The Project Implementation Schedule is a chart that clearly lists all the tasks necessary to complete the project and related deadlines. This Schedule is the most important part of planning because it will become the tool to use for the monitoring and evaluation phases of the project. You should have listed all the tasks required for the implementation of the project. Take the list and rank your tasks according to their importance. There will be tasks that need to be concluded in order to start another task and tasks that could be done in a more flexible way. Highlight all the urgent tasks and visually connect tasks that require the completion of a previous task to be started. At this point you can transfer your list into a chart, which will clearly state the timeframe for each task to be completed.
The Gantt Chart is the table most often used by organisations to detail the Project Implementation Schedule. It could look like the following:
| Project Implementation Schedule (GANTT CHART) | |||||||||||||
| Activity n°1Gather the Group of Participants | Name of the person in charge | Month 1 | Month 2 | Month 3 | |||||||||
| Task ADesign Posters to gather participants
Finish to Start B |
A.B. | 1
X |
2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Task BDisseminate the posters in schools, clubs, and other meeting places Finish to Start D |
A.B. |
X | X | ||||||||||
Task CSet up the training room (tables, chairs, equipment)Finish to Start D |
F.G. |
X | X | X | |||||||||
Task DGather the participants to meet the facilitator |
H.T. |
X | |||||||||||
You will obviously customise your own chart according to the number of tasks you have listed and the best way you find to visually communicate what the urgent and less urgent tasks to be completed are. For instance, in the chart presented I highlighted how the completion of one task is necessary for the beginning of another. In this way, the person responsible for the task is made aware of the timeframe within which her/his task must be completed. The main limit of the Gantt Chart is that it becomes very complicated when there are too many tasks to be completed. A good advice is that of drawing a chart for each activity. For instance, the chart presented refers to the activity ‘Gather Group of Participants’. Once this activity is finished you can archive this chart and focus on the next activity. There might be the case of two activities overlapping, in this case make sure to display both charts together and highlight the overlapping activities. Depending on the skills of the organisation’s members you might decide to produce a digital rendering of this chart. A digital version would be easier to amend, correct, and share among the members of the organisation. Said that, it is also useful to keep a paper version of the chart in the office as a reminder for staff working there. This chart could also be shared with donors to show the progress done by the project when required.
Overall, there are 3 main reasons why you should draw your own chart:
- It will help you visualise how many activities are required to implement the project. This could help all the members of the organisation to realise how much has been done and how the project is developing
- It will clarify who is responsible for what. This is a way to ensure that all members of staff take full responsibility for the development of the parts of the project of their competence
- It will give you an idea of how long it will take to complete a task (thus how much you should pressure for an activity to be completed in order to start the next one and allow the project to progress on time).
