Gantt Chart Template

About the Gantt Chart template

Gantt charts are a popular choice for organizing and displaying a project plan with simplicity and clarity. Individuals and teams use the Gantt Chart Template to easily keep track of a project's progress over time and boost efficiency.

Keep reading to learn more about the Gantt Chart template.

What is a Gantt chart?

A Gantt chart is a powerful and much-used graphical timeline representation. Using this horizontal bar chart, you can see the progression of a project plan over time. Most Gantt Chart Templates show you the status of each step in the project, as well as the stakeholders. They break down projects by task, allowing the whole team to see the task status, who it’s assigned to, and how long it will take to complete.

Gantt chart templates are also a great way to check a project's dependencies and bottlenecks, making them an excellent tool for collaboration and efficiency.

Though Gantt Charts vary by organization and team, there are typically a few key components:

1. The task list runs vertically down the left-hand side of the chart. It describes project work and is often organized into groups and subgroups. 

2. The timeline runs horizontally across the top of the chart and portrays the progression of the project. 

3. The horizontal bars on the right-hand side of the chart represent progress toward a given goal. Gantt charts also show milestones, dependencies, and stakeholders.

The Gantt chart allows you to capture the essential details of a project in a given timeframe. At a glance, you’re able to see what tasks need to be done, the responsible individuals, the status of tasks, as well as the planned start and end dates of the project and its subtasks. 

When to use a Gantt Chart Template

Use a Gantt chart maker whenever you need to plan and schedule projects for your team, assign responsibilities, and view how the tasks are proceeding over time. The charts are also great tools for collaboration, as they are easily shareable among team members and stakeholders. 

Gantt Chart templates allow you and your team to quickly see a project’s tasks, how long they will take, and who is working on each one, therefore you can quickly see which tasks have dependencies and fit together. Gantt charts are typically created and managed by individuals who are responsible for keeping projects on track and may include:

• CEOs

• Team leaders

• Project managers

• Marketing Managers

• Operations Managers

• CTOs

• Consultants

Often the most difficult aspect of using a Gantt Chart is that it requires considerable time and effort to set up and continually update. With Miro’s pre-made Gantt chart template, you can start working faster and easily make changes as projects progress. Improving time management is one of the fundamental objectives of using a Gantt Chart and with the help of our template, you will be able to seamlessly integrate it into your project planning and management. 

Origins of the Gantt chart

Versions of the Gantt chart were first in use in late 19th century Europe however the Gantt chart as we know it today was popularized by Henry Gantt, an American consultant and engineer, who created his version in the early 20th century. At the time, Gantt created the project planning tool to better measure the productivity of workers.

In the years that followed, the idea and use of the Gantt chart spread and was used in the management of major infrastructure projects including the Intestate Highway and Hoover Dam in the United States. There are also records of the Gantt chart being more widely used in Europe and even the Soviet Union. 

The earliest versions of Gantt charts were hand-drawn on paper, as this was long before the invention and widespread use of computers. Each time changes were needed, the entire Gantt chart would need to be redrawn to accommodate schedule changes. Since the advent of the internet decades later, Gantt charts started being used on desktop applications such as Excel and other dedicated Gantt Chart software. 

Nowadays, it is also possible to use online Gantt Chart tools, which make the creation and modification of Gantt Charts so much faster than the earliest version of this highly useful management tool. 

Benefits of using a Gantt chart

The Gantt chart is one of the most popular and widely used charts in project management, and for good reason. There are several advantages to using a Gantt Chart template: 

• Simplifies complex projects -  Gantt charts help you and your team to visually understand a project that may seem complex with many moving parts. It is easier to then align as a team in creating a roadmap to complete tasks and meet deadlines. 

• Helps with time management - Good planning is key to ensuring milestones are met and that everyone is able to manage their tasks effectively. Using a Gantt chart helps with tracking dependencies and ensuring that everyone has a manageable workload in meeting their goals. If it seems that milestones are not realistically achievable, deadlines can be adjusted with proper foresight and planning.

• Project tracking happens in one place - Perhaps one of the greatest advantages of using the Gantt chart is that you can see all your tasks, important details, and milestones in one place. It avoids confusion in having to track information across different platforms or documents.  

• Improves transparency - There are few things more demotivating than having unrealistic deadlines and expectations. Using a Gantt chart can ensure that everyone is aware of the project’s progress and will reduce the likelihood of miscommunication due to mismatched expectations. 

• Motivates team members - Knowing how tasks fit into the broader project is motivating because people can better understand how they are contributing to the overall project goals. In addition, creating timelines and planning out milestones makes it easier to manage your individual schedules. Being unable to meet deadlines effectively can be incredibly frustrating and demotivating so using a Gantt chart reduces the likelihood of this happening. 

• Increased personalization - Using Miro’s Gantt Chart template is synonymous with personalization. You’re able to change the colors and labels, add sticky notes and images, and so much more. Everyone who is involved in the project can see everything clearly. 

These are just a few of the benefits of using a Gantt chart for project management. Certainly, there are many more advantages of using Gantt charts that are part of the reason why this powerful tool has become so popular.  

Create your own Gantt chart 

Miro’s online collaboration platform is the perfect place to create and manage a Gantt chart with your team. You can get started right away by selecting the Miro Gantt Chart template and tailoring it to your specific project and timeline.

Step 1: Establish a timeframe

A well-constructed Gantt chart must have a well-defined beginning and end. In a way, a Gantt chart is like a combination of a timeline and a Kanban board. It is essential to establish a time frame for achieving your objectives. 

Depending on how your company or business operates, a Gantt chart may correspond to a quarter. For example, let's say we want to conduct a communication strategy for the launch of a new product. We would then set this chart to start on 1 May and end on 31 July. 

It may take longer or require an extension, and that's perfectly fine. However, it is important to define a project end date to work towards. Remember to factor in vacation periods to ensure you accurately allocate time. 

Step 2: Add tasks to the Gantt chart 

With an end goal in mind, you now need to add and complete the tasks on the Gantt chart. Work with your team to add details to the tasks, color code cards according to department, team, or division, and tag responsible team members.

You will also need to assign a start date and an end date and to stretch the task over the time period. This is incredibly important to ensure that everyone understands the timelines involved so that the overall project remains on track. You can also add all the necessary details for the task. Each task can also be divided into subtasks. 

In each team, a project lead or manager should be responsible for assigning different tasks and subtasks to everyone. Each card, depending on the responsible person or team, can have a different color to facilitate the overall understanding of the project plan.  

Step 3: Create dependencies between tasks

Many tasks cannot be executed if other tasks have not been carried out beforehand, so their level of dependency will be very high. Using Miro’s Gantt Chart template, you can create dependency lines by linking cards together. The project manager or team leader should determine the most important dependencies to prioritize and should discuss this with the relevant people involved. 

Step 4: Add milestone markers to provide visibility

Milestone markers, as the name implies, are meant to signify important events or goals in a project plan. The milestone can correspond to phases of a project. You can add these to specify these crucial points in your timeline. 

Step 5: Make changes and iterate if necessary

Editing your Gantt chart is not always ideal as a lot of time and thought goes into planning out the project. Sometimes, however,  it's necessary. Fortunately, online Gantt chart tools allow you to make changes much more easily. 

When you invite your team to collaborate on your Gantt Chart Template, they’ll be able to view any changes such as tasks completed or new processes added in real-time. Add any relevant files (Office, Google Docs, PDF, JPG, PNG) to keep everything in one place, and use the sticky notes and comments feature to explain and discuss tasks when team members need clarification.