Gantt chart vs Kanban board: schedule or flow of work?
A Gantt chart plans when work happens and what depends on what; a Kanban board shows the flow of work through stages. See when to use which, how they complement each other and what QueryChart covers.
A Kanban board shows where each piece of work is right now. A Gantt chart shows when each piece should happen and what it waits for. They answer different questions, and many teams use both.
The short version
- A Kanban board shows the state of work now; a Gantt shows the plan over time.
- Use a Gantt for work with an end date and dependencies, a board for continuous flow.
- The two answer different questions and are often used together.
- QueryChart has no Kanban board; its Gantt shows progress as a percentage inside each bar.
- Keep the schedule in the Gantt and the daily movement of tasks on a board.
Flow of work against a schedule
A Kanban board arranges work in columns such as To do, Doing and Done. Its strength is flow: you see what is in progress, where work piles up and what is blocked, and you limit how much is in progress at once. It works best for continuous streams where work arrives all the time and has no single end date, such as support requests or a stream of small improvements.
A Gantt chart plans against the calendar. Each task has a length and may wait for others, so the chart shows overlaps, handoffs and the finish date. It suits work with a start and an end, where someone needs to answer "will we be done by the date?" and "if this slips, what moves?" It says little about day-to-day status beyond a progress percentage.
They complement each other. A team might hold the schedule for a launch in a Gantt and run the daily work of its tasks on a board. To be plain about QueryChart: it has no Kanban board. Its Gantt carries a Progress column drawn inside each bar, which gives a rough status, but it does not provide columns, work-in-progress limits or cards. Use a board tool for that and keep the plan here.
The example is a monthly content calendar. Planning the month is a schedule question; moving each piece through writing, editing and approval is the kind of flow a board would track.
A monthly content calendar planned as a Gantt
Fourteen tasks from planning to review. The schedule lives here; the day-to-day movement of each piece would sit on a board.
Plan the month
"Monthly theme and goals" takes 2 working days and "Topic list and keywords" 3. "Calendar approved" has a length of 0, a milestone that the rest of the month waits for.
Production in parallel
After "Write briefs", "Write articles" (10 days), "Record video" (6) and "Graphics and thumbnails" (6) run side by side. "Social posts and captions" is set to start 5 days after the articles start, and "Editing and fact-check" waits for the articles and the video.
Approval and scheduling
"Stakeholder approval" takes 3 days and waits for editing and graphics. "Schedule in the CMS and social tools" waits for approval and for the social posts, and "Publishing window" runs for 10 days after it.
Close the loop
"Performance review" takes 3 days after the publishing window, and "Plan next month" is a milestone of length 0 that hands the cycle on.
How it works
Decide which question you are asking
If you need to know whether the work will finish by a date, plan it in a Gantt. If you need to see the status of many small items as they move, use a board.
List the deliverables as tasks
Enter each piece of work as a task with a length in working days. For a content calendar that means briefs, articles, video, graphics, editing and approval.
Link the tasks that wait for each other
Use Depends on for real handoffs, for example editing waiting for the articles. Use a start-to-start link such as 5SS+5 where work can begin before the previous task ends.
Add milestones for approvals
Give approval points a Duration of 0 so they appear as diamonds and everything behind them waits.
Record rough status as progress
Enter progress as a percentage as work happens. It is drawn inside the bar. It is a summary, not a replacement for a board.
Run daily work in a board tool
If your team needs columns and work-in-progress limits, use a board tool for that and share the Gantt as the plan it works to.
Mistakes to avoid
Expecting a board inside the Gantt
QueryChart does not have Kanban columns or cards. Progress percentages give a rough status only.
Planning continuous work as a project
A support queue has no end date, so a Gantt of it goes stale at once. Use a Gantt for the finite project and a board for the stream.
Maintaining the same status twice
If the board and the Gantt both record progress, one will drift. Decide which is the source of truth for status and let the other show the plan.
Plan your month as a Gantt
Open the content calendar as your own chart, replace the tasks with yours and keep the plan beside your board.
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Can I make a Kanban board in QueryChart?
No. QueryChart has flowcharts, swimlane diagrams, org charts, mind maps and Gantt charts, but no Kanban board.
Which is better for project management?
For a project with an end date and dependent tasks, a Gantt chart. For ongoing work or day-to-day task status, a board. Many teams use both.
Can a Gantt chart show status?
Only roughly. Each task has a progress percentage drawn inside its bar, and a task can be marked as done at 100%. It does not show work in progress limits or blocked items.
Do Gantt and Kanban use the same data?
Not in QueryChart. You can copy rows between tools as a table, but nothing syncs between a Gantt here and a board elsewhere.
