Need Simple Gantt chart

[Quin]

I need a Gantt chart that covers for about 50 tasks to be divided between 3
to 5 employees over an 8 hr period. I am thinking Microsoft Project may NOT
be the program I want because I don't want the expense or the learning curve.
I have had NO LUCK finding a cheep program for this. Most Gantt chart
programs do not go down to hours and minutes scale.

I like the programs that allow the user to enter time and task into a table
and then display time bars but still allow time bars to be moved and resized.

I have no experience with Microsoft Project and don't need all the bells and
whistles it offers.

Should I spend the time to try this in Microsoft Project or is another
program recomended?

Thanks,

Quin

 

[davegb]

In this newsgroup we recommend MSP for the type of project you describe.
But you can use a spreadsheet if you want to, or a whiteboard, or a
corkboard with elastic coloured tape and pins.
Seriously, though, why not invest the time, money and effort to learn
something which will invariably come in very handy in the future?
If you only have a simple project planning problem now, that will be ideal
for practice.

One point, though, MSP is very much about the Critical Path Method. It is
not just a substitute for your diary or a Bundy clock, and it is not just
for banging out PCBs (Plausible Coloured Bars) to hang on the wall.
If you have no need for the Critical Path Method you don't need MSP
However, if you have a project and you need to do project management, the
Critical Path Method is a fundamental requirement.









- Show quoted text -

Sounds like you're making a mountain out of a molehill. Use XL, make
simple horizontal floating bar graph out of a worksheet (the graphing
types available in XL do not include a floating bar graph). You can
make the scale and colors anything you want and the scale to whatever
detail you like. Much less work than Project.

Hope this helps in your world.

 

[Quin]

Thanks for your suggestions...

After downloading about a dozen Gantt chart programs I decided to download a
trial of Microsoft Project. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it
starts out with a Gantt chart that appears to be easy to adjust to my
requirements. I went under “Format†and adjusted the time scale to suit.
Most of the Gantt chart programs out there do not seem to allow short time
scales of hours or minutes.

I LOVE the way you can adjust the time bars or the start time and duration
to create the Gantt chart. I now have a very good start to accomplish my
task. This was not hard and it seems quite suitable for my project.

Quin