Did you know that 57% of projects fail because of a “breakdown in communication”? Want a beautiful representation of your project’s progress that can help alleviate a host of communications-related issues that could derail your project?

Gantt charts are bar charts that represent the amount of work that needs to be done in certain chunks of time. They are ultimately used to visually lay out a project schedule. If you have a clear due date for your project with milestones in between, which is common for construction, textiles, and inventory strategy, you probably want to make use of these handy charts. It visually summarizes: tasks, activity overlaps, timelines, and budgets.

Unfortunately, Gantt charts are more complex than they initially seem. They are inefficient, if hand-drawn, and require skills in resource allocation, task-dependency management, and team collaboration.

There is an extensive list of project management software available that offers Gantt charts, project planning, collaboration, and resource management. Software, such as the ones reviewed below, represents your project’s detail of a bar chart. The software helps you keep track of a project. You can insert changes in activities to see how they influence the overall plan.

Workzone: Integrates Gantt chart software into all of its project views. Workzone is the ‘just right’ solution for most teams and is less complicated than big tools like MS Project, but more powerful than the lightweight, starter ones.

• Quickly see the status of your projects with Gantt charts
• Easily flip back to a list view when necessary. Know what’s on track and who’s responsible
• Expanded dashboard reporting view also gives a great look at the number of tasks assigned to each person
• See workload reports, what’s left, and what’s been done

Team Gantt: Gives you an overall view of your projects that encompasses everything that’s important: activities, timelines, and team members’ workload and schedules. Everything that matters for a project can be kept in one place. Even if team members work remotely, they will have access to all they need. Team Gantt is used by many enterprise companies that appreciate this company’s in-depth knowledge and focus on the functions of a Gantt chart. The software allows for:

• Files to be kept in one place
• Communications between team members to happen via the software

Ganttpro: This product is one of the best Gantt chart software products on the market. Why? Because it makes Gantt charts look easy! It’s simple, thanks to drag and drop features. Despite its simplicity it can help you manage many complicated projects at one time. Some exceptional features:

• Split tasks and subtasks
• Organize and schedule tasks
• Dependencies between tasks can be managed

Manage available resources by simply viewing information on the online platform

SmartDraw: Offers software to draw various diagrams and plans that businesses need. Their focus isn’t project management. You won’t get the best Gantt chart software on the market, but it may be worthwhile for companies who also use:

• Flowcharts
• Floor plans
• Organizational charts
• Diagrams

There’s also many different templates you can try out. This may be confusing for first time users. Experienced users will love the freedom of picking a type that fits their functioning. The software allows you to change your perspective and view of timelines and active projects.

PROJECT in a box: Software is developed by project managers. Their wide range of products helps managers cope with many business tasks.

• Their project software, Planner Software, is FREE and supports all the other features of PROJECT in a box
• Unlimited tasks
• Summaries
• Calculating percentage of work done

Todo.vu: Project management software that combines CRM with tasks. It enable you to manage all your daily tasks from one platform. This includes:

• Emails
• Calendar
• Contact’s information
• Communication with clients and team members

Picking from the best Gannt chart software is worth the time, effort, and money you can save. Let the software do the work so you can focus on other important factors. If you’re stuck with an old-fashioned Gantt chart software solution, these options can steer you in the right direction.

While Gantt charts are a fantastic tool, they do have their problems. As an inflexible project management system, Gantt charts do not offer quick solutions to addressing problems with an unforeseen event. Additionally, it can become tedious to consistently update the chart, or expect teammates to keep their personal charts updated. Finally, Gantt charts are largely used to display how far along a project will be at a certain point in time, since there is not much space on a typical Gantt chart to elaborate on task expectations or purpose.

With that said, however, Gantt charts do what they set out to do by providing a visual representation of where a project should begin and end. This keeps all team members apprised of how far along the project is, how long each task should take, and how long the team has until the final deliverable is due.