Timelining (Graphical Representation)

In order to deliver to a reasonable amount of the specifications defined at the start of a project, one needs to be aware of how much time is available to utilize, and to budget it wisely.

There are many approaches to visualize the timeline of a project and note the dependency chain of activities¹. A couple of the common ones are listed here.

Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart is a timeline of a project. The top of the chart shows the time frame and the left side of the chart lists the project activities. Each activity listed on the left-hand side of a Gantt chart has a colored bar next to it. The position and length of that bar depends on the activity’s timeline and duration: when it starts and when it ends. The magic of a Gantt chart is that it lets you set the order in which tasks should be completed.

In short, a Gantt chart shows:

• What tasks need to be done to complete the project
• When these tasks need to be done

PERT Chart

A Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) chart is a project management tool used to schedule, organize, and coordinate tasks within a project. It is basically a method to analyze the tasks involved in completing a given project, especially the time needed to complete each task, and to identify the minimum time needed to complete the total project.

The PERT chart uses a connected series of nodes to make explicit dependencies between tasks. In addition, the order of tasks is given by the flow of the connections left to right, but the horizontal axis is not necessarily linear in time.

CPM

The CPM (Critical Path Management) chart is similar to the PERT chart but includes an explicit indication of the “critical path”—that sequence of tasks that defines the minimum amount of time for the project.