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Milav Dabgar
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Milav Dabgar
Experienced lecturer in the electrical and electronic manufacturing industry. Skilled in Embedded Systems, Image Processing, Data Science, MATLAB, Python, STM32. Strong education professional with a Master’s degree in Communication Systems Engineering from L.D. College of Engineering - Ahmedabad.
Lecture 30: Project Scheduling - Gantt Chart

Lecture 30: Project Scheduling - Gantt Chart

Unit 4: Software Project Management (4353202)

Lecture Agenda

  • Recap of Analytical Estimation
  • What is Project Scheduling?
  • Introduction to Gantt Charts
  • Components of a Gantt Chart
  • Example: Online Banking System Gantt Chart
  • Advantages of Gantt Charts
  • Disadvantages of Gantt Charts
  • Key Takeaways

Recap of Analytical Estimation

Analytical estimation uses mathematical models (like Putnam's, Function Points with productivity, and COCOMO) for objective and repeatable project estimates, requiring more data and expertise than heuristic methods.

What is Project Scheduling?

Project scheduling is the process of listing activities, deliverables, and milestones within a project, and then arranging them in a logical sequence with start and end dates. It involves allocating resources and defining dependencies between tasks.

Effective scheduling is crucial for managing project timelines, ensuring timely delivery, and optimizing resource utilization.

Introduction to Gantt Charts

A Gantt Chart is a visual project management tool that illustrates a project schedule. It is a type of bar chart that shows the start and end dates of project activities, along with their dependencies.

Gantt charts are widely used for planning, scheduling, and monitoring project progress.

Components of a Gantt Chart

  • Tasks/Activities: Individual work items that need to be completed.
  • Timeline: A horizontal axis representing the project duration, broken down into days, weeks, or months.
  • Bars: Horizontal bars representing each task, with the length indicating the duration of the task.
  • Dependencies: Arrows connecting tasks, showing which tasks must be completed before others can start.
  • Milestones: Significant points or events in the project, often represented by diamonds.
  • Resources: Can be assigned to tasks to show who is responsible for what.

Example: Online Banking System Gantt Chart

gantt dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD title Online Banking System Project Schedule section Phase 1: Planning & Design Requirements Analysis :a1, 2025-07-22, 14d System Design :a2, after a1, 14d Database Design :a3, after a2, 10d section Phase 2: Development UI Development :a4, after a3, 20d Backend Development :a5, after a4, 25d section Phase 3: Testing & Deployment Testing :a6, after a5, 15d Deployment :a7, after a6, 10d

Advantages of Gantt Charts

  • Visual Clarity: Provides a clear, visual overview of the entire project schedule.
  • Easy to Understand: Simple to interpret for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Progress Tracking: Allows for easy tracking of task progress and overall project status.
  • Dependency Management: Clearly shows task dependencies, helping to identify critical paths.
  • Resource Allocation: Can be used to visualize and manage resource assignments.

Disadvantages of Gantt Charts

  • Complexity for Large Projects: Can become overly complex and difficult to manage for very large projects with many tasks and dependencies.
  • Lack of Flexibility: Not ideal for projects with frequently changing requirements or agile methodologies.
  • Doesn't Show Resource Overload: While resources can be assigned, it doesn't inherently show if a resource is over-allocated.
  • Focus on Schedule, Not Effort: Primarily shows timelines, not necessarily the effort involved in each task.

Key Takeaways

  • **Gantt Charts** are visual tools for **project scheduling**.
  • They display tasks, durations, and dependencies on a timeline.
  • Excellent for **planning and tracking progress** in straightforward projects.
  • Can become **complex** for very large or agile projects.

Next Lecture

Topic: Project Scheduling - Sprint Burn Down Chart

Q & A

Questions & Discussion