Gantt Charts Part 2

Remember that one of the points of a Gantt chart is to show how your project developed over time. There are different ways of showing this. You may have

1. used a symbol to show when each job was done
2. used a colour code to show the actual time you spent on each task
3. written comments next to each task to explain changes you made
4. done nothing after printing the original Gantt chart.

If you did 1, 2, 3 or another sensible thing, you should print what you did.

If you did 4, you should hand-write notes on your print-out about how long each thing took and what changes you needed to make to your timeline.

Gantt Charts

There are different ways of making Gantt charts, but the basic idea is to show all the tasks you need to do by the deadline and plan how much time each one will take. Excel is good software to use for a Gantt chart because it starts off as a table format and it allows dates to be entered quickly and efficiently. You should include

• milestones - these are big steps on the way to the goal with target dates


• resources - what things (hardware, software and other stuff) you will need for each step.

Here is an example - but you can do better!

It is hard to show the resources on the same sheet of paper. You may wish to copy your final task list onto another worksheet and show the resources needed on a separate page.

Gantt Charts

A Gantt chart is a way of managing your time when you are working on a project.
It may show time in weeks or days.
It shows all the jobs that need to be done to complete the project.
At the beginning of the project it shows how long you think each stage in the project will take.
It is useful to help you keep track of where you are up to.

A Gantt chart can and should be revised as things change. If something takes longer than expected, there is less time to spend on something else. If something is faster that expected, you can spend more time on something else, or even finish earlier! It is important to show that your Gantt chart has need adjusting during the course of your project.

Instructions for Monday 20th July were to

1. Open your Gantt chart.
2. Check that you have included storyboarding.
3. Revise so that you can complete everything by the due date.
4. Print an updated version.
5. Handwrite comments about changes needed.
6. Put into your folder - do not remove the old one.