What Are the Best Project Management Charts for 2023?
A project management chart is what professional project managers utilize to structure and systematize all their planned affairs.
There are many types of project management charts that assist in organizing resources and technologies — all with the aim to let you execute your projects successfully.
This post is about the best PM charts and diagrams that you can apply in 2023.
What is a project management chart?
A project management chart is a graphical representation of your project with all its tasks and processes.
This chart helps managers and teams to plan all processes since it clearly demonstrates correlations between tasks and resources. It may include vital information, such as deadlines, key resources, task dependencies, milestones, and other task details.
You can apply this kind of graph in project planning, task management, team collaboration, resource management, and progress tracking.
Why do we need project management charts?
When project complexity rises, teams need to observe more and more data. This is where an online chart comes to the rescue.
Any PM diagram has its own benefits. However, there are core advantages that all of the charts provide:
- Keep you updated about all project processes.
- Help to make changes to a project plan.
- Minimize the need for moving back and forth to get project data.
- Enhance better understanding of your project.
- Help to deal with unexpected issues.
- Make project tracking more effective.
- Accelerate team collaboration.
What are the types of project management charts?
You can find different types of project management charts and diagrams. Some of them are designed according to processes while few perform at the task level.
The main purpose of a project management graph is to represent data in a visual way and simplify its interpretation. It makes complex processes smooth and efficient, as well as positively affects spotting problems at an early stage.
Below we share some of the most demanded project management charts you can apply right now.
Gantt chart
A Gantt chart is one of the most reliable tools among all project management graphs and charts.
The diagram, invented by the American engineer and management consultant, Henry L. Gantt provides a clear and neat timeline view of projects. It visualizes how project tasks or activities are connected with each other and how they fit in the overall project timeline.
Its vertical axis represents project tasks, while the horizontal one demonstrates the time duration. This system will help you in planning, scheduling, and assigning tasks, setting task dependencies, adding milestones, and tracking progress.
Many newcomers often confuse a Gantt diagram with other tools. A Gantt diagram is not a timeline or a roadmap. We’ve studied the features of all these tools and shared that info in our recent articles:
Pareto chart
This diagram demonstrates the quantitative ratios of various indicators in descending order of frequency. It allows distributing efforts to resolve emerging problems and define the reasons for which optimization should be started.
A Pareto chart, based on the law of the same name, helps to assess losses and effectively analyze activities. It is often used in a Six Sigma analysis. Project managers apply it when they want to get more info about their projects.
The chart consists of columns, the order of which is descending from left to right. They can represent the types of defects, localization, errors, etc. The most important causes that you should pay attention to are on the left. The height of the columns shows the frequency of defects occurrence, their ratio as a percentage, cost, time, etc.
PERT chart
A PERT chart is visualized as a series of circles interconnected by arrows. The center of a circle includes the name of a certain project activity. The arrows show how the team will complete the activities, from one milestone to the next. The abbreviation means Program Evaluation and Review Technique.
The system of circles and arrows allows detailing a number of tasks that take place simultaneously. It shows how the progress of one will impact the other.
Flowchart
This graph is good for small projects with several flows and processes. It simplifies managing projects and makes it easier when project managers work on complicated processes.
A Flowchart illustrates all essential activities and events that happen between the start and the end of your project. It provides boxes, figures of different shapes, and arrows that illustrate the sequence of events.
The graph is often used in combination with a Gantt chart.
WBS
WBS means Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). This chart is a deliverable-oriented breakdown of a project into smaller manageable parts.
Breaking tasks into such parts is a popular productivity method, so the WBS structure is the tool to implement it.
This chart doesn’t provide stats or figures to display but it is good to execute your project in a systematic way. Breaking down the project will empower your team to create a better project plan, schedule work, and ensure systematic work execution.
Pie chart
A Pie chart is a flexible system that can be utilized for representing various types of project data. It has a circular shape and works as a reliable tool for data segmentation.
It divides data categories related to the essential project processes into slices. These slices have their own specific identity. The arc length of every slice corresponds to the quantity of information that it represents.
A Pie chart assists in illustrating the numeric proportions of different categories that form a collective whole.
Fishbone diagram
A Fishbone chart (also known as a Cause effect diagram) helps to logically organize the possible causes of a specific problem in your project.
When you can define the potential causes, you can more easily recognize the root cause.
Project managers use this chart in the early stages of projects to uplift their success rate and minimize the issues in a lesser amount of time. Conducting brainstorming sessions is one more sphere where the Cause effect diagram can really help.
Choosing a project management chart type, depending on a project size
Many PM charts provide a more simplistic way of displaying data. That is why they can only cope with a smaller volume of data. When you include complex data from a large project, these charts will become impossible to interpret.
A Pie diagram will be good for a small project as they can only show the relation between two values.
There are diagrams that act better if applied to enterprise-level project management. For example, a Gantt chart is one of the best ways to visualize the entire team’s workflow. It helps managers to easily oversee their team’s progress and monitor the contribution of every individual.
Conclusion
Now you know some of the best charts for project management that you can use right away. They will help you to manage different phases of project development in a systematic way.
There are more PM diagram solutions to visualize tasks and processes. Don’t hesitate to try them and select the best option. Combine available charts, streamline your projects, use creative ways for project visualization, and lead your competitors.
Learn more useful info about the best PM charts by reading the article 10 High-Performing Project Management Charts for 2023 https://blog.ganttpro.com/en/best-project-management-charts/
