Does the Gantt chart belong in the agile world?

The Gantt chart originated around 1910, while the agile era began around 2001. Is such a tool relevant to a modern organisation and its processes?

Product and project managers say that Gantt charts are “applicable” in the 21st century, but according to some leaders of agile teams, their name alone is no longer used. The column graph tool is helpful in the agile world for purposes other than project planning. Some applications allow renaming the Gantt chart, such as “Road map.” Gantt charts have ultimately ended up at the heart of the flagship product, BigPicture.

In the blog, we’ll explore how an agile manager can leverage some of the uses of the Gantt chart.

Portfolio planning

First and foremost, portfolio planning is one of the most prominent applications of the Gantt chart in an agile environment. Look at the Gantt chart image at the portfolio level in BigPicture 8.

Image 1: A Gantt chart at the portfolio level in BigPicture 8, available on the Timeline tab in the Overview module. Notice the embedded collapsible map, which makes navigation more straightforward in massive portfolios.

In this scenario, the Gantt chart’s timeline is used as an overview of the portfolio with monthly or weekly precision. Within the portfolio, agile, hybrid, and traditional approaches coexist. The collapsible minimap reveals that even more Boxes are hidden behind the current view. By the way, a Box in BigPicture can represent a Scrum Sprint, iteration, Program Increment, or SAFe Agile Release Train, whether a hybrid or traditional project. If you want to add many custom-designed agile Box types in addition to the slots available in regular BigPicture, you’ll need BigPicture Enterprise.

The Gantt chart facilitates orientation at the strategic level. Questions for placing a high-level Gantt chart include “What products or services are we currently developing?” or “What product increments are expected in the next six months?”

Replacement of the label “Gantt chart” with “Roadmap.”

“O.K., a high-level Gantt chart is fine – Many agile team leaders say that at the team level, labelling it as a ‘Gantt chart’ sounds cheesy, so we can’t use it.

Many agile teams use tools called Roadmaps, which closely resemble Gantt charts. These simple timeline-based tools lack daily precision, and some advanced features, like a baseline or critical path, are missing. The only thing they can approximate is a weekly view.

Image 2: Renaming a module within the Gantt chart.

In BigPicture, they did it differently: users can rename the sophisticated Gantt chart and the module for each Box individually. Traditional projects can still use the label “Gantt,” while within agile products/projects, the module could be called “Roadmap” or anything else you enter into the “Gantt” field. The “Custom Names” feature requires BigPicture Enterprise.

Reveal the sprints in the Gantt chart.

Once an agile team rebrands the Gantt chart and adopts it as a tool for sprint planning, one feature of Gantt software becomes particularly desirable. This feature is depicted in the following image.

Image 3: Sprints in the Gantt chart

Upon opening the Show on Timeline window and checking the Markers and Time boxes checkboxes, labels for “Iteration” and (optionally) “Program Increment” will appear under the month names. Time boxes are configurable – in our clients’ examples, we see “Phases,” “Sprints,” etc. The work structure breakdown is visible on the left side of the image. Column headers, such as Program Increment, Sprint, WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First), and Story Points, have roots in agile management methodologies, particularly in the Scaled Agile Framework.

Another pro-agile feature of BigPicture’s Gantt charts is the ability to adjust the alignment of individual features. To set alignment, navigate to Iteration box configuration > Tasks > ‘No alignment’, ‘Precise alignment’, and ‘Smart adjustment’.

Also, take a look at:

How do you open and display Jira Sprints in the Gantt module using Jira Sprints as a structure creator?

Agile or hybrid?

PMI claims that hybrid projects are the next big thing after agile. Just because a Gantt chart may not be suitable for your agile project management doesn’t mean another project manager won’t use it.

In Picture 3: Sprints in a Gantt chart, the graph functions as a planning tool for the Agile Release Train. However, the label “Gantt” has been replaced with “Roadmap“—this is how BigPicture product managers configured the model example for the “average” potential BigPicture user. Gantt charts are mainstream!

Atlassian promotes Gantt charts through Agile Coach.

All of the above is just BigPicture’s perspective. However, consider these facts:

• In 2019, Atlassian published an article titled “What is a Gantt chart?” as part of their Agile Coach guide. A lively discussion took place on LinkedIn: are Gantt charts genuinely agile?

• BigPicture has been one of the top four or five major Jira project management group players for some time now. Gantt charts have always been their speciality. Their Gantt charts are so advanced that BigGantt, a subset of BigPicture modules, has gained popularity. Take a moment to look at the “Customers have installed this app in at least… active instances” counters available on the Atlassian Marketplace. You can compare BigPicture with other significant PPM players.