Gantt Chart vs. Roadmap: What’s the Difference?

 

Is a Gantt Chart a Roadmap?

One question we’ve heard many times at ProductPlan is: Aren’t Gantt charts and roadmaps just different ways of viewing the same thing? We understand the confusion. Both tools display information related to completing a long-term project, such as developing a product. Both tools also set milestones for various aspects of the project over time.

But our answer to this common question is a clear No: Gantt charts and roadmaps are different tools with very different strategic purposes. We’ll explain those differences in this post.

Gantt Charts vs. Roadmaps

What is a Gantt chart?

A Gantt chart is a bar chart that displays a detailed schedule of tasks related to a single project. The two defining elements of Gantt charts are:

1.     They represent a linear schedule.
2.     They capture task dependencies.

In other words, Gantt charts help show cross-functional teams what work they must complete, in what order, before they can move on to the next stage of a project.

Another way to understand this: A Gantt chart can help a team set a plan that details how they will complete a project. On the other hand, a roadmap will help them define and communicate why they should complete it. We’ll discuss that below.

What is a roadmap?

A roadmap sets a strategic plan and goals for completing a major undertaking, such as building and releasing a product.

The defining elements of roadmaps are:

1.     They focus on high-level plans (not the details).
2.     They communicate the strategic thinking and objectives behind those high-level plans.

A company can use a roadmap and Gantt chart for the same large-scale initiative. The roadmap defines the why behind the project. The Gantt chart establishes how and when. Let’s discuss a hypothetical example.

 Roadmap for a housing development project.

Imagine a real estate development company planning to build a new residential neighborhood of single-family homes.

Before they can start working on the task-level details (applying for building permits, renting construction equipment), they need to decide on their big-picture strategy and plans. In other words, the roadmap comes before the Gantt chart. The roadmap could include:

A high-level theme: Build a quality neighborhood for young families

A broad timeline of milestones:

• Models will be done by X timeframe.
• Sales offices will be up and running by X timeframe.
• The properties will be sold in 3 phases, over 18 months.

The roadmap captures the high-level strategy. It will also help the company communicate its strategic thinking to investors. The team can also use the roadmap as a strategic guidepost, a tool they can check in with periodically to make sure they’re executing according to their plan.

Gantt chart for a housing development project.

After the company agrees on these strategic plans and objectives, it can translate those high-level plans into the detailed, task-dependent steps its various teams will need to complete. This is where there the Gantt chart comes into play.

The Gantt chart will contain such details as:

• The excavation and leveling will take X days and must be complete by this date.
  
• The government affairs team needs to secure all relevant city permits by this date.
  
• The utility teams must coordinate with the city to run piping and electricity by this date.
  
• The underground piping work will take X days and must be complete by this date.
  
• The concrete must be poured and foundations laid by this date.
  
• The plumbing and electrical teams must complete their work by this date.
  
• The drywall and flooring teams must complete their work by this date.
  
• The interior designers need to submit their drawings and plans by this date.

In reality, this list would be much longer and contain much more detail. The point is, the Gantt chart represents each task that must be completed, in order, before the company can move onto the next one.

For example, if the government affairs team fails to secure the right permits, the utility team cannot run piping and other neighborhood services. If the piping isn’t laid under each lot, the foundation teams can’t begin pouring concrete.

Are Gantt Charts Agile?

Although agile organizations often use Gantt charts, the charts themselves do not reflect or support the agile framework.

When it comes to building products, agile emphasizes flexibility and adaptability. The approach also encourages teams to iterate often and frequently push out new versions to gain user feedback.

In fact, Gantt charts represent the opposite of agile. They emphasize linear work, task dependencies, and high levels of detail. They favor mapping out every step of a project before starting, setting do-or-die deadlines, and focusing on the output rather than the strategic outcome, which roadmaps focus on.

In other words, Gantt charts represent more of a waterfall approach to development and project management. And the agile methodology was designed specifically as an answer to the shortcomings of waterfall.

Are Product Roadmaps Agile?

This is another key difference between roadmaps and Gantt charts. While Gantt charts do not support the quick changes of direction often required in an agile environment, product roadmaps can definitely represent the agile framework.

Roadmaps capture only the high-level strategic plans and desired outcomes of a large initiative, such as building a product. Because roadmaps keep their focus high-level, they give a cross-functional team a lot of freedom in translating that strategy into tasks, timelines, priorities, and resource allocation.

How Can You Leverage Both Gantt Charts and Product Roadmaps?

Although these tools take different approaches to move projects forward, Gantt charts and product roadmaps can support each other in an organization. Here’s how that might work in practice.

The cross-functional team will first create a product roadmap to:

• Develop and capture a high-level strategy for the product.
• Communicate the strategy to relevant stakeholders to ensure everyone is aligned around a shared set of goals and plans for the product.
• Present the roadmap to the executive team (and perhaps investors) for approval to proceed with the high-level plan.
• Make the roadmap accessible to all relevant contributors across the company, so anyone can check in to ensure their daily tasks are still on track and supporting the big-picture plans.

Then the team can translate the roadmap’s plans into a detailed Gantt chart that will:

• Break the project into time-based steps, phases, and detailed tasks.
• Display all task dependencies (and their related deadlines) across the schedule.
• Set expected timelines and due dates for each task and each stage of the project.

Gantt charts and roadmaps serve very different purposes. But an organization doesn’t have to choose between them. If used properly, they can work together to help a team combine their plan’s strategic elements with the tactical detail needed to execute that plan successfully.

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How to Create Gantt Charts in Excel

 Microsoft Excel remains the go-to option for many businesses to perform data calculations and create charts based on the results.

Doug Bonderud

The Gantt chart is a useful guide that isn’t naturally available in Excel. Great for project management and milestone tracking, Gantt charts can help companies better visualize operations and streamline current processes.

In this piece, we’ll dive into the basics of Gantt charts and explore their benefits, then provide a step-by-step guide to creating them in Excel, along with some useful examples. Before long, you’ll be able to use Excel like a pro.

What are Gantt charts?

On the left-hand side, the Y-axis of the chart lists specific activities. At the top, the X-axis of the chart shows time.

There’s no fixed unit for time — it could be measured in weeks, days, hours, or minutes, depending on the tasks you’re tracking. In Excel, each task gets its own row.

As you can see in the example above from Microsoft, task 1 starts at time unit 0 and runs until just before task 2, which proceeds until task 3 begins.

It’s worth noting that tasks can overlap — the purpose of the Gantt chart isn’t to determine the order of tasks but to provide an easy way to see what’s happening, when, and how many processes are happening at once.

The Benefits of Gantt Charts

Gantt charts offer several benefits, including the following.

At-a-Glance Project Progression

Gantt charts let you see when projects began, how far along they are, if they’re reached specific milestones, and if they overlap with other projects.

This makes it possible to better understand how long processes will take and if concurrent processes may cause friction.

Actionable Insight

These charts also provide actionable insight for project management staff. Because teams can see project start dates and timelines at-a-glance, they can pinpoint potential bottlenecks and make changes.

In practice, teams might discover that three processes are due to start on the same day. By staggering start dates slightly, they can avoid possible performance issues.

Improved Time Management

Consider a Gantt chart showing multiple tasks with the same start date and team responsible for them. If left alone, this project framework could waste time, as one team is overworked, and others may not have enough on their plate.

A better understanding of what’s happening, when, and why can help companies improve their time management.

Reduced Risk of Resource Overload

Projects share a pool of finite resources. The more projects happening simultaneously, the bigger the resource drain and the greater the risk of resource overload.

Gantt charts offer a way to compare process resource needs and make adjustments that help keep projects on track.

While every Gantt chart differs, common features include task, taskbars, and milestones due dates. Charts may also include sub-task bars or use bar shading to indicate how far a task has progressed.

How to Create Gantt Charts in Excel

Despite their usefulness and ubiquity, Gantt charts don’t have a built-in template in Excel. As a result, users need to either download a pre-built Gantt chart or build their own.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a Gantt chart in Excel.

1. Enter your project data.

The first step in creating a Gantt chart is entering project data into a typical Excel spreadsheet. In our example, we will enter three data columns: Task Name, Start on Day, and Duration. The result should look something like this.

2. Make a stacked bar chart.

Next, we’re going to create a stacked bar chart. To do this, select the data in the Start on Day column (with the header). Then, under “Insert,” select “Bar Chart”, then “2-D Bar”, then “Stacked Bar” to get this.

3. Enter your duration data.

To enter duration data:

• Start by right-clicking on the chart.
• Choose “Select Data.” This will open a “Select data source” window containing the “Start on Day” series.
• Click the “Add” Button under “Legend entries (series),” then name your new series Duration.

Now, click the icon next to where it says “Series values,” which will open a new “Edit series” window.

Select the data from your Duration column (without the header) and your Start On Day column, then click OK to close the window, and click OK again to add the series to your chart.

4. Add your task descriptions.

Now we’re going to add task descriptions. This starts the same way as the last step: Right-click on your chart to open the “Select data source” window, then select “Start On Day” in the left-hand “Series” list.

Next, select “Edit” on the right “Category” list. This will open an “Axis labels” window. Select the cells in your Task column, then click OK on the “Axis labels” window, then OK on the “Select data source” window.

4. Fix the Order

Finally, we’re going to fix the order of our tasks. To do this, right-click on the list of Tasks on the left side of the chart to open a menu, then click “Format Axis.” From this menu, under “Axis Position,” check the “categories in reverse order” box.

And there you have it — a custom-built Gantt chart in Excel.

Gantt Chart Examples

If you prefer to download an existing template, there are multiple Gantt options in the Microsoft chart templates database. Some great Gantt examples include:

Date Tracking Gantt Chart

This Data Tracking Gantt chart template is completely customizable with your own images, titles, and text. It offers an easy way to track key tasks without having to build your Gantt chart from the ground up.

What we like: This Gantt chart is simple and streamlined. It has plenty of room for tasks, start dates, and durations to help you better manage tasks.

Simple Gantt Chart

This Simple Gantt chart is exactly that: Simple and easy to understand. It can also be tailored to different user groups, such as employees, managers, and stakeholders. You can include photos, graphics, or new fonts.

What we like: In addition to basic task information, this chart also adds the ability to break projects down by phases (denoted by the different-colored sections) and who is responsible for each task.

Agile Gantt Chart

This Agile Gantt chart example provides color-code task categories and visual reminders to help Agile teams meet deadlines.

Given the ongoing feedback loop that underpins Agile methodology, Gantt charts such as this are instrumental in task tracking.

What we like: The color-coded bars provide immediate visual feedback, while the ability to quickly publish and share this chart in Excel helps improve team collaboration.

Going the Distance with Gantt

Gantt charts are a great way to track project schedules and see at-a-glance where overlaps occur and where it may be necessary to make schedule changes.

While Microsoft Excel doesn’t come with a built-in Gantt generator, you can go the distance with Gantt charts by building your own from scratch with our step-by-step guide or downloading an Excel template that lets you customize data and headings on demand.

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