Can a Gantt Chart Help My Start-Up?

Gantt charts can be incredibly useful for managing projects and keeping everything organized. It’s mainly used by project managers to assess the various tasks of a project against a given timeline. This graph is an excellent visual guide, as it shows everything – start and end dates and task status. But can a Gantt chart help your start-up? In short, yes. Let’s see how and why!

When Should I Use a Gantt Chart?

You can use a Gantt chart whenever you manage any type of project that involves more than one task. Project managers create Gantt charts to help them put together all the puzzle pieces of a project. With the help of this tool, the whole team can get a better idea of how the project should progress and when every task should be done.

With a Gantt chart, you have a great visual tool. It will help you set dates and deadlines for each specific task. So when should you use a Gantt chart? Well, whenever you need an extra dose of organization within your team. The size of the project doesn’t really matter – if it has more than one task, it can be visualized in a Gantt chart.

Why Should I Use a Gantt Chart?

A Gantt chart will more or less “force” you to go in detail through all the tasks involved in a project. During this stage, you’ll figure out who’s going to be responsible for which task and what the ideal deadline should be. On top of that, it’s the perfect moment to identify the potential issues your team might come across.

When you go into this much detail from the beginning, you make sure you don’t miss out on important things. For example, you’ll know from the start if the deadlines are doable, you’ll make sure each task is assigned to a team member and that any potential issues already have solutions.

With a Gantt chart, you can also keep everyone up to date on progress – both your team and any eventual superiors or stakeholders. All you have to do is update the graph to display any changes made and their eventual implications.

How to Create a Gantt Chart

Creating a Gantt chart can seem quite intimidating at first. There are so many details and information needed that a newbie might get lost. Luckily, you can use a Gantt chart template to make things easier. But really, it’s not that hard to create a Gantt chart. Here’s how to do it!

• Choose the crucial tasks. Before you start, you should figure out what the essential tasks are. Your Gantt chart won’t be of much use unless it can provide you with relevant information. When choosing the crucial steps to be added to the chart, make sure you also consult with your team. They could have different insights that you might have overlooked.
• Connect the tasks. The main purpose of a Gantt chart is to display the relationships between tasks. You might not be able to start a task before completing the previous one. For example, if you’re creating a website, you can’t have it programmed until the design is finished.
• Add your tasks to a template. You can do it the hard way – drawing it by hand – or the easy way, with a Gantt chart template. If you go the digital way, make sure you choose a cloud-based one so your team can have access to it from whenever.
• Keep track of progress. As your project evolves, the tasks will naturally progress. Sometimes, some tasks might come to a halt due to unforeseen reasons. Whenever that happens, make sure you update the Gantt chart with these changes to keep everyone on track and updated.

Benefits of a Gantt Chart

The main benefit of a Gantt chart is that it allows you to get a better understanding of which tasks can be worked on at the same time and which ones can’t start until others are finished. It will help you identify a potential blockage and avoid it before it happens.

With a Gantt chart, you can get a better picture of important aspects of a project such as timing, task duration, what activities are crucial and which ones can be delayed and which tasks should absolutely be finished on time.

The beauty of Gantt charts is that they’re perfect for projects of any size and type. They can be used in various fields and industries from tech, marketing and advertising to infrastructure, pharma or insurance.

We can’t stress enough how important this tool is, especially for a start-up that’s just finding its footing. When starting a new business, there are millions of things you have to keep track of. And keeping everything in check is important if you want your business to succeed.

But because we’re humans and we sometimes get overwhelmed, we shouldn’t shy away from using tools that can make our lives easier. Especially considering the domino effect that missing just one task could have. So when you have a company that’s just emerging, you should use Gantt charts to keep track of everything. Trust us, it’s worth it!

Our Final Thoughts

To answer the question in the title once again, yes, a Gantt chart can tremendously help your start-up. Sure, established businesses can and do use Gantt charts on the regular to keep track of every task in a project. But a start-up can greatly benefit from this tool as it helps identify potential problems in a project. When in the right hands, a Gantt chart can truly change the way you manage and operate your start-up.

What about you? Have you used Gantt charts in your business until now? If yes, what’s your opinion on them? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below!