How to use an Agile gantt chart for project management Using a gantt chart for an Agile project makes it easy to track progress, manage workloads, and keep stakeholders up-to-date on the work. What is an Agile gantt chart?Īn Agile gantt chart is a project planning tool that applies a Waterfall model to an Agile project by mapping sprint tasks and dependencies out on a visual timeline. That's why I create a modified version of an Agile sprint backlog using gantt charts. Even if a project lends itself to naturally assume more Agile-based techniques, not having milestone dates worries most of my stakeholders.

The most common challenge I come across is stakeholders’ focus on timing.

This can be based on the attitudes of stakeholders, critical dates we must meet, technical complexity, and team composition. From this information, I determine which components from both methodologies would work best. I take all background information available on the project and study it. I no longer approach two projects the same way, but I do begin with the same step. When I first made this realization, I noticed my projects ran more smoothly. Don’t get stuck thinking you have to use one project management method or another. Selecting the right approach for your project is no different. We make decisions that affect the finished product every day. Using gantt charts to manage your Agile projectsĪs project managers, it’s our job to steer the project from inception through completion. They simply want the bottom line: Is the project on track? Gantt charts can communicate this in 30 seconds. Often, they’re too busy or don’t have the expertise. While that isn't an issue for a project team that’s assigned to a single project, it usually doesn’t work out like that for external stakeholders. For all of the above items to not become a problem, everyone has to be very involved from day one. Gantt charts enable you to add structured timelines to sprint cycles so you can easily update stakeholders on the status of a project. You need a detailed plan that shows them how you’ll get to that date. But if you work in an organization where leadership wants specifics about what they’ll get when or where things are in the process, Agile alone won’t deliver. Agile’s great for blue-sky ideas you build together. Burndown charts show sprint productivity-not project status.I haven’t been able to get around this, and it just adds more stress whenever I use a purely Agile approach. You’re more likely to encounter stakeholders who need to see a set of milestone dates than ones who can deal without them. Dates are fluid with Agile, and it can be hard to communicate timing to stakeholders. Your estimates don’t hold their weight.Often, these very same people also request changes or want to add features to the product. Without a clearly defined scope, stakeholders may complain that it seems like the project will never end. While this can be good for business, it can become frustrating for stakeholders who expect a hard deadline. Agile works in iterations to continually improve a product.

There’s no be-all and end-all deadline for finishing.

Setting clear process and role expectations should reel in any uneasy feelings. This may mean the final end product differs from the original vision-though stakeholders should be part of the decision-making process along the way. The user story format helps the team uncover requirements, which evolve and emerge as the project progresses. In Agile, teams write user stories, not requirements.

Undefined projects and deliveries may make stakeholders uneasy.

Expect multiple stakeholders-such as executive leadership, department managers, and subject matter experts-to muddy up the process. Unless you’re working on an internal team whose single focus is developing a product, chances are, you’re applying Agile principles to a project that still has to operate within a traditional organization. In Agile, a product owner is typically your only stakeholder, and they’re heavily involved in every decision made along the way as your product evolves.

Pure Agile requires a dedicated team and product owner.

Some of the Agile drawbacks I've experienced are common ones you and your team may encounter while using a hybrid Agile approach in a traditional organization: Common drawbacks of Agile project management Turns out, gantt charts are still beneficial for things like meeting deadlines, managing workloads, and providing project status reports to clients and stakeholders-especially if your organization isn’t 100% Agile. I picked up the basics quickly, but I found that a pure Agile approach wasn’t working for most of the projects I was working on. I was even lucky enough to work with someone who was a certified Scrum Master. When I first learned about Agile, I was hot to try it out.

Gantt chart for budget