On the other hand, a Gantt chart quickly shows us the duration of the project, where the network diagram must be analyzed before we can say what would be the estimated project completion time. But we must look closely at the Gantt chart to notice the second activity starts after the first one is completed. This dependency is easily understood by looking at the arrow that goes from A to B, showing the finish to start nature of the dependency between these two activities.

For instance, we know activity A contract sign must be completed before activity B survey design can begin. While one could show the dependencies among various activities in Gantt chart in its classical form, the dependencies are not as clearly laid out as compared to network diagram. Let's look at the Gantt chart for this project.

In this network the dependencies are very clear. The task dependencies are used to create the network diagram you see here, and then task times are recorded inside each node. To do this, I'm going to go back to an example I have used to show you how to create a network diagram. But before we go any further, let's compare how a Gantt chart is different from a network diagram and how they are similar. Of course, there are other software programs that can help you with displaying Gantt chart.

This Gantt chart here was developed using Microsoft project, but you can do this manually or in Excel as well. It is essentially a bar graph with time being represented on the x-axis and work packages from the work breakdown structure on the y-axis, like you see here. Gantt chart is named after David Gantt, who created it in early 1900s, and remains as one of the most widely used charts in project management.

Web based gantt chart maker