One of the biggest issues with Basecamp (the simple-to-use, web-based project-management solution sold by 37Signals) is that it doesn’t do Gantt charts. This means resource leveling, scheduling, baselining are all next to impossible. You set due-dates for to-do items and milestones, and sort of hope for the best. So when I saw Tom’s Planner, I had high hopes for something that would allow me to quickly replicate the Poor-Man’s-Gantt I typically make in Excel, but be more informative, visually appealing, and easily sorted. I wasn’t disappointed.

I threw this quick example together in minutes. To quick really, because I missed half the features and began to write up a post about this tool’s shortcomings instead of how well it meets my needs. Is there GI-GO risk using it? Sure, but if it saves me 80% of the tiime I used to spend making timelines then it might just be worthwhile.

It’s easy to select which days of the week to work with (i.e. your business is closed Sunday/Monday as opposed to Saturday/Sunday like some retail stores, or you have a compressed 4-day workweek). That alone makes it work trying in my book. (Not to mention you can share it with your entire organization quickly and easily, helping everyone understand what their priority for any given day on the project.)

For quick concepts, this is a great visualization tool loaded with user-friendly features. I think they’ll be able to deliver a lot of value to organizations that didn’t have the time or application prowess to actually sit down and create an advanced schedule before.

Enjoy!