Insights

This presentation is provided as a resource for academic programs and others who are interested in bringing the Graphical Path Method into their construction or project management curricula. It presents a history of the Gantt chart as a project schedule demonstrative, highlights its strengths and weaknesses, and offers GPM as an alternative for logic-based project time visualization.

Three Perspectives on Gantt Charts for Construction 

1. A simple visualization of a project timeline that engenders the ability to see where project activities fall in relation to each other. They are easily understood by project executives and foremen alike. A staple of project management for many practitioners.
2. Gantt charts are subjective vs. rule-based, therefore, Gantt charts are not reliable tools for construction scheduling.  Planners are compelled not just to scope activities but also to place them on the calendar without any consistent rule to guide the sequencing of activities. The chain of activities controlling completion can only be determined subjectively, commonly by working backward through the Gantt chart.
3. Logic Gantt charts (with CPM logic ties) are not subjective. For projects involving over one hundred activities, Gantt charts with CPM logic ties fail to convey a sense of logical flow. Combining the time-scaled advantage of Gantt charts with the logic visibility of CPM networks often times yields a convoluted Gantt chart that represents neither well.

An innovative alternative to Gantt planning charts.