©  2010,  Brian Leach,  Steelray Software  ‐  1 – Project Schedule Visualization Brian Leach, Managing Director, Steelray Software

At Steelray Software, we develop project schedule analysis tools like Steelray Project Analyzer that work with Oracle Primavera and Microsoft Project. Because our focus is schedule analysis, project schedule visualization is at the forefront of our research efforts. This white paper presents some topics that are related to that research. Henry Laurence Gantt brought us the Gantt chart in the 1910’s, and in 1958, the use of the PERT method brought us PERT network charts. In almost a century, there have been very few innovations in the science of project schedule visualization. With major advances in visualization in so many other fields (e.g. medical, manufacturing, data mining), why have advances in project schedule visualization been so few and far between? Are Gantt Charts and Network Diagrams sufficient to the point that no additional insights might be gained via other charts and diagrams? How can new approaches in schedule visualization help the project manager in their day-to-day work? This presentation will examine these questions and provide an introduction to the work of Edward Tufte, who has been described by The New York Times as “the Leonardo da Vinci of Data. ” With Tufte’s work as a backdrop, new ideas and approaches will be presented, with the goal of stimulating discussion and real advances in project schedule visualization. Envisioning Informatio