In case you’re an authorized mission supervisor, then you definately probably use Gantt chart software program or a minimum of some kind of Gantt chart template. A Gantt chart is an efficient software for making a mission schedule, particularly for individuals who like issues displayed graphically. Nonetheless, regardless of their reputation, not everybody loves working in a Gantt chart, which is why there are Gantt chart alternate options that may additionally assist with mission planning and scheduling.
10 Greatest Gantt Chart Alternate options for Venture Administration
Gantt charts have their downsides. Let’s be sincere—when you begin including milestones and dependencies, they will get messy. Add in useful resource names, lag instances and symbols and it could shortly change into an awesome mission scheduling software that even a mission supervisor struggles to know, by no means thoughts mission sponsors who don’t communicate Gantt.
Thankfully, there are easier methods to get your message throughout. Listed below are ten Gantt chart alternate options you should utilize immediately.
1. Sheet View
Most individuals regard Gantt charts as Excel spreadsheets which have a project timeline. In a fundamental sense, that’s true. With them, you may see all of the duties in your mission schedule in a single place, which could be very useful. However there’s numerous knowledge behind that graph.
What if there have been a strategy to reduce the bar chart and solely show uncooked mission knowledge? You possibly can! This Gantt chart various is known as a sheet view, and whereas not all Gantt chart software program has this feature, ProjectManager affords the sheet view together with its already dynamic Gantt chart. The sheet view provides you the whole lot you’d need from a Gantt, together with assigning duties to your group, linking dependencies and setting milestones.
One of many options that make the sheet higher than different Gantt chart alternate options is that you just get one of the best of each worlds. You possibly can view and customise extra columns to raised fit your mission. Then, you may choose the columns you wish to see represented on the Gantt view.
Toggle between the sheet and Gantt view as you must as the info stays the identical. In case you replace one, the opposite immediately syncs. Our sheet and Gantt views even have extra performance than different Gantt software program. For instance, you may filter the crucial path with out having to do any well timed calculations in your calculator. When you’ve settled on a schedule, set a baseline to avoid wasting your plan and evaluate it to your precise progress to maintain you from falling off monitor.
2. Kanban Boards
Whereas sometimes helpful for various initiatives than the standard Gantt chart, kanban boards are gaining reputation, particularly as they go digital and add performance to mission administration software program. The board view in ProjectManager follows the traditional kanban design that includes playing cards that characterize duties on a board that’s damaged up into columns that characterize the completely different phases of your manufacturing cycle.
Managers can use the Gantt view to construct a project. From there, the entire process administration knowledge carries over to the cardboard on the kanban board, together with the outline, precedence, tags, deadlines, subtasks, and so forth. The columns are utterly customizable to replicate your manufacturing cycle, permitting the supervisor to have a visible of the workflow. They’ll monitor progress with out micromanaging. In the event that they see the potential for a block down the pipeline, the supervisor can reallocate sources shortly to maintain the group working with out pricey interruptions.
Kanban boards are the most effective Gantt chart alternate options for group members and staff. It permits them to handle their backlog and plan collectively for sprints once they’re able to execute them. They transfer the playing cards from column to column, can collaborate by commenting on the cardboard then get an electronic mail and in-app notifications, at any time when there’s an replace to the duty or somebody tags them within the feedback. Similar to any of the opposite views on our software program, updates immediately sync with the opposite instruments. Everyone seems to be all the time engaged on the identical present knowledge, whether or not that’s on the listing view, kanban or Gantt.
3. Activity Lists
Who doesn’t use task lists? Whether or not you might have an app to trace your to-do listing or choose an old school strategy utilizing a paper listing in a pocket book, most mission managers discover themselves gravitating towards process lists sooner or later in a mission.
As a result of so many individuals use them (and if not at work, you may guess all of your mission stakeholders have used them to plan a vacation, a picnic or a toddler’s soccer match), they’re straightforward to know and don’t require an evidence.
Activity lists are the most effective Gantt chart alternate options as a result of you should utilize any software to prepare a task list, which supplies you the flexibleness to make use of a process administration software that your stakeholders already discover straightforward to make use of. A spreadsheet works properly.
Record out all of the mission duties – use your Gantt chart, in case you have one, as a information to what must go on the listing. Add a column for who’s doing the duty, the anticipated completion date and a column to mark the duty’s standing. ‘Not began,’ ‘in progress’ and ‘full’ are easy standing updates to make use of, and you can even color-code duties if you wish to embrace a visible illustration of whether or not they’re prone to be accomplished on time or the extent of danger.
4. Venture Community Diagrams
Venture community diagrams are like stream diagrams. They present the sequence of actions that make up a mission, within the order that they should occur. In a mission community diagram, every mission process is proven in a separate field and, like a puzzle, strains be part of up the bins within the order that they should occur. A lot of individuals have used stream diagrams earlier than, so community diagrams can look extra acquainted than Gantt charts and they are often simpler for the first-time mission sponsor to know.
Having mentioned that, there may be some additional data to slot in the duty bins that may want explaining. Sometimes a project network diagram process field additionally contains dates for the beginning and finish of the duty in addition to the period, which is generally marked in days. You possibly can add no matter knowledge you need into the field, like a process identification quantity, the useful resource allotted to it, location, workstream and so forth, however the extra you embrace, the messier it’ll look and the more durable will probably be to learn.
Venture community diagrams are the most effective Gantt chart alternate options for easy initiatives the place duties stream from one to the opposite so as. The extra parallel strands of exercise you might have, the more durable will probably be to show on one web page. If you must change one process, you could possibly find yourself transferring dozens of strains to get all of it to show neatly once more. Greatest follow solely drawing out community diagrams for easy initiatives and to solely have process bins for abstract duties as an alternative of each particular person day’s value of growth time.
5. Venture Dashboards and Reviews
Why make issues laborious for your self? All the choices above require you to do extra work to show the mission data into one thing that your mission stakeholders can perceive. You may discover that a lot of the work is completed for you in case you use a project management software product that features mission reporting choices.
Along with our on-line Gantt at ProjectManager, we developed real-time dashboards so you may see a number of views of your mission at a look. Not like different mission administration software program instruments, you don’t should arrange the dashboard. We’ve got all of it arrange for you from the second you log in.
There might be mission report templates that prevent a while, however you could possibly additionally customise what comes out of your software right into a format that stakeholders can use. Standing, progress and resource utilization studies are all out there on the click on of a button. With the choice to tailor your mission dashboards, you can provide completely different stakeholders personalized views which is able to prevent numerous knowledge dealing with time.
As soon as the reports are configured, they’re saved and out there to populate month-to-month, or extra regularly in response to your reporting schedule, so this various to a Gantt chart has the smallest common overhead for the mission supervisor.
6. Venture Calendar
Project calendars are most likely essentially the most generally used software from all of the Gantt chart alternate options on this listing. However moreover being a software most individuals are acquainted with, there’s mission administration software program like ProjectManager that gives mission calendars geared up with the fitting mission administration options that may enable you plan, schedule and monitor your initiatives.
For instance, ProjectManager’s mission calendar lets you enter detailed details about your mission duties comparable to their timelines, prices, due dates, precedence ranges and extra. On high of that, it syncs with different mission administration instruments comparable to Gantt charts, kanban boards, process lists and dashboards for an entire mission administration expertise.
7. Venture Flowchart
A project flowchart is an easy diagram that lets you visualize the duties and workflows that make up a mission. Its essential function is to simplify what’s in a mission plan by offering an summary of the order through which mission duties can be accomplished. One of many key benefits of utilizing a mission flowchart is that it permits mission managers to visually characterize the scope of their initiatives in a format that’s straightforward to know for mission stakeholders comparable to traders or group members.
8. Milestone Chart
Venture milestones are vital achievements that have to be completed all through the execution of a mission to ensure it’s delivered efficiently. A milestone chart is an easy mission administration chart that consists of a visible timeline that goes from the begin to the top dates of a mission and exhibits the milestones of a mission.
Normally, it doesn’t present different particulars that might be included in a Gantt chart or mission schedule like mission duties due dates or the rest, as a result of it’s meant to be a software that summarizes a mission from a high-level view. This Gantt chart various is good for presenting a project proposal or mission plan to executives and mission traders.
9. PERT Chart
PERT charts are a helpful mission scheduling software that can be utilized for estimating the overall period of a mission, figuring out process dependencies, organizing process sequences and figuring out the crucial path of your mission, which makes them the most effective Gantt chart alternate options for mission managers. Visually, they appear like a community diagram through which duties are represented by bins that embrace their names, begin and end dates and period. They’re related by arrows to characterize their order and dependencies.
10. Work Breakdown Construction (WBS)
A work breakdown structure or WBS, is a mission administration diagram that enables mission managers to interrupt down the scope of a mission into particular person duties. To make a piece breakdown construction, it’s best to outline the targets of your mission after which estimate all of the work that can be required to achieve them.
The primary benefit of this software is that it offers an summary of the mission duties that can be executed and the way the completely different components of a mission work collectively. Work breakdown buildings are sometimes utilized in construction projects. Right here’s an instance of a building work breakdown construction.
Work breakdown buildings enormously assist with the method of estimating the duties that can make up a mission, which is an important step in the course of the mission planning and project scheduling course of. For that reason, we’ve created a free work breakdown construction template you should utilize to get began with this Gantt chart various.
Gantt Chart Template
This free Gantt chart template can assist you simply create a visible mission schedule. Merely add your mission duties, their durations and due dates and the template will mechanically create a stacked bar chart.
Associated Gantt Chart Content material
In addition to providing the most effective mission administration software program, we’ve dozens of blogs, templates and guides on Gantt charts and different mission administration instruments.
Scheduling and having the ability to report in your mission are essential. To try this on-line with a strong software that lets you see on a dashboard view the real-time image of your mission is like icing on the cake. Who’d eat cake with out icing? In case you’ve been pressured to work on initiatives with out a web based administration software to provide you administration over your standing, useful resource and progress studies, then you must try ProjectManager.
