6 ms·

Ask HN: Decent software for making Gantt charts?

16 points by dmd 16y ago

Has anyone found or written any decent software for making Gantt charts? Something shiny perhaps? An alternative to Project?

jblochjohnson 16y ago
Are you on Mac? I LOVE OmniPlan.
- samratjp 16y ago
  I second that. It also has excellent export support for html. Check it out - http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omniplan/features/ http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omniplan/features/
lostbit 16y ago
The other ones that came to my mind: dotProject: http://www.dotproject.net/ http://www.dotproject.net/ Redmine: http://www.redmine.org/ http://www.redmine.org/ qdPM: http://qdpm.net/ http://qdpm.net/ I ended up pointing to Project Management software, but they all do Gantts...
yannis 16y ago
If you need highly complicated ones Primavera is the de facto standard. However, read what Tufte has to say about them first: Most of the Gantt charts are analytically thin, too simple, and lack substantive detail. The charts should be more intense. At a minimum, the charts should be annotated--for example, with to-do lists at particular points on the grid. About half the charts show their thin data in heavy grid prisons. For these charts the main visual statement is the administrative grid prison, not the actual tasks contained by the grid. See the discussion at Tufte http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000076 http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0... I do mine using LaTeXe!
- ddoonie 16y ago
  Do you have a 'how to' for creating Gantt charts with Latex?? I use it for my papers, but pretty much do the charts in excel..
  - ddoonie 16y ago
    Just found this http://mirror.unl.edu/ctan/graphics/pstricks/contrib/pst-gantt/pst-gantt-doc.pdf http://mirror.unl.edu/ctan/graphics/pstricks/contrib/pst-gan... and this http://www.martin-kumm.de/tex_gantt_package.php http://www.martin-kumm.de/tex_gantt_package.php for those interested in Latex Gantt charts.
  - yannis 16y ago
    You can use a package Martin-Kumm's is the easiest or you can use pgf/TikZ http://sourceforge.net/projects/pgf/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/pgf/ and creative from prmitives. Personally, I wrote some macro's to get what I wanted. I simplify mine as much as possible and use a very light grey vertical grid for background. Whatever you do don't spoil a good write-up with anything Excel! The pgf/TikZ package is the best graphics package I have used. Just the fact that it exists is a monument to TeX, Knuth and Lamport.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
pkaler 16y ago
Hold up. Do you really need a Gantt chart? Would a graph built in Excel/Numbers/GDocs be a better solution? Maybe a burn down chart. I have never found Gantt charts all that useful.
p858snake 16y ago
Visio is nice but pricey. Basic Gantt charts can be done in most spreadsheeting apps and word processors that support tables but you can't link objects together.
peterwwillis 16y ago
last i looked there was nothing free that rivaled Project. other systems like AtTask (shudder) have the same functionality in spades, but poorly designed imho. scripting a basic gantt image creator from some image library and excel files is pretty trivial with perl and other languages.
jat850 16y ago
Are you using the Gantt charts for anything related to programming tasks (timelines for software completion, deliverables, etc)? My experience in two recent projects using Gantt charts as part of timelining has left me with a bitter taste for how they relate to actual concrete programming tasks. A key failure a number of our developers identified is code doesn't translate well to a linear scale. It's nearly meaningless for me to tell my software lead that a component is 80% "done" after a week, when the 80-90% gap could take a month, and 90%-100% might not even be attainable. (I have a nearly impossible time ever considering something 100% "done".) Coupled with dependencies and "Waiting For" or "Requires", it feels entirely like it's not an appropriate or truly representative model. This has led to intense frustration and tensions. Most of the developers on my current project dread the weekly Gantt chart update. I most often find myself simply saying, "whatever I said component A was at last week, add 1%". It leads to a massive disjoint as one moves further up the management chain. I realize this is a mini-railing against something you might not even be intending to use them for. I also realize that our software company may not be getting maximum utility out of the style of project management we use. I only speak from a developer's perspective who has been frustrated time and again when faced with something so horribly artificial-feeling. edit For what it's worth, we use Microsoft Project. I've also used dotproject for non-work related coding I've done, but never learned it fully enough to speak to its capabilities or strengths and weakenesses.
- interesse 16y ago
  > (I have a nearly impossible time ever considering something 100% "done".) I'd say you have a hard time being a programmer then. At the end of the day your code needs to get into production, and this should be after the point your job is "100% done" so the people having to do work after yours (qa, release etc.) can do their job. Bug fixing etc. aside it all depends on finding a satisfactory "definition of done". We call it exactly like this and it is an important part of our project management early on in every project.
- yannis 16y ago
  I have been involved with Construction for over twenty years. We recently had a Project with over 22,000 activities. Needless to say it became unmanageable and no-one used it. Real construction is similar in many ways with the development of software. One of the problems is reporting progress, in most cases is like trying to measure microns with a yardstick, the granularity and accuracy of the measuring instrument is not there. On the above Project (a high-rise Tower) we came up with a graphic that had little squares representing activities. The graphic looked similar to the Tower: --------- | | | | | --------- | | | | | --------- Using color, green for done and white for not done, you could have a snap of progress at a glance. You set them side by side and you can see weekly Progress. I have been trying to refine the idea and make a start-up out of it:) (You can think of software as a Tower as well!)
shrikant 16y ago
OpenProj is a nice FOSS alternative to MS Project if that's specifically what you're after - http://openproj.org/openproj http://openproj.org/openproj
sruffell 16y ago
If you know and like python, Faces (http://faces.homeip.net/ http://faces.homeip.net/) may be worth a look. I've enjoyed using it in the past. I was already familiar with Python and appreciated that I did not need to spend time learning a software package that I wasn't going to use on a regular basis. Ymmv.
rcfox 16y ago
You can make simple ones with Google Spreadsheets. http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2008/10/recently-google-docs-team-started.html http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2008/10/recently-google-docs-...
1331 16y ago
I have quite enjoyed using Taskjuggler: http://www.taskjuggler.org/ http://www.taskjuggler.org/ The system is text-based with an editor built into the GUI. The downside is that installing it means pulling a number of KDE dependencies as well...
nreece 16y ago
I've used Gantt Designer - http://timios.net/gantt/ http://timios.net/gantt/ before and it worked pretty well. It's a scaled down version of MS Project in some ways, without the clutter of full-blown project management.
trucious 16y ago
SmartDraw seems nice.
biancthom 16y ago
Tom's Planner is a great web based tool to create Gantt charts with. Much faster than Excel and easier than MS Project. No learning curve, you can start working immediately! www.tomsplanner.com
biancthom 16y ago
A few months ago we launched a tool http://www.tomsplanner.com http://www.tomsplanner.com to create Gantt charts. One of our main objectives was that is had to be easy to use and user friendly. It is easier than MS Project and a lot more efficient than Excel.
lostbit 16y ago
Recently launched by crcarlson: Gantto (www.gantto.com) http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1579282 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1579282 Do you have anything to do with it?

16 points by dmd 16y ago

Has anyone found or written any decent software for making Gantt charts? Something shiny perhaps? An alternative to Project?

jblochjohnson 16y ago

Are you on Mac? I LOVE OmniPlan.

samratjp 16y ago
I second that. It also has excellent export support for html. Check it out - http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omniplan/features/ http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omniplan/features/

lostbit 16y ago

The other ones that came to my mind: dotProject: http://www.dotproject.net/ http://www.dotproject.net/ Redmine: http://www.redmine.org/ http://www.redmine.org/ qdPM: http://qdpm.net/ http://qdpm.net/ I ended up pointing to Project Management software, but they all do Gantts...

yannis 16y ago

If you need highly complicated ones Primavera is the de facto standard. However, read what Tufte has to say about them first: Most of the Gantt charts are analytically thin, too simple, and lack substantive detail. The charts should be more intense. At a minimum, the charts should be annotated--for example, with to-do lists at particular points on the grid. About half the charts show their thin data in heavy grid prisons. For these charts the main visual statement is the administrative grid prison, not the actual tasks contained by the grid. See the discussion at Tufte http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000076 http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0... I do mine using LaTeXe!

ddoonie 16y ago
Do you have a 'how to' for creating Gantt charts with Latex?? I use it for my papers, but pretty much do the charts in excel..
- ddoonie 16y ago
  Just found this http://mirror.unl.edu/ctan/graphics/pstricks/contrib/pst-gantt/pst-gantt-doc.pdf http://mirror.unl.edu/ctan/graphics/pstricks/contrib/pst-gan... and this http://www.martin-kumm.de/tex_gantt_package.php http://www.martin-kumm.de/tex_gantt_package.php for those interested in Latex Gantt charts.
- yannis 16y ago
  You can use a package Martin-Kumm's is the easiest or you can use pgf/TikZ http://sourceforge.net/projects/pgf/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/pgf/ and creative from prmitives. Personally, I wrote some macro's to get what I wanted. I simplify mine as much as possible and use a very light grey vertical grid for background. Whatever you do don't spoil a good write-up with anything Excel! The pgf/TikZ package is the best graphics package I have used. Just the fact that it exists is a monument to TeX, Knuth and Lamport.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

pkaler 16y ago

Hold up. Do you really need a Gantt chart? Would a graph built in Excel/Numbers/GDocs be a better solution? Maybe a burn down chart. I have never found Gantt charts all that useful.

p858snake 16y ago

Visio is nice but pricey. Basic Gantt charts can be done in most spreadsheeting apps and word processors that support tables but you can't link objects together.

peterwwillis 16y ago

last i looked there was nothing free that rivaled Project. other systems like AtTask (shudder) have the same functionality in spades, but poorly designed imho. scripting a basic gantt image creator from some image library and excel files is pretty trivial with perl and other languages.

jat850 16y ago

Are you using the Gantt charts for anything related to programming tasks (timelines for software completion, deliverables, etc)? My experience in two recent projects using Gantt charts as part of timelining has left me with a bitter taste for how they relate to actual concrete programming tasks. A key failure a number of our developers identified is code doesn't translate well to a linear scale. It's nearly meaningless for me to tell my software lead that a component is 80% "done" after a week, when the 80-90% gap could take a month, and 90%-100% might not even be attainable. (I have a nearly impossible time ever considering something 100% "done".) Coupled with dependencies and "Waiting For" or "Requires", it feels entirely like it's not an appropriate or truly representative model. This has led to intense frustration and tensions. Most of the developers on my current project dread the weekly Gantt chart update. I most often find myself simply saying, "whatever I said component A was at last week, add 1%". It leads to a massive disjoint as one moves further up the management chain. I realize this is a mini-railing against something you might not even be intending to use them for. I also realize that our software company may not be getting maximum utility out of the style of project management we use. I only speak from a developer's perspective who has been frustrated time and again when faced with something so horribly artificial-feeling. edit For what it's worth, we use Microsoft Project. I've also used dotproject for non-work related coding I've done, but never learned it fully enough to speak to its capabilities or strengths and weakenesses.

interesse 16y ago
> (I have a nearly impossible time ever considering something 100% "done".) I'd say you have a hard time being a programmer then. At the end of the day your code needs to get into production, and this should be after the point your job is "100% done" so the people having to do work after yours (qa, release etc.) can do their job. Bug fixing etc. aside it all depends on finding a satisfactory "definition of done". We call it exactly like this and it is an important part of our project management early on in every project.
yannis 16y ago
I have been involved with Construction for over twenty years. We recently had a Project with over 22,000 activities. Needless to say it became unmanageable and no-one used it. Real construction is similar in many ways with the development of software. One of the problems is reporting progress, in most cases is like trying to measure microns with a yardstick, the granularity and accuracy of the measuring instrument is not there. On the above Project (a high-rise Tower) we came up with a graphic that had little squares representing activities. The graphic looked similar to the Tower: --------- | | | | | --------- | | | | | --------- Using color, green for done and white for not done, you could have a snap of progress at a glance. You set them side by side and you can see weekly Progress. I have been trying to refine the idea and make a start-up out of it:) (You can think of software as a Tower as well!)

shrikant 16y ago

OpenProj is a nice FOSS alternative to MS Project if that's specifically what you're after - http://openproj.org/openproj http://openproj.org/openproj

sruffell 16y ago

If you know and like python, Faces (http://faces.homeip.net/ http://faces.homeip.net/) may be worth a look. I've enjoyed using it in the past. I was already familiar with Python and appreciated that I did not need to spend time learning a software package that I wasn't going to use on a regular basis. Ymmv.

rcfox 16y ago

You can make simple ones with Google Spreadsheets. http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2008/10/recently-google-docs-team-started.html http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2008/10/recently-google-docs-...

1331 16y ago

I have quite enjoyed using Taskjuggler: http://www.taskjuggler.org/ http://www.taskjuggler.org/ The system is text-based with an editor built into the GUI. The downside is that installing it means pulling a number of KDE dependencies as well...

nreece 16y ago

I've used Gantt Designer - http://timios.net/gantt/ http://timios.net/gantt/ before and it worked pretty well. It's a scaled down version of MS Project in some ways, without the clutter of full-blown project management.

trucious 16y ago

SmartDraw seems nice.

biancthom 16y ago

Tom's Planner is a great web based tool to create Gantt charts with. Much faster than Excel and easier than MS Project. No learning curve, you can start working immediately! www.tomsplanner.com

biancthom 16y ago

A few months ago we launched a tool http://www.tomsplanner.com http://www.tomsplanner.com to create Gantt charts. One of our main objectives was that is had to be easy to use and user friendly. It is easier than MS Project and a lot more efficient than Excel.

lostbit 16y ago

Recently launched by crcarlson: Gantto (www.gantto.com) http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1579282 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1579282 Do you have anything to do with it?