# Gantt chart

> Plan work against a timeline, see dependencies, and find the path that actually determines your end date.

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/llms.txt).

Source: https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/views/gantt-chart

---
The Gantt chart lays tasks along a timeline with their dependencies drawn
between them. Available on every tier; **critical path analysis** is Premium.

Use it when dates and sequence matter — client commitments, hardware lead times,
regulatory deadlines. For continuous flow, the
[board](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/views/kanban-board) tells you more.

## What you see

- Each task as a bar spanning its start and due dates
- Arrows for [dependencies](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/tasks/subtasks-and-dependencies)
- Milestones as markers
- Progress shading within each bar
- Today as a vertical line

Drag a bar to move it, or drag its edge to resize. Dependent tasks shift with
it.

## Getting a useful chart

A Gantt is only as good as its inputs. Three things must be true:

**Tasks have real dates**

    A task without dates cannot appear on a timeline. This is the usual reason
    a Gantt looks empty or wrong.

**Dependencies reflect hard constraints**

    Record what genuinely blocks what. Preferences about ordering are not
    dependencies.

**Estimates are honest**

    Optimistic durations produce a plan that was never achievable. It will slip
    on schedule.

> **Over-linking makes it brittle**
>
> Every dependency constrains the schedule. Hundreds of them mean one slipped
> task redraws the whole timeline, and the team stops trusting the chart. Link
> only real constraints.

## Critical path 

The critical path is the longest chain of dependent tasks. Its length **is** your
project duration — so a delay to any task on it delays the whole project, while
a delay to anything off it may cost nothing.

This is the single most useful thing a Gantt can tell you:

- **Protect the critical path**: Put your most reliable people on it. Watch it daily.

- **Ignore float elsewhere**: A task with two weeks of slack slipping by three days is not a problem. Do not spend the team's attention on it.

- **Shorten the chain, not the tasks**: To pull in the date, remove a link or parallelise — squeezing individual estimates rarely works.

- **Recheck after every change**: The critical path moves. Yesterday's safe task can be today's constraint.

## Milestones

[Milestones](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/views/milestones) appear as markers — the fixed points
a client or stakeholder actually cares about. Anchor the plan on them.

## Baselines and slippage

The comparison worth making is **plan versus actual**. When a bar extends past
where it started, ask why before redrawing the dates:

- Was the estimate wrong, or was the work interrupted?
- Did scope change?
- Is a dependency late?

Redrawing dates without answering that produces a plan that will slip again.

> **Tip**
>
> Re-plan deliberately, not continuously. A Gantt updated daily to match reality
> stops being a plan and becomes a diary.

## When not to use it

**Continuous, unpredictable work**

    Support, maintenance, anything reactive. Use the board.

**Sprint-based delivery**

    Sprints already provide the cadence. Use
    [Agile and Scrum](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/agile/overview); a Gantt over sprints usually
    just duplicates it.

**Genuinely uncertain scope**

    A precise timeline over unknown work is false precision. Plan the next
    milestone properly and leave the rest coarse.

- [Dependencies](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/tasks/subtasks-and-dependencies): Setting them up correctly.

- [Milestones](https://helpdesk.orangescrum.com/guide/cloud/views/milestones): The fixed points to plan against.