Project Gantt Chart
A project schedule as a proper Gantt — task rows, a time axis, milestone diamonds, dependency arrows — where each bar actually sits under the dates it claims. Six fields.
We made two examples: a season of library work, and for Harbour Row a winter boat refit. Each has six tasks, one in progress, with dependencies that only move forward. The refit gathers its milestones in a single lane along the foot instead of beside their bars, which is a real scheduling convention and just as valid.
You get a Gantt chart with task rows, a time axis, milestone diamonds and dependency arrows, and each bar lands in the right month. Placement is close but not exact: bar edges can sit a few days off their dates, especially when a task starts near a month boundary. If the schedule will be read to the day, check the bars against the dates before you use it.
Generated for this library
Input
Header BAKERY REBRAND · a family bakery · January to June
· the studio · in progress
Axis six columns, January to June
Tasks 1 research 02 Jan-02 Feb · 2 naming 03 Feb-23 Feb ·
3 identity 26 Feb-29 Mar · 4 packaging 01 Apr-26
Apr · 5 in-store 29 Apr-24 May · 6 launch 27 May-14
Jun
Depends each waits on the one before it
Stones report 02 Feb · name agreed 23 Feb · identity 29
Mar · packaging 26 Apr · launch 14 Jun
Palette white and pale grey, one fluorescent yellow
Returned 1 chart · 3:2 · white, grey bars, yellow for live
axis six month columns, ruled, evenly divided
bars each starting and ending under its own dates - the
naming bar begins inside February, not January
depends dotted elbows from each bar's end to the next bar's
start, none running backwards
stones small diamonds sitting on their exact dates, each
labelled beneath
legend live, not started, milestone, dependencyYou fill in 6 fields — the braced lines at the top. Everything below them is fixed.
- 1The project header
- 2The time axis
- 3The tasks, with start and end dates
- 4The dependencies
- 5The milestones
- 6The palette
Project Gantt Chart
What this makes
A project schedule as a proper Gantt — task rows, a time axis, milestone diamonds, dependency arrows — where each bar actually sits under the dates it claims. Six fields.
The whole template, in one piece. The steps below are the entire workflow.
How to use it
- Copy the whole template with the button above.
- Replace the six FIELDS lines. Give every task an explicit start and end date — the chart is only as true as those.
- Paste it into any image-capable agent or model, in one message. One run returns the schedule.
- Check three bars against the axis before shipping: read where each one starts and confirm it falls under the right month. If a bar labelled the third of February begins in January, the chart is decorative.
What you swap
- The project header
- BAKERY REBRAND · client: a family bakery · duration: January to June · owner: the studio · status: in progress
- The time axis
- six columns, January to June, months only
- The tasks, with start and end dates
- 1 research and analysis 02 Jan–02 Feb · 2 naming 03 Feb–23 Feb · 3 identity design 26 Feb–29 Mar · 4 packaging 01 Apr–26 Apr · 5 in-store application 29 Apr–24 May · 6 launch 27 May–14 Jun
- The dependencies
- each task waits on the one before it — 2 after 1, 3 after 2, 4 after 3, 5 after 4, 6 after 5
- The milestones
- research report 02 Feb · name agreed 23 Feb · identity signed off 29 Mar · packaging approved 26 Apr · launch 14 Jun
- The palette
- white and pale grey, one fluorescent yellow for what is live now
Before it runs
- Real dates. This chart's whole job is to put work in time, and a bar without a start and end is a coloured rectangle.
- A dependency chain you have checked. If two tasks overlap but one waits on the other, the plan is wrong before the drawing is.
- Milestones that are moments. A milestone spanning three weeks is a task; the diamond is for the day something is done.
When to reach for it
When a plan has to be read at a glance: a project schedule, a campaign, a build, a season of work. Templates in this style print the dates neatly at the ends of the bars and then draw the bars wherever they look balanced, which turns a chart back into a table.
What changes
- One clean schedule: a header strip, numbered task rows, a month axis, bars, milestone diamonds and dependency arrows.
- Bar geometry required to encode the dates — a bar starting on the third of a month begins under that month, not the one before.
- Dependencies held to being possible, so nothing starts before the thing it waits on has finished.
- Milestones as points rather than bars, sitting exactly on the date they mark.
- Full bleed, since these charts are routinely rendered floating in a canvas of empty margin.
Pairs with
- Concentric Capability ModelA concentric capability model — one subject, three rings, four sectors — where depth means prerequisite rather than decoration. Six fields.
- Converging Causes DiagramA convergence diagram — several causes funnelling into one hub and out to its effects — governed by the rule that keeps such a diagram true rather than merely tidy. Six fields.
- Exploded Axonometric DiagramAn exploded axonometric that pulls one site apart into stacked transparent layers — kept on white and kept analytical, because the temptation is to render it dramatic and lose the drawing. Six fields.