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Dovile Miseviciute
Dovile Miseviciute

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Kanban vs Gantt Chart - Do You Have to Choose One?

Both Kanban and Gantt charts are tools that initially disrupted the project management field. They introduced new ways of working and organizing your team that promised more efficiency and better results. However, due to the time gap between them, they are more often seen as opposites which one must choose between.

While many believe this to be true, with new project management apps, there is no more need to pick just one. In fact, you can use both of these tools when needed and yield the benefit of having more options within one solution.

Here is what using a Kanban and Gantt chart looks like.

Using the Kanban Board

If you have the option to use both tools within one solution, you will most likely find out that each have their strong points. In my personal experience, Kanban boards are best for day to day task management and tracking.

Each team can set up their board to represent the specific process and have a good understanding of the progress. This visualization of what is being done is useful for the team as they get a better sense of what is yet to be done. And to the manager as they can understand the teams velocity and estimate the completion of the project a lot easier.

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Using the Gantt Chart

The Gantt chart on the other hand will be most useful when applied to project planning and monitoring the overall progress. Set the initial plan in place and measure against that baseline to see how any discrepancies may affect the overall outcome.

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Get the Best of Both Worlds

By combining the usage of the two tools, you will be able to do more in one tool and get a different viewpoints into the data. Have a centralized place for all the project tasks and save time on logistics.

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