Analysis: Gantt Chart and Critical Path Method for Project Planning

This report provides a comprehensive comparison of Gantt charts and the critical path method (CPM) as project management planning tools. It discusses the strengths and limitations of each tool, highlighting how Gantt charts offer visual representation and aid in organizing project thoughts and communicating project information, while CPM provides a clear description of dependencies among project activities, helps organize large and complex projects, calculates float, and encourages project duration reduction. The report also acknowledges that Gantt charts can become complex for large projects and require constant updates, and that CPM's precedence diagrams need redrawing when project plans change. Ultimately, the report concludes that while Gantt charts are excellent for visual planning, CPM is more suitable for managing large and complex projects due to its ability to show dependencies among critical tasks.

Running head: COMPARISON OF GANTT CHART AND CRITICAL PATH METHOD
COMPARISON OF GANTT CHART AND CRITICAL PATH METHOD
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1COMPARISON OF GANTT CHART AND CRITICAL PATH METHOD
Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
A description of the two project management planning tools:..................................................2
An analysis and critique of the two tools:..................................................................................3
Strengths:................................................................................................................................3
Limitations:............................................................................................................................5
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................7
References:.................................................................................................................................9

2COMPARISON OF GANTT CHART AND CRITICAL PATH METHOD
Introduction:
In this context a conceptual discussion explaining what project management planning
tools are and how they can positively and negatively impact a project have been provided.
Project planning is an important component of any successfull project. Without proper
planning it is not possible to execute a project properly. Project planning tools are hence in
great demand in the context of project management (Dan 2015). The reason is that project
planning tools help in effective project planning with greater accuracy and perfection. Project
planning tools provide a systematic way for analyzing resources for project and create
detailed plan for managing the project with reference to the resource arrangement and project
requirements.
Although proper project planning is essentail in project management, it could
negetively impact the project as well if project management tool is not properly executed
(Porterfield 2015). When the tools are not properly executed it is obvious that planning for
the project is not as per the project scope and requirements.
A description of the two project management planning tools:
Here a brief explanation has been provided with discussion on reason for considering
these tools interesting or relevant to this report.
The project planning tools that have been selected in this report are the following:
 Gantt chart
 Critical path method
Reason for selecting these tools:

3COMPARISON OF GANTT CHART AND CRITICAL PATH METHOD
The tools that have been selected aid the understanding and experiences with
managing projects. These tools have been selected as they provide excellent way for project
planning.
 Gnat chart provides visual representation for communicating the project timeline.
Hence this is an excellent tool in the field of project planning (Reijonen et al. 2015).
 Critical path method provides detailed description about the dependencies between
the project tasks and how they critically affect the project progress. Hence it is an
essential as well as an important tool in the field of the project management (Bocken
and Short 2016). Because without managing the critical project tasks it is not possible
to have a proper project planning.
An analysis and critique of the two tools:
Strengths:
Here in this section the strength of the two project planning tools will be discussed.
Gantt chart:
 Visualization of complex project activities: When there is lot information regarding
project timeline and planning is to be communicated, pictures and diagrams are an
effective way to display the information that is easy to interpret and retrieve
maximum information form it (Reijonen et al. 2015). This is where Gantt chart plays
an important role.
 Organization of project thoughts: In proper project planning organization of
thoughts are essential (Laukkanen 2015). Without proper organization of idea it is not
possible to create effective project planning. Gantt chart helps in effective project
planning through proper organization of activities along with arranging them in
sequence.

4COMPARISON OF GANTT CHART AND CRITICAL PATH METHOD
 Design of realistic timeframes: When creating effective project planning it is
important to define realistic timeframes which helps in managing the project better.
Hence this is an excellent tool for project planning and project execution for
successful project. The bar of the charts represents the timeframe associated for each
of the activities listed in the chart. Hence this provides a clear overview of the project
timeline and execute the project accordingly.
 Communicating project information with ease: When the chart is placed in such a
place where it possible for everyone to have a view of it. It serves as a reminder to the
people involved in the project about the project objectives (Chan 2014). It also helps
to have idea about the execution planning including when each and every activities is
going to be executed in the project (Reijonen et al. 2015). It ensures better
coordination among the project team members. It even serves as excellent resource
for people not directly involved in the project to have a basic idea about the project
and how it is being executed.
Critical path method:
According to Porterfield (2015), critical path method has several advantages such as:
 Clear description of the dependencies among the project activities: This is done
through the design of the project network diagrams or precedence diagrams.
 Ability to organize large and complex projects: Provides systematic way to create
project plan and hence preferred in complex projects.
 Provides a way to calculate the float of each activity: It provides a clear description
of the fact that how much variation is possible in the schedule in the project tasks
without affecting the overall progress of the project.

5COMPARISON OF GANTT CHART AND CRITICAL PATH METHOD
 Reduction in project duration: It encourages the project manager to reduce the
project schedule through optimization of the critical path and considering the
compression techniques as appropriate.
 Visual representation of impact of schedule modification: When a schedule is
modified as per the project requirement, it is easier to visualize the impact of the
modified schedule on the project and hence it is often preferred in project where
project schedule need to be modified for project execution and management.
 Optimization in efficiency: The critical path method helps project managers to
optimize the efficiency of the project through proper resource allocation which also
reduce the overall cost of the project.
Limitations:
If not properly executed and selected as per the project requirement the tools might
make managing projects more challenging. However if proper strategy is followed it is
possible to overcome those challenges.
Gantt chart:
While selecting this particular project planning tool, it is important to remember that
this tool is not appropriate for every project as it has some limitations. It is important to
consider these limitations while selection is being made in the project planning.
According to Raisch (2016), some of the limitation of the Gantt chart as a project planning
tool are:

6COMPARISON OF GANTT CHART AND CRITICAL PATH METHOD
 Sometimes extraordinarily complex: When the project is large and complex which
involves a large number of tasks to be executed, Gantt chart might prove to be
complex and in some cases inadequate too. As the list of tasks become large, the
resources requirement also becomes huge which makes it challenging to manage the
project effectively.
 Bar size does not reflect amount of work: The size of the bar does not reflect the
amount of the task and complexity of the task. It only indicates the amount of the time
required to complete the project. Hence it is not possible to interpret the volume of the
work from the chart.
 Need constant update: The chart has to be constantly updated as the requirement
changes according to the project progress. If it is not properly done, it will be difficult
for the project manager to keep track of the changes which means there will be issues
in the project execution.
 Difficulty in visualization: sometimes it becomes difficult to visualize a large
amount of information through the bar chart of the Gantt chart, which is often seen in
segments on the computer screen. In addition to that it also becomes difficult to show
the details associated with the project plan to the audience.
Critical path method:
According to Warren (2017), some of the limitation of the Critical path method as a
project planning tool are:
 Although precedence diagram is an excellent feature of the precedence diagram for
showing the dependencies between the project activities along with clear description
of the critical project activities, the precedence diagram needs to be redrawn if the
project plan changes.

7COMPARISON OF GANTT CHART AND CRITICAL PATH METHOD
 Network or precedence diagram often becomes difficult to draw and print as well
when thousands of project activities need to be considered for the complex and large
projects.

8COMPARISON OF GANTT CHART AND CRITICAL PATH METHOD
A comparison of the two tools:
Gantt chart Critical path method
Dos not provide clear description of the
critical project tasks
Provides clear description of the critical
project tasks
it does not allow to calculate float of the
project scheduled tasks
it helps in calculating float of the project
scheduled tasks
Apply timescales with the project activities shows dependencies among the project
activities but no timescale is provided
not preferred for managing large and
complex projects
preferred for managing large and complex
projects
Conclusion:
This section summarizes the thoughts on the project management planning tools that
have been selected, including insights gained from completing the critique.
While gnat chart is an excellent way to provide visual description of the project
planning, it has some limittaion as well in addition to the various benefits provided by the
tool. These advantages include Visualization of complex project activities, Organization of
project thoughts, design of realistic timeframes, communicating project information with
ease. However, it is not appropriate to manage large and complex project due to large
resource requirement and task coordination according to the resource allocation. It only
provides the information about the timeframe requirement for execution of project execution,
not the amount of work associated the project tasks.
One feature that makes critical path method more appropriate than the Gantt chart is
its ability to show dependencies among the critical tasks of the project, and how it impact the

9COMPARISON OF GANTT CHART AND CRITICAL PATH METHOD
progress of the overall project. Hence this tool is preferred than the Gantt chart for managing
large and complex projects. Although critical path method has very few drawbacks, some
important limitations of the tool are not considering the resources and resource allocations,
consideration of various activities and dependency relationships for large and complex
project.

10COMPARISON OF GANTT CHART AND CRITICAL PATH METHOD
References:
Bocken, N.M.P. and Short, S.W., 2016. The theory of project planning process: a
comprehensive discussion. McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Chan, C., 2014, January. The importance of project planning in project.
Dan, A., the scope and status of Gantt chart as project planning tool, 2015. Method and
apparatus for leading effective human resource program.
Laukkanen, T., 2015. The definition and scope of critical path method for project
management. A modern theory of project management, 42, pp.35-46.
Porterfield, T.E., 2015. Evaluation of critical path method approach: an empirical
investigation of scope and success. International Journal of project management, 40(6),
pp.435-455.
Raisch, W., 2016. Towards a sufficiency-driven project management: evaluation of Gantt
chart, 18, pp.41-61.
Reijonen, H., Hirvonen, S., Nagy, G., Laukkanen, T. and Gabrielsson, M., 2015. The bias of
effective proejct panning method in project. A modern approach, 51, pp.35-46.
Warren. N, 2017, January. The importance of project planning tool for successful project
management and implementation: an intuitive guide.