Project Design How to construct a Gantt diagram

What is a Gantt Diagram/Chart? A bar chart that … Shows a schedule of activities – Start and end dates Shows dependencies between activities – What activities must be done before others – The outputs of one activity that are inputs to another CAN link activities to resource inputs – Human resources, materials, finance

Summary of Steps 1.Understand your project’s work breakdown List activities and sub-activities 2.Estimate time & other resources for all (sub-) activities 3.Put activities in order 4.Lay out all timelines as bars, on the graph 5.Assess all relationships between activities 6.Add rows reflecting human & related resource needs

1. List all (sub-)activities Make a quick list of all the activities you can think of; Order doesn’t matter at this point; Group as main activities and sub-activities; some may even change place.

2a. Estimate time needs For each item on your list of activities, estimate the time needed. At this stage you are concerned with calendar time, not total working hours, and only for the activity as stated.

2b. Consider other resources For each activity consider: Number of people & time units (base on 2a); Special equipment & facilities needed, if any, & time required to acquire; Material needs, & time required to acquire; Time required for any approaches or methods: – Waiting time for responses; – Time for printing & distribution; – etc.

2b continued… Addition time is added for another person to check/edit text The workshop will run for 4 days. It will involve a facilitator, an assistance and myself, full time. I allow two weeks for people to receive, read, and respond to the draft document. The project bears no cost for this “activity.” Meetings held over a 5-day period with seniors & accountant, but total person time is only 2 days. I must allow some time between organising & holding the workshop. On the second day of preparation I involve my proposed facilitator to finalise agenda and process.

3. Put activities in order If you haven’t already put the activities and sub-activities in order, it is time to do so now. Group sub-activities under their respective activities. In our example the activities are already in order.

4. Lay out activities in bar chart format 5. Assess & insert all dependencies

Example of Combined Schedule Activities & Personnel 6. Time Distribution of personnel inputs – also gives hotel & transport needs

Other tips… Use colours & shadings to differentiate types or intensities of inputs; Think of potential issues when photocopying; Let project duration determine size of Gantt diagram (A4 or folded A3 paper)… Software doesn’t have this problem but printing can be an issue. For projects with MANY sub-activities, use main activity headings, and hide rows.