Gantt chart
Definition
A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart that represents a project schedule, with each bar showing the start date, duration, and end date of a task or phase.
Henry Gantt developed the chart that bears his name in the early 1900s as a production scheduling tool. It became the standard for project planning because it lets you see at a glance what's happening, when, and for how long — something no list of dates can communicate as quickly.
A Gantt chart typically shows tasks on the vertical axis and calendar time on the horizontal axis. Bars represent task duration. Dependencies are sometimes shown with arrows linking the end of one bar to the start of another. Milestones appear as diamonds. Progress can be tracked by filling bars partially.
Gantt charts show up on whiteboards during project kickoffs, sprint planning at scale, and quarterly planning sessions. Teams sketch a rough grid with weeks or months across the top and work items down the side. BoardSnap AI reads the structure — the time axis, the task labels, and the bar positions — and produces a summary of the schedule and key milestones. For tight sprint work, a PERT chart or dependency graph may be more informative; for communicating a plan to stakeholders, the Gantt is still the clearest format.
Examples
- Product launch plan: Design (weeks 1-3), Development (weeks 2-8), QA (weeks 7-9), Launch (week 10)
- Construction schedule: Foundation → Framing → Electrical → Drywall → Finish work, each with start/end bars
- Marketing campaign: Asset creation, Ad setup, Soft launch, Full launch as sequential phases
- Quarterly roadmap with three parallel workstreams shown as overlapping bar groups
Related terms
Snap a gantt chart. Ship its actions.
BoardSnap turns any whiteboard — including this one — into a summary and action plan.