Software developers face a lot of issues when managing complex projects. 

All team members need to be on the same page, deadlines have to be met consistently, quick collaboration on designs is crucial, and tracking tasks’ progress and managing task dependencies are some common challenges that software development teams face. 

Gantt charts can be of great use for software development teams, irrespective of their size and the type of projects they manage. Gantt charts offer a visual timeline of your projects in the form of bar charts and nested lists. 

They represent the relationship between the start and end dates of tasks, their dependencies, milestones, and workload allocated to resources. 

Let’s further explore Gantt charts in detail and understand its core functionality. 

What Are Gantt Charts And Their Benefits?

Introduced in the form of a bar chart in the early 1900s by Henry Gantt, an American engineer and management consultant, Gantt charts are now considered as essential project management tools. 

In most cases, modern Gantt charts are displayed in the form of horizontal bar charts that depict the actual amount of work completed during certain periods of time as compared to the actual plans for those time periods. 

Project information is displayed in the form of elements like activities, task dependencies, deliverables, milestones, start and end dates, etc. The drag-and-drop functionality of Gannt charts allows users to adjust plans and modify schedules as deadlines shift and work changes. 

Today, Gantt charts are utilized across various industries - construction and infrastructure projects, software development, marketing campaigns, IT implementations, etc. 

Let us now take a look at the benefits of Gantt charts for software development teams managing multiple projects. 

  • One of the essential benefits of a Gantt chart is that it displays all project-related information in one place through a visual timeline. Software developers can get an overview of crucial details - tasks, assignees, dates, etc. 
  • Software development teams can identify the project’s critical path to prevent the entire project from getting delayed. They can see which tasks should be finished quickly so that dependent tasks are not delayed subsequently. 
  • Using Gantt charts, developers can prioritize tasks, link dependent tasks, and help programmers break big, complex tasks into smaller, manageable subtasks to simplify project management. 
  • Users can easily track projects’ progress to assess whether it’s falling behind or progressing at the right speed. 
  • Efficient Gantt chart solutions offer auto-scheduling i.e. it automatically adjusts dates in case the work changes and deadlines shift. 

Top Gantt Chart Tools for Developers

  • GanttPRO

As the name suggests, GanttPRO is all about Gantt charts! This interactive online Gantt chart maker enables development teams to manage and control various projects at once. Easy-to-use and quick drag-and-drop functionality allows users to prioritize tasks, indent and outdent, and set dependencies in a single click.  

Users can monitor workload, split projects into tasks, subtasks, and milestones, set and merge dependencies, schedule tasks, and set accurate project estimates as they manage their resources wisely. 

Key features include: 

  • Plan views
  • Task management
  • Collaboration
  • Import and Export
  • Time management
  • Time and Resource management
  • Custom settings

Pricing: The Business Plan is priced at $19.99, per user, per month. 

  • ProofHub

ProofHub is a top-rated work management and team collaboration software with inbuilt Gantt charts to help software development teams easily plan projects, modify schedules, and visualize tasks’ progress in a timeline view. They are easy to interpret and represent the latest project developments across team members and clients. 

Gantt Baseline in ProofHub helps project managers to check how far the project has deviated from the initial set baseline. You can see all your Gantt data in one place and schedule tasks in an order in which you want to complete them. Users can also highlight the critical path to see tasks that directly affect the start and end date of a project.  

Key features include: 

  • Export Gantt chart
  • Set task dependencies
  • Add task lists and tasks to the Gantt chart
  • Drag and drop tasks as work changes
  • Highlight critical paths
  • Gantt baseline

Pricing: The Ultimate Control plan is priced at $89 per month when billed annually. There is no per-user fee and users can add as many members to ProofHub. 

  • TeamGantt

TeamGantt is a popular, free Gantt chart maker software that is used by some of the biggest companies like Nike, Amazon, and Netflix. For software developers, creating Gantt charts and inviting other team members and clients for seamless collaboration is effortless. While TeamGantt primarily focuses on Gantt charts, you can easily switch to kanban or calendar views with a single click. 

Users do not need any training with this easy-to-use online Gantt chart maker and simply log in and start adding tasks within minutes. The tool offers you a centralized hub for storing and organizing all your tasks, documents, and conversations in one place. 

Key features include: 

  • Drag and drop functionality
  • A single Gantt chart to view all your projects
  • Easy-to-access availability tab
  • Easy collaboration and organization
  • Portfolio views and reports 
  • Planned timeline vs. Actual timeline
  • Built-in resource management software 

Pricing: The Advanced Plan is priced at $24.45 per user, per month. 

  • Instagantt 

Instagantt is a simple, powerful, and intuitive online Gantt chart software that lets users create professional, visually appealing Gantt charts within minutes. Users get a clear visualization of their projects to organize tasks and resources accordingly. Instagantt can help software developers understand which task is more important to ensure timely completion and delivery of projects. 

The tool also offers several team collaboration options to help all team members stay on the same page as the project progresses. Workload management is a highly useful feature that allows project managers to maintain a realistic and balanced workload across their teams and projects. 

Key features include: 

  • Drag-and-drop functionality
  • Workload management
  • Board view
  • Dashboard and reporting
  • Risk management
  • Baselines and change tracking
  • Critical path

Pricing: The Single Subscription plan is priced at $7 per user, per month. 

  • Wrike 

Wrike is a versatile and robust project management software that features interactive Gantt charts. Software development teams can use these charts to plan projects with a drag-and-drop interface and visualize them with an intuitive timeline view. Critical path analysis allows users to identify bottlenecks and take corrective action in time to prevent delays in project deliverables. 

Wrike’s Gantt charts allow users to manage multiple projects simultaneously from one platform. Project managers have a 360-degree view of all their projects, create tasks and link them using dependencies, and track their progress against milestones and deadlines. 

Key features include: 

  • Drag-and-drop interface
  • intuitive timeline view
  • Import Microsoft Project files
  • All adjustments are automatically shared.
  • Critical path analysis
  • Baselining
  • Snapshots

Pricing: The Business Plan is priced at $24.80 per user, per month. 

The Final Word

Gantt charts serve various purposes for software development teams of any size. These interactive charts offer an easy-to-understand, visual timeline of all tasks along with assignees, set deadlines, and baselines. Gantt charts make it easy for project managers to manage task dependencies and adjust plans in case there’s any change to actual deliverables. That said, it’s important to choose a powerful Gantt chart maker tool to ensure you have complete control over your teams and projects. This blog provides you with well-researched information on Gantt charts and some of the best tools available today.