what is a gantt chart

A Gantt chart is a project management tool that helps in planning, scheduling, and monitoring a project. It is a graphical representation of activity against time, showing start and end dates, dependencies, scheduling, deadlines, and task owners. Gantt charts are essentially task scheduling tools that convert project management timelines and tasks into horizontal bars. They are particularly useful for visualizing projects and are frequently used throughout projects, programs, and portfolios after tasks have been identified using a work breakdown structure. Gantt charts are generally well understood and relatively simple to create, and they can be used to show progress and plan resources. However, on their own, they don’t show dependencies, and there is a limit to the size of schedule that can reasonably be read and understood. Gantt charts were named after Henry Gantt, an American mechanical engineer who designed them in the early part of the 20th century. Today, Gantt charts are still one of the most widely used project management tools