What Is a Gantt Chart and How Do You Schedule a Project with It?

Good scheduling is the difference between a successful project and one that falls behind. The Gantt chart is one of the most widely used tools for seeing an entire project at a glance and managing time. In this guide we explain the Gantt chart simply and show how to use it to schedule a project.

What is a Gantt chart?

A Gantt chart is a bar chart that shows a project’s tasks along a timeline. Each task is a bar whose length represents its duration and whose position marks its start and end. With a Gantt chart you can see progress, overlapping tasks, and the project’s critical path at a glance.

Components of a Gantt chart

• Tasks: the project’s activities, each of which is a bar on the chart.
• The timeline: the project’s time span, along which the tasks are arranged.
• Dependencies: the links between tasks (a task that must finish before another can start).
• Milestones: important project events, such as the end of a phase.

Steps to schedule a project with a Gantt chart

To schedule a project with a Gantt chart, follow these steps:

1. List the tasks: list all the work the project requires.
2. Estimate each task’s duration: estimate the time needed for each task.
3. Define dependencies: determine which task each one starts after.
4. Assign owners and resources: set an owner and the required resources for each task.
5. Draw it on the Gantt chart: arrange the tasks along the timeline according to duration and dependencies.
6. Track and update: record actual progress and keep the schedule up to date.

The difference between a Gantt chart and Kanban

A Gantt chart focuses on the timing and sequence of tasks and is excellent for scheduled projects with fixed deadlines. Kanban focuses on the continuous flow of work and the status of each task (To Do, In Progress, Done) and suits ongoing work. Many teams use both together. To learn more, read the article on project management methodologies: Kanban, Scrum, and Waterfall.

Benefits of using a Gantt chart

• An overview: the whole project and its schedule are seen at a glance.
• Managing dependencies: a delay in one task and its effect on the rest becomes clear.
• Tracking progress: comparing the plan with reality becomes simple.

Project management software with a Gantt chart

Hamahang project management and ticketing software from Barsavosh Fanavaran provides both a Gantt chart and a Kanban board, tracks tasks with an owner and a deadline, and shows project progress on a single dashboard. To learn more, see the complete guide to project management software and the article what is project management software.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kinds of projects is a Gantt chart suited to?

A Gantt chart suits projects with defined tasks, dependencies, and deadlines, such as construction projects, product manufacturing, or events.

What is the difference between a Gantt chart and the critical path?

A Gantt chart shows all tasks over time; the critical path is a chain of tasks in which any delay pushes back the whole project. A Gantt chart can also display the critical path.

Do you need software for a Gantt chart?

For small projects you can draw a Gantt chart by hand, but in real projects software makes updating and managing dependencies far simpler.

Can you use Gantt and Kanban together?

Yes. Many teams use a Gantt chart for overall scheduling and Kanban for managing daily work at the same time.

Further reading

• What Is a Ticketing System and Why Do Companies Need One?
• The Best Project Management and Enterprise Ticketing Software in Iran: A Buyer’s Guide (2026)
• Enterprise Messenger vs. Ticketing System: Key Differences

Complete guide: project management and ticketing software