Project management waterfall to track complete tasks and workflow to deliver or launch within target timeline concept, businessman project manager with winning flag jump on project management diagram.
Image: Nuthawut/Adobe Stock

Gantt charts are one of many powerful tools used for project management from planning to implementation. They can be used by marketing managers, CEOs, CTOs, scheduling managers, team leaders and contractors to track the progress of their projects.

How to create Gantt charts in ClickUp

  1. Once in your account, select any space close to your folder.
  2. Click on the View button on the top of the screen to add a new view.
  3. Select Gantt from the list. You can decide if you do not want third-party access or pin the view if you want it displayed.
  4. Click on Add View.

SEE: Hiring kit: Project manager (TechRepublic Premium)

Additional Gantt chart settings

Changing color schemes

ClickUp comes with default color schemes: Active tasks have a default blue color, milestones are yellow, and complete tasks are green. Priority tasks can also be assigned to different team members based on urgency.

  • Red for Urgent.
  • Blue for Normal.
  • Gray for Low.
  • White for None.

You can explore other color settings for list and status.

Adding items to your Gantt chart

The next screen shows you a to-do list that you can segment into tasks and sub tasks. With the expandable bar, you can easily adjust or change items by hovering over the level you want to edit.

  1. Go to the Gantt view on the chosen workspace
  2. Hover over selected folders and click on the + icon to add a task

Keep in mind that tasks displayed are only scheduled tasks.

Viewing and managing dependencies

It is easy to identify dependencies on ClickUp: It’s as simple as drawing a line between tasks. You can also reschedule different tasks, adjust dependencies and maintain the workflow of the entire project. Enable the Reschedule Dependencies setting by clicking the three dots at the top of the workspace. Then, drag and drop any task on your chart.

Rescheduling projects using the Group Scheduling feature

If there is a need to reschedule the entire project, ClickUp allows you to use the Group Scheduling feature. You can adjust the entire project start and end dates by dragging and dropping projects across the Gantt chart. Dependencies can easily be deleted using the same process.

Tracking the progress of your Gantt chart

On the top of the workspace is a progress bar. You can access what is left or how much is required to complete a project by hovering over the progress bar. ClickUp uses a simple math formula of tasks completed divided by total tasks in a group to calculate how much progress is required to complete a task.

What are the benefits of using ClickUp?

Gantt charts on ClickUp allow you to add a range of functionalities to support numerous projects. These crucial tools form components that enable project management to be simplified no matter the process. ClickUp also has automated features that make processes such as rescheduling hassle-free. When you make new changes to your project workflow, new changes will be applied across other dependencies and new due dates will automatically be updated.

Calculating critical paths is easy

Critical paths are used to understand cornerstone processes in a project. Critical paths determine the scheduling and chain of tasks critical to the completion of a project. With critical paths, one can decipher what tasks can be rescheduled without disrupting the completion of a project. ClickUp Gantt charts help you make this decision which is otherwise very difficult to make on your own: Simply select the tasks on ClickUp and the critical path will be calculated for you.

Team management features

Most tools that allow you to create Gantt charts do not incorporate team management. Projects can become complicated over time if you are an organization that deals with multiple projects. Change in stakeholders, team members and new project scopes can make management complex, as this involves updating multiple tasks since every task depends on each other. ClickUp makes it easier for businesses with limited resources to automatically update team members and assign new roles with notifications to every involved member.

Break down projects into milestones

To effectively deal with projects that involve lots of tasks and subtasks, you need to effectively include them in milestones for better structure. Milestones on ClickUp are represented with diamond shapes. This makes it easier to track the progress of major tasks on a project’s timeline. ClickUp also allows you to sort milestones using filters which will be added to your Gantt view to help coordinate your team to focus on big tasks.

Project Insight for improvement

ClickUp, unlike other project management software solutions, offers insights for project managers. You can access dates, both actual and planned. This allows team members to keep up with deadlines and work with actionable figures.

Conclusion

ClickUp makes Gantt charts easy to create, read, customize, organize and understand. The drag and drop interface is suited for complex projects. The level and ease of organization also ensures proper handling of flexible projects without any hassle.

Are you a project manager who needs to visualize their timeline, manage team members working on a task, manage the scheduling and milestones of tasks, or understand the linkage and critical time path of projects? Then you would do well to check out ClickUp.