Gantt charts are widely used by top management to monitor work progress and show the interdependencies between responsibilities. When it comes to managing projects, a few more people believe that Gantt charts are a necessity and spend a lot of money on ridiculously priced Gantt chart software.
Gantt charts, on the other hand, have a number of catastrophic imperfections that force many people to search for other techniques. Discover the drawbacks of Gantt charts and the best Gantt chart alternative options you can use on your next task by reading this article.
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Project planning incorporating Gantt charts
Gantt charts, devised by Henry Gantt in 1915, are indeed a type of bar graph that illustrates the program’s timeline by displaying activities over a period. In order to keep a project on schedule, Gantt charts are frequently employed to show the interdependencies among the various tasks.
If you want to see how your project is progressing over time, you can use a Gantt chart.
Contemporary Gantt charts emphasize the visual representation of correlations: the connections between tasks. Numerous colleagues, palette tasks, coherent calendars, and many other features are all possible with these tools.
There are many of them, too. Gantt charts are the most frequently used toolkit, according to 45% of team members.
However, this is harder than it sounds, and Gantt charts have a number of significant drawbacks that must be considered.
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The inconvenience of using a Gantt chart
- Gantt charts are hard to construct, express, and publish in a constructive fashion. Gantt charts are challenging, if not inconceivable, to build cooperatively in most project management tools. It’s a pain to print and distribute once you’ve built one of these things. Yes, there’s an option of using a Gantt chart template, but many users find it complex too.
- A Gantt chart is a confusing visual representation of a project’s progress. Gantt charts quickly become a bloated mess when you factor in all of the project’s interdependencies, assets, accomplishments, and due dates. Involved parties may have a tough time comprehending your graph without feeling dizzy out of the process.
- Gantt charts are impervious to modification. There is little sense in using a graph that requires considerable pre-planning if your strategies are prone to alter in the iterative and incremental era.
- Updating Gantt charts is time-consuming. The Gantt chart must be updated when your priorities change, which is a time-consuming and often overlooked task. Since Gantt charts tend to become dated over time, they can be a barrier to effective teamwork.
- Costly software often goes hand in hand with Gantt charts. Gantt chart alternative solutions can save you money and energy if you buy new software but only use it to create Gantt charts.
Alternatives to Gantt charts when managing projects
Alternatives to Gantt chart tools might be right up your alley if you’re nodding your head in agreement as I type this.
Every one of those possibilities comes with a Visualizer blueprint that you can use to get started. Develop creative diagrams and discuss them with your group in real-time using our digital visual workstations.
The timeline for project planning
A Gantt chart’s extraneous details are omitted from a planning stage timeline, which presents a simple chronology of events. They are ideal for high-level discussions with stakeholders who don’t need to be burdened by group tasks, limited resources, and dependencies.
Try out this project control timeframes blueprint on Lucidchart.com. Changing your plans is a breeze because it’s simple to comprehend and can be adapted quickly. Drag and drop performance objectives and frames to reflect new time limits by changing the schedule in sophisticated shapes.
Schematic representation of the project network
A project sequence diagram is another option. Project network diagrams can be used instead of Gantt charts to scope a project and identify your program’s timeline. It is the critical path in your graph used to estimate the time it will take to complete the project. You can keep track of interconnections, as well as specifics like task reference numbers and budget estimates, using project network diagrams.
Managers who dislike rearranging boxes and arrows in network diagrams may not use them. As an alternative, you can use Lucidchart to instantly update the original document rather than having your team members send you revisions that accumulate in your inbox. By using project network diagrams instead of Gantt charts, you don’t have to worry about becoming overburdened with paperwork or sacrificing program flexibility.
PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) is another name for project network diagrams, which are frequently referred to as PERT charts. For project management, see how PERT charts compare to Gantt charts.
There is, however, a fair amount of additional information that needs to be included in the task boxes. This information is typically included in both the beginning and finish dates and in days to denote how long the task will take to complete. There is no limit to the amount of information you can include in the text box, but the more you include, the more difficult it will be to read and the more cluttered it will appear.
If you’re working on a simple project, a network diagram can help you visualize the flow of tasks. It will be more difficult to display on a single page the more parallel strands of activity you have. Many lines may have to be moved to restore the neat display of the data if you only need to make a single change. It’s best to only use network diagrams for simple projects and task boxes for summaries of individual tasks, rather than for every single day’s worth of development time.
Kanban board
When it comes to flexible workflows, Kanban is the best option. There are many similarities between the two, such as Gantt charts, but kanban boards are easily understandable and more effective for communicating with coworkers because of the visual straightforwardness of moving cards.
Physical or virtual Kanban boards can be created. Teams with geographically dispersed members benefit most from virtual boards. Multiple editors can add cards to your board in real time as you plan your sprint in Lucidchart. To convey additional information, such as the type of project, use different colors.
For managers, the Gantt view is a great tool for creating an outline of a project, and all of that information is transferred to each individual task in a Gantt card. Your production cycle can be reflected in the columns in every way possible. The manager will now have a visual representation of the process. They can keep an eye on things without getting too involved. The manager can quickly reallocate resources if they anticipate a snag in the pipeline, ensuring that the team continues to work without being disrupted.
The board’s perspective tends to be preferred by teams. They can use it to keep track of their backlog and then collaborate on sprint planning when the time is right. Whenever someone tags them in a comment or adds a new card to the column, they are notified via email or in notifications. They can also collaborate by adding new comments to the card. Any changes made to our software are immediately reflected in all of the other views. Each person is always working with the same data in any of the three different list views: Kanban, Gantt, or any combination of those three views.
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The Scrum board
Projects on a scrum board are organized into sprints, much like on a Kanban board. The format is extremely customizable and flexible. To keep track of the tasks which need to be completed in each sprint, scrum boards are divided into directional lanes. Lanes labeled “To Do,” “In Advancement,” “In Trial,” and “Done” are among the most common. A task’s priority can be changed if the sprint timeline requires it.
Cross-functional flowchart
This diagram uses swimlanes to identify the roles and responsibilities of various teams or groups. They keep track of how information and products are passed from one team to the next. With multiple teams working on a large project, they make a great Gantt chart alternative.
A cross-functional flowchart can be made more detailed by adding layers of x and y-direction swimlanes. Teams can be shown in one axial direction, while time is shown in the other, as shown in the following example. Once your Diagram flowchart is complete, share it with all of your project’s teams and stakeholders as a single point of truth. Edit, comment, and view can all be controlled by you.
Checklist
A checklist is the simplest of all possible forms of organization. Every one of us has benefited from their use, whether at home or at work. Try it out with the entire staff. In order to link a high-level perspective with specific actions, you can use a checklist on its own or as an add-on to a project network diagram.
Lucidchart’s dynamic shapes let you see how many items on your to-do list have been completed at a glance.
Creating a task list doesn’t have to be complicated, and you can use whatever software your stakeholders prefer. Using a spreadsheet is extremely efficient.
If you have a Gantt chart, you can use it as a guide to list all the project tasks. Assign a column to track the progress of each task, as well as assign a due date and a status to each one. In addition to the simple status updates of “Not Started,” “In progress,” “Complete,” and “Red/Amber/Green,” you can also color-code tasks to indicate whether they are determined to accomplish on time or the level of danger.
Simple Gantt chart
There are simpler Gantt charts available if the only thing holding you back from using one is the chart’s complexity. See how it’s changed in Lucidchart.
Many people find it difficult to understand and maintain Gantt charts because they don’t provide the flexibility or communication that they need. For an alternative Gantt chart, click on the template above.
ProofHub – The Best Gantt Chart Replacement!
Controlling the flow of a business is much easier when specific workflows are in place for key functions. Projects are no different. For cross-functional teams that need to work collaboratively on the same work functions, dependable processes make it easier.
Custom Process flow phases and Agile Charts allow you to create unique workflow processes for your tasks and activities.
Custom Workflow Stages
Create a final workflow that includes all of the essential business functions on which you and your team will be working. Stages like “Beans Ready,” “Coffee Brewing,” and “Ready to Serve” can be defined according to your specific needs. Flow all your tasks through these stages sequentially to avoid confusion or misunderstandings between tasks. An in-app message and an email are sent out whenever a task moves from one stage to the next.
Kanban Boards
When you use a Kanban board, all of your tasks can be organized according to their respective workflow stages so that you can see exactly where they stand at any given time. Everyone on the team has access to the Kanban Board, so they can all stay on the same page. A single column contains all of the “Coffee Brewing” tasks, which are moved to the “Ready to Serve” column as soon as the coffee is ready. As a result, you get an excellent cup of coffee that’s ready on time and perfectly frothy.
Integrations
It is possible to improve the efficiency of your work processes by syncing all of your productivity and time management software. Slack, Cloud Storage, Box, One Drive, and other popular productivity tools are all supported by ProofHub. Other tools aren’t necessary if you’re used to them; in fact, you can use them in conjunction with ProofHub!
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Conclusion
Overloading the traditional Gantt chart with interconnections, custom emblems, task owners, and updates is a surefire way to increase your workload rather than reduce it.
Rather than using this antiquated and time-consuming project management tool, try using a platform that’s flexible and automated to meet your specific needs with deadlines, Agile methodologies panels, Scrum boards, worksheets, maps, and mind maps.
By making it simple to use, automating tasks to suit your individual needs, integrating with other tools you have been using, and allowing you to view projects in the system that works best for you, monday.com is a substitute for traditional project systems.
