When it comes to project planning and monitoring, you can’t do just without Gantt chart tool. It is one such feature-packed tool which is used by many companies all across the globe to boost productivity, track things and communicate progress.
But, there are few tips and tricks which can help managers to make the best of this tool. Below mentioned are some useful tips on using Gantt chart tool efficiently for your next project.
Recognize your Purpose
Gantt charts are used for the purpose of project planning. But before you begin to plan, you need to decide the aim for your planning. Without a specific purpose or goal, there is no use of planning. So, if you still don’t have the answer then find it out first. Establishing a specific goal can help you plan for it in a better way. Also, this makes it possible to use this tool properly.
Map Out a timeline
Once you have decided your goal, the next big thing is estimating the time involved in achieving the same. This will help you to create a timeline for the entire project which will include tasks and subtasks as well. This will further help you to assign tasks to individual team members. Make sure weekends and holidays are excluded from the timeline else you will end up with wrong estimations for project accomplishment.
Decide a Start and End Date
Gantt charts visually represent information in the form of progress bars. You will be able to find a progress bar in the form of a horizontal bar displayed next to individual tasks. The visual representation makes it easy for the other person to interpret the status of every task( indicated by the shaded area). Thus, deciding start and end dates will help you give a better idea about the project and help you use Gantt charts effectively.
Break down project into tasks and subtasks
The best way to manage every project easily is by dividing it into a series of tasks and subtasks. This helps you to provide a clear and understandable picture of the entire project. Also, this helps your team members to align their work with the project goals.
Another important tip for using the online Gantt chart tool is by determining the critical path. A critical path is basically a path from the start to the end date. Getting a clear idea about this path can make you aware of the important tasks of the project. So, you can have a clear picture of the tasks which you cannot afford to miss and also the risks involved in doing so. This helps you to prepare for alternative measures to avoid project failures. A project plan is unsuccessful if it doesn’t have measures to handle things gone wrong. But a Gantt chart saves you from that as well. Once your team is aware of the top-priority tasks, they can accordingly plan their work schedule.
I hope the above tips and tricks will help you to make the best use of Gantt chart tool for you and your team in the next project. If there are any other useful points for the same, feel free to share them as comments below.
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