Problems with Gantt Chart Drawing Software

Built as a Feature in Project Management Tools

When the Gantt chart was first introduced by Henry Gantt, it was considered a revolutionary thing in project management and planning. It provided project managers with an easy to use tool to show others the schedule of a project. When it was first introduced there weren't many complex projects, so converting your project to a Gantt chart was relatively easy. As projects continue to grow in complexity, Gantt charts became less effective way of showing time lines. One reason for the drop in popularity is the tight controls associated with Gantt chart drawing software.

The problem was that there weren't many software specifically built for drawing Gantt charts. Most of the software were project management software that had drawing Gantt charts as a feature. So most of the time project managers had to generate the charts after entering the project data and there was no quick way of modifying the chart without modifying the underlying project data.

More Than a Project Management Tool

As with almost all diagram types, as they became more common more people started using them for different purposes. Although not as heavily used as Flowcharts, Gantt charts were often used with activities involving a timeline. Wedding planning, Event planning, Farming etc are few tasks that can easily use Gantt charts to see the progress in an easy to understand way. The ability to show dependent tasks, ability to add columns to show different attributes, colorful ways to display different charts are few more reasons why they became popular.

As they became popular, traditional Gantt chart software didn't have the easy to use tools for regular users. They were more targeted towards project managers and professionals who had some prior technical knowledge of these tools.

Web Based Gantt Chart Drawing Tools

When larger traditional companies couldn't respond to this growing need, smaller web-based companies made this an opportunity to tap into the market. Companies like Creately were already building online diagram tools, so they took the opportunity to add Gantt charts to their supported diagrams. They penetrated the market by creating something easy to use. It wasn't a project management software with complex logic, but a simple and easy to use tool to draw Gantt charts. There was color support, ability to add your own images, social sharing and linking etc added to the mix, so it will be more useful for regular readers.

Previous companies who supplied these software has identified the trend and are moving to much simpler diagrams. With the use of templates they are supporting complex diagrams as well as simple diagrams.

What the Future Holds

As mentioned above Gantt charts are more than a project management tool now and people often use it to plan other activities. Software vendors who catered to project managers have started realizing this and most of them are creating much easier to use software with a simple interface.

In the near future Gantt charts will see something like what happened with Flowcharts. Different industries modifying them to your their own special needs. However with most major companies involved in the simplifying process, we are bound to see a rise of these types of software.

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