Gantt Chart: Paving The Road To Success?
Gantt Chart — A masterpiece to shed light into how to chart one’s path from zero to hero. It is also a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule, with clear and detailed description of all the activities/ tasks that is required to be done against time.
Back in the days when I was in the construction industry as an Engineering Consultant, the Gantt chart is a compulsory item on the agenda for every monthly progress meeting with the main contractors. In that Gantt chart excel, it was filled with a few hundred rows meant to chart out every single of activities/tasks required to build a Built-To-Order project from the ground to completion. Thinking back, that Gantt Chart was probably made possible after decades of mistakes and countless rounds of refinement.
Now, for a start-up, how am I suppose to create a Gantt Chart with such details. I have never walked the path before, have never done it before, and possibly no one has done it before too. With that, how can I build a Gantt Chart that is realistic and feasible to be used as a guide?
How does SpaceX plan out what they need to do? And if they somehow know what to do, how do they know by when can they deliver those tasks that they have assigned for themselves? They have never done it before and no one else before them has.
The simple answer my mentor gave — Use your imagination. Visualise. Put the stick in the mud and imagine how I can get there. After wrecking my brains to plan, it might be wrong but it is fine. I can adjust along the way and adapt as I discover more details and truth about my journey. The Gantt chart is a dynamic project plan, it can be altered.
Some tips on how to refine a Gantt Chart for startups that I believe can be helpful:
- Just start from somewhere. Think of what do I want to achieve. How will the future look like if I were to achieve the goal that I have set for myself? Imagine and visualise with as much detail as possible, immerse myself in that future world.
- Understand the reality of today. Compare today’s world with the future that I have imagined, and figure out what are the missing elements. At this point, doing interviews and talking to as many people as possible can be extremely helpful in understanding the reality of today.
- With as many missing elements that I can identify, list down the tasks/activities that is required to get it done. At this point, find existing processes that are similar to what I am going to do and adapt from there. Some assumptions can be used just to fill the missing gaps, but minimise the use of baseless assumptions.
- Execute the plan and adapt along the way.
I have yet to validate the feasibility of what I mentioned above, they are just my imagination. Let’s see how it will work out.
