UKC

My eldest teenager  can , at times ( coughs ) , be bit of a knob and has just asked me this via text , I think he in an a level economics lesson .despite me repeatedly telling him to smile and nod . 

In reply to mike123:

A Gantt chart has time along the x-axis, and shows tasks to be completed in chronological order, and read left to right.

A flowchart is usually read top to bottom and shows operations in order without implicitly stating the timeframe, just the order and any decision points when choosing between 1 or more.

In reply to mike123:

A flow chart tells you how foolishly complex a process is. A gantt chart tells you exactly when that process will make your project fail, usually in lots of colours.

In reply to mike123:

LMGTFY?

In reply to abh:

What does that mean?

In reply to wintertree:

Let me Google that for you  

I think it’s tongue in cheek sarcasm, but I may be wrong.

In reply to Andy Hardy:

And crucially the Gannt chart should show the dependencies between the task (can’t start B until A is complete) and in my world the external dependencies (can’t start X until supplier delivers thing Z in working order). 

In reply to SNC:

Flowcharts can sometimes represent reality. The same is not true of Gannt charts.

In reply to Andy Hardy: thanks Andy . I suppose I should have just asked the question without the background but it makes everything so dull .  

In reply to minimike:

😀  No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy, as they say.

In reply to mike123:

A flow chart is something they make you do to document every process in minute detail, to fulfill regulatory requirements that will be saved down and never opened or used again, ever. Until they announce a new company wide template / standard which means you have to redo all your processes again because the parallelograms now have to be a different colour.

If I sound bitter, then i am. 

In reply to SNC:

If I have to explain my post, it’s not going to be as recursively amusing as I thought…

In reply to mike123:

By using a flowchart you can show How Something is done (in terms of the steps to be performed and the criteria by which the process or algorithm to be followed may be varied by preexisting or arising conditions.  This may also include logic that determmines when the process or algorithm has completed or must terminate early.

By using a Gannt chart you cannot show how something will be done but When it may be done (in absolute or relative time units) according to the flow of time during which items of work that consume time and resources as well as according to interdependencies on the timing of other items of work. 

For a complete picture of you might need a Critical Path Network Diagram as the Gannt (Bar) Chart cannot express the complex interdependencies between operations in as much detail.

In reply to SNC:

This! Untold man-hours ploughed into generating flow charts / "decision trees" for joint-venture partners, almost certainly to be rendered useless by reality. Unfortunately, "trust us, we'll do the right thing when we get there" doesn't win you many signatures!