Gantt vs Kanban: Which One is Better for SMEs?

Time management and efficient planning are essential skills to have, especially for SMEs. There’s a plethora of tools in the market that are dedicated towards project management.

While enterprise-level corporations may have full departments dedicated to project planning, many SMEs in South Africa juggle tight teams, lean budgets, and fast-paced goals. This means the project management approach must not only be functional but also intuitive, cost-effective, and scalable.

Two of the most popular project planning frameworks used by growing businesses are Gantt charts and Kanban boards.

What is a Gantt Chart?

A Gantt chart is a visual timeline that maps out project tasks across a calendar. Named after Henry Gantt, this tool shows start and end dates, dependencies, milestones, and progress. If you want to improve your team’s performance, this works particularly well for projects with clear beginnings and ends, and where tasks are dependent on one another.

Advantages of Using Gantt Charts

Visual Overview: Gantt charts provide a macro view of the project timeline. If you’re working on long-term deliverables like launching a product or coordinating a series of marketing campaigns, it’s easier to track dependencies and deadlines.

Deadline Accountability: With visual timelines, everyone knows what’s due and when. It helps eliminate ambiguity, especially useful for businesses managing freelancers or remote teams.

Milestone Tracking: Great for checking in on progress. You can assess if the team is falling behind and immediately adjust resources or expectations.

Team Coordination: Managers can identify workload clashes and prevent burnout by distributing work more evenly.

Disadvantages of Using Gantt Charts

Complex Setup: Building and updating a Gantt chart takes time.

Not Ideal for Day-to-Day Changes: One of the disadvantages of using Gantt charts is that if you operate in an industry where change is constant, Gantt charts can become outdated quickly.

Tool Fatigue: Gantt chart tools are not very easy to learn. This might discourage team adoption if not supported with training.

What is a Kanban Board?

The term Kanban originates from Japanese manufacturing. It is a visual system widely adopted in agile project management. Kanban is also known to be one of the simplest ways to conduct online collaborations. Tasks are represented as cards that move through columns, typically labelled “To Do”, “In Progress”, and “Done.” There are various benefits to using a Kanban board, but there are disadvantages too. Let’s find out what they are:

Advantages of Using a Kanban Board

Simplicity and Flexibility: It’s extremely easy to understand and adopt. Teams can visualise their workload in real-time, making it ideal for startups or businesses with minimal hierarchy.

Real-Time Workflow Management: You get an immediate sense of who is working on what. That clarity makes daily stand-ups or check-ins more productive.

Encourages Continuous Delivery: Ideal for SMEs in service industries or product development, where work is iterative rather than fixed.

Scalable for Team Sizes: Whether you’re a two-person content team or a growing tech startup, Kanban grows with you.

Disadvantages of Using a Kanban Board

Lack of Timeframe Context: Unlike Gantt charts, Kanban doesn’t typically show you how long something should take or what the deadlines are.

Limited for Complex Projects: If your business runs high-stakes projects where you’re dealing with projects with multiple dependencies, Kanban can feel too flat.

No Big Picture View: Kanban focuses on the now. It lacks the long-term visibility that Gantt charts offer.

So, Which One is Better for SMEs?

It depends on your business model and the nature of your projects.

If your SME is in construction, event planning, manufacturing, or product launches where timelines and dependencies matter, Gantt charts offer the structure you need. You can track deliverables over months, avoid bottlenecks, and visualise key deadlines. For example, an event planner can plot venue bookings, marketing deadlines, and vendor coordination, all on one timeline.

On the other hand, if your business is in software development, design, content marketing, consulting, or e-commerce, a Kanban board offers the adaptability your team needs to stay productive and collaborative. A content agency, for instance, can track blog posts, client approvals, and social media assets using a Kanban board that updates in real-time.

On the other hand, you can use a hybrid approach. For instance, you might use a Gantt chart to plan your quarterly goals and deadlines, and a Kanban board to manage daily or weekly tasks.