In this guide 6 sections
Use a Gantt chart when tasks depend on each other and dates are fixed, such as a shop fit-out or a product launch. Use a Kanban board when small tasks arrive steadily and flow through stages, such as support or content. Keep one task list underneath so both views read the same data.
What each view actually shows
A Gantt chart lays tasks on a calendar. Each bar has a start, an end and arrows to the tasks it waits for. It answers one question well: when does the whole project finish if this task slips by three days?
A Kanban board lays tasks in columns such as To do, Doing and Done. It ignores dates entirely. Flow is the point. It answers a different question, which is where work is piling up right now and who is blocked.
When a Gantt chart earns its place
Choose it when order matters, as it does on a shop fit-out, a pump installation or a mobile app release with a store review date. You cannot hang plasterboard before the electrician finishes first fix, and you cannot run user acceptance testing before the build is frozen. Dependencies, milestones and a hard delivery date all point to Gantt.
It also helps when people are shared across jobs. Overlapping bars expose a designer booked on two tasks in one week, long before the clash turns into a missed handover. The chart warns you early.
- Tasks with finish-to-start dependencies
- A customer date that cannot move
- Milestones tied to stage payments
- Shared people or equipment across tasks
When Kanban fits better
Choose it when work arrives without a plan: bug reports, change requests, design tweaks, small repair jobs. There is no end date for the stream, only a flow to keep healthy from the first card to the last.
Set a limit on how many cards may sit in Doing. When the limit is reached, nobody starts new work until something moves to Done. This is the real power of the board, and it is a habit rather than a feature. Teams skip it often.
- Small tasks of similar size
- Requests that arrive daily
- Work with no fixed end date
- Teams that pull their own tasks
Feed both views from one task list
Do not keep two lists, one in a spreadsheet for the project manager and another on a wall of sticky notes for the team. Store each task once with an owner, a status, a start date, a due date and an optional predecessor. The board reads status, and the chart reads dates and predecessors from the same record.
Double entry is where views drift apart. A card moved to Done should turn the bar solid on the chart. No second edit. A bar dragged to a new week should show the new due date on the card.
A quick way to decide
Count the dependencies in your next project, using the task list from the last similar job as a guide. If most tasks wait on another task, start with the chart. If most tasks stand alone, start with the board.
Mixed projects are common, so run the build phase on a chart and the support phase on a board. Try the choice on one live project for two weeks, with a sprint review or site meeting on Fridays. Then ask the team which view they opened each morning.
View choice worksheet
Eight yes or no questions on dependencies, fixed dates, task size, arrival pattern, shared people and reporting needs fill the sheet. Scoring at the bottom points to Gantt, Kanban or both. Below that sits the list of task fields to store once, namely owner, status, start, due and predecessor.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Can a small team use both views at once?
Yes, provided both read one task list. Problems start only when two people maintain two separate copies of the same work and the copies slowly disagree.
Is Kanban only for software teams?
No. Workshops, agencies, support desks and repair teams use it too. Any stream of similar small jobs suits a board, whatever the trade.
Do Gantt charts need constant updating?
They need updates when dates or dependencies change. If bars are edited by hand every day, the setup is wrong, because status changes on the cards should move them.
What should the Doing limit be?
Start near the number of people on the team, then adjust. If cards stall in Doing, lower it. If people sit idle, raise it a little.