Gantt Chart vs. Kanban: Which One is the Best for Your Project?

Project management is booming. We can see projects everywhere: software development, construction, manufacturing, retail, marketing, events planning, and many other spheres.

Before deciding to jump into the profession, you should choose the exact PM methodology and appropriate software.

Project management tools are primarily based on two approaches — a Gantt chart and Kanban.

“Gantt chart vs. Kanban” is the current dilemma for managers who want to discover the best way to visualize their project plans, schedules, tasks, and complete their work in general.

A Gantt chart was invented by Henry Gantt about 100 years ago. Taiichi Ohno, an engineer at Toyota Corporation, developed the Kanban system a little later.

What is the difference between a Gantt diagram and Kanban? What approach looks more valuable? Here we will define the benefits and drawbacks of both tools and explore their simple examples.

Let’s start with a Gantt chart definition.

What is a Gantt сhart?

A Gantt chart is a bar diagram that graphically illustrates a schedule for planning and tracking project tasks. Managers and teams utilize it to provide a strategic, high-level view of their projects. They use this diagram to identify tasks and resources needed for the project and share due dates for task completion.

A Gantt chart reflects a timeline across two axes: the horizontal axis visualizes the schedule, and the vertical one lists all tasks.

Every single task is shown as a colored bar.

With the help of A Gantt diagram, you can easily understand:

• Start/finish dates of a project.
• Start/end points of every task.
• All project tasks.
• Deadlines.
• All assigned people.
• The duration of each task.
• Task dependencies and key milestones.

Project teams all over the world use the invention of Henry Gantt to display their work plans, track progress, and monitor task implementation.

If you are looking for a handy Gantt chart example, you can find real-life cases from software development, web design, marketing, construction, healthcare, event planning, and other areas and spheres. You may even apply the diagram for your private events, such as weddings.

What are the benefits and the drawbacks of Gantt diagrams?

Here are the main advantages of the chart:

• Managing resources. A Gantt chart allows managing time and resources, setting realistic schedules, and allocating resources based on those schedules.
• Advanced task tracking. Using the diagram, you can also reveal possible issues or constraints.
• Realistic deadlines. Project managers understand all the tasks that their teams must accomplish. Coherent visual communication provides a realistic view of the time it takes to complete the work.
• Reflecting task dependencies. The chart shows how one task can depend on another one.
• Assistance in finding workarounds for potential problems before a project starts.
• Balancing multiple projects. You can track different projects and balance the work on each because the chart indicates how to use proper resources at the right time.
• Avoiding work overload. The diagram ensures that the resources will be used efficiently by eliminating the chances of overwork.
• Keeping remote workers aligned. A Gantt chart helps to collaborate even if team members work in different cities or countries.
• Motivating employees. When people visualize their tasks, it inspires them to work well and on time.

Let’s also define some disadvantages of the diagram:

• Having large and complex projects with numerous tasks makes your chart too detailed and difficult to understand.
• Repeated Gantt diagram reworking can become complicated if your company doesn’t use powerful software to help.
• Its setup can be time-consuming, especially for a project manager without experience.

Where do we use a Gantt diagram?

Project management professionals apply a Gantt chart for planning and managing their tasks in various spheres and sectors. By the way, the diagram can be shared with anyone outside a particular project.

Luckily, many project management software solutions offer reliable Gantt chart templates for different areas, such as:

• Software development.
• Web design.
• Marketing and advertising.
• Healthcare.
• Construction.
• Consulting.
• Event planning.
• Education.
• Retail, and many more spheres.

What is the example of a Gantt chart tool?

GanttPRO is one of the best solutions based on the Gantt chart functionality. It is admired by hundreds of thousands of users over the world.

This online Gantt chart tool provides advanced features for scheduling and managing projects. It perfectly suits the needs of businesses in many spheres. The platform empowers project teams to plan and schedule tasks, set dependencies and milestones, manage resources, and improve team collaboration.

GanttPRO also offers a Gantt chart Kanban board.

Here’s the list of the most demanded GanttPRO features:

• Planning and scheduling.
• Resource management.
• Online Gantt chart templates.
• Drag & drop task management.
• Notifications and deadlines.
• Budget management.
• Risk management.
• Kanban board view.
• Time tracking.
• Importing/exporting.
• Reporting.

Now it’s time to move on to the next method of displaying the project view.

What is Kanban?

Although a Gantt diagram is a reliable way to do schedule project management, many project teams also integrate the Kanban system into their workflow management.

Kanban is a visual method for managing workflow at the individual and team levels. It is based on the famous Agile practices and principles. With its help, project managers track work progress using a visual board.

Kanban boards provide a super-simple interface that requires no prior understanding of scheduling tools.

As a rule, a board includes several columns labeled “to-do”, “in progress”, and “done.” They help teams visualize work, reduce the “in progress” tasks, and boost efficiency.

Every column contains cards that represent either an individual task or some other essential project component. Depending on where the card is placed, you can define the task statuses.

Agile-focused teams use Kanban boards for software development, marketing, sales, UX design, product backlog issues, customer support, and more areas.

Here’s the Kanban board example, applied for IT support:

What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Kanban system?

Here is the list of the vivid advantages of a Kanban board:

• Provides better visibility. A Kanban board reflects how tasks are moving through the process. The simplicity of its visual presentation allows spotting bottlenecks early.
• Provides ease of work. The board with handy cards is a pretty simple system.
• Boosts awareness. All upcoming or accomplished tasks are gathered in one place on one board.
• Encourages changes.

What about the disadvantages of Kanban?

• It is not a good system for result-driven projects.
• Does not provide a strict accent on time frames as too much focus is on phases.
• Assumes the plans that are stable and consistent to a certain level.
• Comes with high risks as too many changes can happen.

Where do we apply Kanban?

Kanban works well in combination with other methods and techniques that provide project teams with more flexibility. It can be applied in various spheres with a bias for software development and technology-related projects.

A Kanban board accelerates efficiency since your colleagues will not wait for one task to finish before starting the next one.

What is the example of a Kanban tool?

There are many excellent Kanban software solutions to choose from. Trello is one of them.

This collaboration tool assists in organizing projects into boards, managing tasks, to-do lists, initiatives, and discussions in one spot.

Businesses from many sectors and industries utilize its handy Kanban board functionality. However, Trello has no native time tracking and some more crucial features; that’s why its users need to pay for the additional functionality.

The most popular features that Trello provides are:

• Colorful Kanban boards.
• Drag & drop functionality.
• Advanced visibility to share projects and boards with a team.
• File attachment.
• Easy task organization with tags, labeling, and comments.
• Data filters.
• Deadlines and notifications.
• Discussions.

Gantt vs. Kanban: how about mixing them?

Each of these approaches is more useful for one of the Agile philosophies. Therefore, it is not a good idea to mix them at the project level.

However, you can build a Gantt diagram for the project as a whole and utilize the Kanban method for its subsets.

You can find such cases of collaboration in construction or design projects.

Conclusion

A Kanban board and a Gantt diagram are both great choices for many projects from various industries.

The bar chart seems good for visualizing tasks and projects on timelines. Kanban looks appropriate for reflecting task statuses.

What is your favorite in the battle “Gantt chart vs. Kanban”?

In case you want to get more outstanding facts about a Gantt chart in comparison with other popular tools, feel free to explore our latest articles:

• Gantt chart vs. WBS.
• Gantt chart vs. timeline.
• Gantt chart vs. roadmap.

Feel free to rad the full article here: Gantt Chart vs. Kanban: What Will Empower Your Project? https://blog.ganttpro.com/en/gantt-chart-vs-kanban/.