Empowering Project Management With Top Gantt Chart Plugins for JIRA

Thomas H. Young - Jul 22 - - Dev Community

The Gantt chart has proven itself to be a reliable and popular tool in project management tool.

This online diagram with horizontal lines along a timeline allows project teams to visualize everything from task scheduling to resource allocation. Therefore, many comprehensive project management software solutions come with this useful feature.

What about JIRA?

From this post, you'll know how JIRA provides its users with the planning functionality with a Gantt chart and what plugins can be used instead.

Does the powerful Atlassian PM solution have a Gantt diagram?

Jira doesn’t give up its position, as shown by different reviews. However, it’s not suitable for every team.

This tool, by default, does not come with built-in Gantt chart functionality. Instead, you may use 2 roadmap tools to create such a diagram for your projects:

  • Roadmaps for planning work around JIRA issues assigned to a team.
  • Advanced roadmaps for doing the same across teams and companies.

These tools help teams to plan, track, and visualize project timelines and dependencies across multiple projects.

Here’s how they use them:

  • Timeline view. A roadmap provides a timeline view where you can see the start and end dates of your issues, similar to the bars in a Gantt chart.
  • Dependencies. You can visualize dependencies between tasks. It makes it easy to manage the sequence and relationship of tasks.
  • Hierarchy levels. The advanced roadmap in JIRA allows you to manage and view different levels of your project hierarchy (epics, stories, tasks).
  • Capacity planning. You can plan the workload and capacity of your teams over time. It helps to ensure that your project stays on track.

Even with these capabilities, roadmaps in JIRA don’t offer the full feature set of a dedicated Gantt chart tool.

Users consider these limitations and seek appropriate plugins to build their variant of a Gantt chart for JIRA.

Luckily, it's possible to integrate Gantt charts into JIRA using various plugins and add-ons available in the Atlassian Marketplace.

Some popular options are described below.

Robust Gantt chart plugins for JIRA worth your consideration

Powerful plugins offer a set of features to suit different PM needs within JIRA. The best choice depends on the specific requirements of your project, team size, and budget.

Let’s figure out top-3 plugins worth your attention.

1. BigPicture

This plugin provides quite a handy Gantt chart with rich functionality for creating and managing multiple projects, customizing the view, and adding dependencies.

Its key features include:

  • Multi-level WBS tool (work breakdown structure).
  • Dependencies and milestones.
  • Resource allocation.
  • Workload balancing.
  • Risk matrix.

2. WBS Gantt-Chart for JIRA

This solution is also designed to enhance JIRA's capabilities by adding advanced Gantt chart functionality. This plugin integrates seamlessly with JIRA's issue tracker, enabling real-time synchronization and updates. Its flexible configuration options and interactive features help teams optimize their workflows and improve project delivery.

Its key features include:

  • Hierarchical task organization with a WBS.
  • Task dependencies.
  • A critical path.
  • Baselines.
  • Resource management.

3. BigGantt

BigGantt is another powerful Gantt chart plugin known for its intuitive interface and comprehensive feature set. It allows for extensive customization and integrates seamlessly with JIRA.

Its key features include:

  • A customizable Gantt chart view.
  • Resource management.
  • Workload control.
  • Dependencies.
  • Critical path.
  • Baseline and versioning.

You may also consider the following plugins: Gantt-Chart for JIRA, PDF View Plugin for JIRA (PDF Exporter), Structure.Gantt, Gantt Chart Planner, and more.

Is there a more powerful Gantt chart software integration with JIRA Cloud?

GanttPRO is a robust Gantt chart-making tool that offers detailed project planning and tracking capabilities. You can easily use it instead of the plugins mentioned above.

GanttPRO Gantt chart maker

The platform includes highly demanded PM features like project scheduling, resource allocation, time management, budget tracking, and collaboration. It integrates with JIRA to provide real-time updates and seamless project management.

Many users consider GanttPRO a great choice for easy-to-read Gantt chart visualization of complex JIRA projects.

To apply it, you should be sure you have active accounts in this Gantt chart generator and JIRA Cloud Software.

Choosing the top Gantt chart plugins for JIRA without hassle

Selecting the right Gantt chart plugin for JIRA can significantly enhance project management efficiency and collaboration within your team.

Each of the plugins mentioned offers unique features tailored to different needs, from basic task scheduling to advanced resource management and reporting. You may also pick up a multifunctional PM tool like GanttPRO to easily integrate with JIRA to get real-time updates and seamless project management.

*the main image is from the Atlassian Marketplace

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