.
Recurring Tasks
When to show repeating work as a series, roll it into one bar, or leave it off the chart.
Network Diagrams Explained
How the precedence diagram maps activities and dependencies and drives the critical path and Gantt chart.
Cost-Loading a Schedule
Assign cost to tasks so the Gantt produces a time-phased spend plan and S-curve.
Buffer and Contingency
Why pooling safety into one project buffer beats padding every task in a schedule.
Task Constraints Explained
How ASAP, must-start-on and deadline constraints shape a schedule and can hide conflicts.
Duration vs Effort
Why effort, duration and elapsed time differ, and how availability and waiting stretch your estimates.
Agile and Gantt Charts
Use a Gantt for the release and dependencies while sprints run the day to day detail.
Critical path method
What the critical path is, how it's calculated, and how to use it to hit deadlines.
Dependencies explained: FS, SS, FF, SF
The four link types with a diagram for each, plus lead, lag and why the type changes what happens when dates move.
Baseline vs actual: tracking variance
How to freeze a plan, read start and finish variance, and know when re-baselining is honest and when it is not.
What is float (slack)?
How long a task can slip before it delays the project, total vs free float, and how to read it off your chart.
How to estimate task durations
Analogous, parametric and three-point estimation, with the PERT formula and when to use each.
Lead time vs lag time
Overlap two tasks or force a wait between them, with the sign trick and a worked example.
Fast-tracking vs crashing
Two ways to shorten a schedule without cutting scope: one costs risk, the other costs money.
Resource leveling
Fix a schedule that asks one person to be in two places at once, leveling vs smoothing.
Practice & tools
Gantt Chart Colors
Use color with meaning: one encoding, colorblind-safe choices, clear labels, and a readable layout.
Gantt Best Practices
Eight habits that make a Gantt chart actually work, each with the mistake and the fix.
Nine Gantt chart mistakes
Over-detailing, missing dependencies, no float, stale updates, each with the fix, shown before and after.
Best free Gantt chart tools
An honest 2026 comparison, what's truly free vs freemium, and which need no sign up.
Presenting to stakeholders
Turn an 80-row working plan into a summary a sponsor reads in thirty seconds.
How to track progress
Percent complete, a status date, planned vs actual and the critical path, with two worked examples.