What does a Gantt chart NOT show in project management?

A Gantt chart is a widely used tool in project management that provides a visual representation of a project schedule. It displays various essential elements related to the timeline of tasks involved in a project.

The chart effectively shows task duration by illustrating how long each activity is planned to take. It also depicts the progress of activities, typically by highlighting completed portions of each task either through color coding or shading. Furthermore, it allows project managers and team members to see resource allocation, indicating which resources are assigned to specific tasks and when they are needed.

However, Gantt charts do not inherently illustrate the dependency of activities. While a Gantt chart can show when tasks overlap or occur sequentially through the arrangement of bars on the timeline, it does not provide a detailed view of how one task relies on the completion of another before it can begin or the nature of those dependencies. Dependency relationships are typically represented in other project management tools, such as dependency charts or network diagrams, which clearly outline these connections among tasks.

Thus, the main characteristic that a Gantt chart lacks is the visualization of task dependencies, making it clear why this component is not represented in a typical Gantt chart.