Gantt Chart Template
Plan project timelines and track dependencies at a glance. Assign tasks to team members and visualize delivery milestones across weeks.
Use this templateWhat you get
- Time-axis with weekly columns
- Color-coded task bars per team
- Milestone markers for key delivery dates
What this template is for
This Gantt chart template helps you lay out every task in a project on a shared timeline so the whole team can see what is happening, in what order, and who is responsible. Use it to plan a product launch, track a construction schedule, or map out a marketing campaign from kickoff to delivery. A Gantt chart turns a list of tasks into a visual timeline that makes dependencies and bottlenecks obvious before they cause delays.
When to use this template
- Plan a software release by mapping development, testing, and deployment phases with their dependencies.
- Track a marketing campaign from strategy to go-live across multiple channels and contributors.
- Manage a product launch timeline with milestones for design freeze, beta, and public announcement.
- Schedule a website redesign project with clear owner assignments per phase.
- Coordinate an event across vendors, logistics, and internal teams on a shared calendar view.
- Monitor a research project with literature review, data collection, and write-up phases.
How to use it
- 1List all tasks in the left column, grouped by phase or workstream.
- 2Set the start and end date for each task as a horizontal bar on the timeline.
- 3Draw dependency arrows between tasks that must finish before the next one can start.
- 4Assign an owner to each bar so accountability is visible at a glance.
- 5Mark key milestones — delivery dates, reviews, or sign-offs — as diamond or flag markers on the timeline.
Quick example
Product launch Gantt
How it compares to similar tools
Gantt chart vs. Kanban board
A Gantt chart shows tasks against a time axis — it answers 'when does this finish and what depends on what'. A Kanban board shows tasks against status columns — it answers 'what is in progress right now'. Use Gantt for fixed-deadline projects with clear dependencies (launches, construction, events); use Kanban for continuous flow work like support or maintenance.
Gantt chart vs. PERT chart
A Gantt chart emphasizes calendar time — bars on a timeline. A PERT chart emphasizes the network of task dependencies and the critical path through them. Gantt is easier to read for stakeholders; PERT is more accurate for identifying which slipping task will actually delay the project. Many planners use PERT to find the critical path, then communicate it as a Gantt chart.
Gantt chart vs. timeline
A timeline shows events at points in time, no duration or dependency. A Gantt chart shows tasks as bars spanning a duration, with arrows for dependencies. Use a timeline for marketing milestones or historical events; use a Gantt chart when tasks have measurable duration and downstream tasks wait on upstream ones.
Common mistakes to avoid
No dependencies marked
A Gantt chart without dependency arrows is just a list of dated bars — it loses its main value. The whole point is showing 'task B cannot start until task A finishes'. Without dependencies, schedule risk is invisible.
Tasks at the wrong granularity
A 6-month task as one bar tells you nothing. A 2-hour task is noise. Aim for tasks that take 1-5 working days each — small enough to track meaningfully, big enough to matter. If a task is too long, break it down; if too short, group with related work.
Ignoring the critical path
Not every task slipping by a day will delay the project — only tasks on the critical path do. Identify and visually mark the critical path so the team knows where to focus. If you do not know which path is critical, your Gantt chart is missing its most important insight.
No resource view
Bars on a timeline say nothing about whether the same person is assigned to three parallel tasks. Annotate each bar with the owner, or add a resource lane below the chart. Over-allocation is the most common reason a Gantt schedule slips that 'looked feasible'.
Never updating after the project starts
A Gantt drawn during planning and never touched again is a planning artifact, not a tracking tool. Update actuals weekly so the chart shows what really happened, not just what was planned. The gap between plan and actual is where lessons live.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Gantt chart?+
A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that shows project tasks against a time axis. Each task is a bar; the bar's length is its duration; arrows between bars show dependencies. It is the most common way to plan, communicate, and track schedule-driven projects.
Who invented the Gantt chart?+
Henry Gantt, an American mechanical engineer, designed the chart in the 1910s for managing production scheduling in factories. The basic format has not changed much in a century, which is unusual for management tools.
What is the critical path in a Gantt chart?+
The critical path is the longest chain of dependent tasks from project start to finish. Any delay on a critical path task delays the entire project; delays on non-critical tasks have slack. Identifying the critical path tells you where to invest extra attention and resources.
How is a Gantt chart different from a project schedule?+
A project schedule is the underlying plan — task names, durations, dependencies, owners. A Gantt chart is one visualization of that schedule. The same schedule could be shown as a table, calendar, or network diagram. Gantt is the most popular because the time-bar format communicates duration and overlap intuitively.
How many tasks is too many for a Gantt chart?+
Past 30-50 tasks the chart becomes hard to read in one view. For larger projects, use a hierarchical Gantt: one summary chart with phase-level bars (5-10 phases), and detailed Gantt charts per phase. Project managers maintain the detail; executives see the summary.
Can I make a Gantt chart online for free?+
Yes. Open the CodePic Gantt template, add task bars along the timeline, connect dependencies with arrows. Export to PNG, SVG, or share a live link. No sign-up required.
Start editing online
Open the template in CodePic, replace the sample nodes, and turn it into your own study board in a few minutes.
See examples: /templates/gantt/examples
