Learn in the textbookScope and Schedule Management
DefinitionA Gantt chart (ガントチャート) is a schedule table that lists activities down the side and time across the top, showing each activity's period as the length of a horizontal bar.
ExplanationPlanned bars (□) and actual bars (■) are drawn side by side, and checking whether the actual bar reaches the planned one up to the current point shows at a glance which activities are on track and which are behind. In the figure, the actual bar for creating the materials stops at week 1 and falls short of the plan for week 2, so that activity is late. The ◆ in week 3 is a milestone (マイルストーン) marking when the materials are due to be finished, and unlike a bar it has no length.
AnalogyPicture a school timetable turned on its side, with tasks in place of subjects and dates in place of class periods. The filled-in cells tell you how far things have come.
Memory hookThe name comes from Henry Gantt, the American engineer who spread this chart through factory production control in the early 20th century.